Movie Recommendation of the Day: The Women (1939)

[dangermousie]

Today's movie recommendation of the day is MGM's 1939 classic The Women, which is one of my all-time favorite movie.

This is a movie with an all-female all-star cast (no male appears on screen even for a second), which is hilarious, witty and, ultimately, moving. And the cast of characters is to die for.

The main story and conflict revolves around rather conventional Mary Haines (Norma Shearer, in my favorite role of hers) who discovers her husband is cheating on her with the ambitious, ruthless shopgirl Crystal Allen (Joan Crawford, at her most predatory). How Mary deals with this and how it all gets escalated/changed because of her 'friends' is pretty awesome. This is one of the wittiest scripts out there, so sharp and delicious and cynical. The mileau of the bored, restless upper-class women and their foibles is pretty awesome too. And so are the secondary characters.

Here they are:

Mrs. Mary Haines (Norma Shearer): The heroine of the story, who manages to be good without being cloying, and traditional without being a pushover.

Crystal Allen (Joan Crawford): Hard as nails, and equally smart, Crystal is the antagonist in this little story, setting out to trap a rich man for herself as the best means of advancement.

Mrs. Sylvia Fowler (Rosalind Russell): Gossiper and trouble-maker, Sylvia is a vicious little bit of work, but so funny.

The Countess De Lave (Mary Boland): LOLtastic sugar-mama with a weakness for young, hunky but useless men, the Countesss is the way to go

Miriam Aarons (Paulette Godard): Tough and street-smart, Miriam is rather a benign version of Crystal and her common-sense and pragmatism make her my fave secondary character.

Mrs. Peggy Day (Joan Fontaine): About the only unworldly innocent in the whole story (Mary might be traditional, but she is no fool), Peggy is equal parts adorable and dim.

Little Mary (Virginia Weidler): Mary's smart, precocious daughter.