The Women

The Women
Released Date: September 1, 1939
Directed by: George Cukor
Actors: Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Mary Boland, Paulette Goddard, Phyllis Povah, Joan Fontaine, Virginia Weidler, Lucile Watson, Marjorie Main, Virginia Grey, and Ruth Hussey

     The tagline for this film absolutely fits: The Female Of The Species.... When The Men Aren't Watching! This movie is ALL women. Not a single man at all. And the funny fact is, is that there are 130 roles in this movie, and again, all women. You may not know because who can tell, but the animals in this picture are all females as well. And the art work in the background... All women, not a man represented in the paintings. This movie is truely a woman's film!

     Mary (Norma Shearer) and Stephen Haines are happily married with a daughter, Little Mary (Virginia Weidler). Well from Mary's point of view, because the men are not seen at all in this movie. One day, Mary's cousin Sylvia Fowler (Rosalind Russell) is having her nails done by Olga, who happens to know that Stephen is having an affair. With a perfume counter woman named Crystal Allen (Joan Crawford). Due to this piece of information, Sylvia gets her cousin to go visit this manicurist to hear the awful news. After Mary hears the news she is heartbroken. But does she win her husband back? Does she even want to? This movie has been remade by the same title. You may have seen the newer version. I never see the remake, only the original. Except for The Man Who Knew Too Much because it was remade by the same director, Alfred Hitchcock. But other than that, I don't see remakes. But I can assure you, this is most likely the one to watch. Because known facts, the newer version did awful. And this movie did well when it first came out. 

The Philadelphia Story

The Philadelphia Story
Released Date: December 26, 1940
Director: George Cukor
Actors: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, and Virginia Weidler

         The Philadelphia Story went from stage play, to movie and then onto a radio program known as the Lux Theaters. Katharine Hepburn played the same roll as Tracy Lord in all three adaptations. She ended up owning the rights to the story bought by the famous airplane pilot Howard Hughes, which Miss Hepburn admitted to sleeping with the pilot to get the rights. Miss Hepburn got to pick the actors in the movie version and at first wanted Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy. Both men were busy and could not take the parts. The second choice group took the roles which were Cary Grant and James Stewart. James Stewart ended up winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar award that year. His father owned a shop in Indiana, PA which was located on Philadelphia Street. The Oscar had misspelled Philadelphia with another a instead of e.

        This movie is based on a wealthy woman named Tracy Lord. She is married, at first to Cary Grant's character, one C.K. Dexter Haven. They divorced and Tracy ends up engaged to another man. Upset and wanting his woman back, Mr. Haven ends up going to the wedding to hopefully win her heart back. Macaulay Conner, played by James Stewart is a writer for a magazine and thinks at one point, that he has fallen in love with Tracy Lord. Macaulay Conner was hired to make Tracy Lord angry. A comedy and Romance, this movie takes you through ups and downs, hits and swimming, marriage and divorce, and so many laugh out loud moments that will keep you entertained.

        Tracy Lord is a swimmer in the movie and at one point she takes a dive in her family owned pool. Usually back in those days, and even today, actors will use a double to do most athletic move but Katharine Hepburn was a very active woman and did her own dive in this movie. She was mostly known for her golf skills and was actually told that she could have gone pro. Although she does not golf in this movie, it is a very neat piece of information and one that makes her a very cool actress. This movie was made to save Katharine Hepburn's career and also James Stewart's as well. Cary Grant, however, was doing fine in his career and did not need saving. But the movies made a huge splash and ended up making this a movie that most fans of any of those actors say is their favorite.