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The Women

Die Frauen
Retrospective 2022
Source: Deutsche Kinemathek, © 1939 Loew's Inc. All rights reserved.
While getting her nails done, New York society lady Sylvia Fowler finds out that her friend Mary Haines’ husband is having an affair with Crystal Allen, a perfume counter salesclerk. With schadenfreude, Sylvia shares the news with all their Park Avenue friends, then gleefully sends Mary to the manicurist who is spreading the gossip. As expected, the unwitting Mary’s visit to the beauty salon results in an unfolding public scandal … To secure the role as the glib schemer in an all-star cast, and her name above the title, Rosalind Russell resorted to means that would have made Sylvia Fowler proud. Elevated to beanpole status by an array of dizzyingly high hats, she dominates the other 134 actresses at will, turning The Women into her film. With the agility of her lanky limbs, the courage to be ugly, and her snarky digs and equally felicitous physical flourishes, Rosalind Russell proved herself to be an old-school slapstick artiste. Playing a journalist in Four’s a Crowd, she dreamed of the headline “Man Bites Dog”. In this trenchant satire of high society and feminine wiliness, she could be making the headlines herself with “Woman Bites Woman!”
by George Cukor
with Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Mary Boland, Paulette Goddard, Joan Fontaine, Lucile Watson, Phyllis Povah, Virginia Weidler, Marjorie Main, Hedda Hopper USA 1939 English 133’ Black/White & Colour

With

  • Norma Shearer
  • Joan Crawford
  • Rosalind Russell
  • Mary Boland
  • Paulette Goddard
  • Joan Fontaine
  • Lucile Watson
  • Phyllis Povah
  • Virginia Weidler
  • Marjorie Main
  • Hedda Hopper

Crew

Director George Cukor
Screenplay Anita Loos, Jane Murfin based on the eponymous play by Clare Boothe Luce
Cinematography Oliver T. Marsh, Joseph Ruttenberg
Editing Robert J. Kern
Music Edward Ward, David Snell
Sound Douglas Shearer
Art Director Cedric Gibbons
Costumes Adrian
Producer Hunt Stromberg

Produced by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.

Additional information

DCP: Warner Bros. Pictures Germany, Hamburg

George Cukor

Filmography

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2022