'The Women' appealed to me straight away hearing about it. That it had an all-female cast (not seen a lot in film at that point) of some truly great actresses, that it was directed by George Cukor who directed a number of solid and more films and that it had a great premise.
Am so glad of viewing it, because 'The Women' was by far one of the best, cleverest and most enjoyable films of all my recent viewings (saying a lot because they have been very variable) and contained some of the best work of all involved. And this opinion is coming from a woman who found nothing offensive about it and accepted the extremities of how females are portrayed, so am not sure where the ignorant allegations of those liking the film hating women have come from.
So great a film 'The Women' was, that it was for me easy to overlook any minor reservations about the start being slightly cloying (had no problem with the animal-representing-characters scene and found it interesting) and a few silent film mannerisms creeping in occasionally in Norma Shearer's performance.
That minor reservation aside, Shearer is a likeable and beguiling presence, very difficult to dislike. There are also charming performances from Joan Fontaine and Paulette Goddard (quite possibly never better) and entertainingly broad one from Marjorie Main and Mary Boland. They are all outshone by the magnificent Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell, the former plays her role with delicious venom and the latter was rarely more hilarious than here. The cast do make this film.
Cukor is also in his element and gets the best of his cast throughout while keeping the momentum flowing and afloat. Alongside the cast, another huge strength is the script, can't pick a favourite line because there are so many delicious gems in one of the most cleverly structured, deliciously witty, remarkably daring and funniest scripts one can find anywhere. The story is always compelling, with the third act being especially good with entertainment value galore, while also having some substance in the first. That cat fight has to be seen to be believed and the fashion show of sheer class.
Very like the costumes themselves and 'The Women' is just a very well made film in general and beautifully shot.
Overall, wonderful. 10/10 Bethany Cox
Am so glad of viewing it, because 'The Women' was by far one of the best, cleverest and most enjoyable films of all my recent viewings (saying a lot because they have been very variable) and contained some of the best work of all involved. And this opinion is coming from a woman who found nothing offensive about it and accepted the extremities of how females are portrayed, so am not sure where the ignorant allegations of those liking the film hating women have come from.
So great a film 'The Women' was, that it was for me easy to overlook any minor reservations about the start being slightly cloying (had no problem with the animal-representing-characters scene and found it interesting) and a few silent film mannerisms creeping in occasionally in Norma Shearer's performance.
That minor reservation aside, Shearer is a likeable and beguiling presence, very difficult to dislike. There are also charming performances from Joan Fontaine and Paulette Goddard (quite possibly never better) and entertainingly broad one from Marjorie Main and Mary Boland. They are all outshone by the magnificent Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell, the former plays her role with delicious venom and the latter was rarely more hilarious than here. The cast do make this film.
Cukor is also in his element and gets the best of his cast throughout while keeping the momentum flowing and afloat. Alongside the cast, another huge strength is the script, can't pick a favourite line because there are so many delicious gems in one of the most cleverly structured, deliciously witty, remarkably daring and funniest scripts one can find anywhere. The story is always compelling, with the third act being especially good with entertainment value galore, while also having some substance in the first. That cat fight has to be seen to be believed and the fashion show of sheer class.
Very like the costumes themselves and 'The Women' is just a very well made film in general and beautifully shot.
Overall, wonderful. 10/10 Bethany Cox