The Women 1939

I don't usually review classic films, but I recorded The Women from TCM and finally got around to watching it and boy is it fabulous!

The cast is all women, I mean ALL women...right down to the animals on the set! It was written by a woman (adapted by 2 women from the play The Women by Clare Boothe Luce- what a woman!) and has a cast of over 130 females in speaking parts.

Starring Norma Shearer as the "good girl" Mary Haines and Joan Crawford as the "other woman" Crystal Allen, but the one who steals the show is Rosalind Russell who plays the "bitchy friend" Sylvia Fowler so well that you can't hate her like you should. She is just sooooo funny!

Although it was directed by a man, George Cukor, his homosexuality may have given him an advantage in tackling the film as only a director who really understands women could have done such a fabulous job with the subject matter. And that he did.

Olga the manicurist: She's got those eyes that run up and down a man like a searchlight!

Exercise instructress: Arms flat. Crawl slowly up the wall...
Sylvia Fowler: The way you say that makes me feel like vermin.
Exercise instructress: That shouldn't be much effort. I mean crawling up the wall.

Countess DeLave: Get me a bromide. And put some gin in it!

Crystal Allen: There's a name for you, ladies, but it isn't used in high society...outside of a kennel.

Mary Haines: I've had two years to grow claws mother. Jungle red!

I think my enjoyment of The Women was only tempered by a bit of guilt at seeing some of myself and my friends reflected in the gossiping especially. I will think of this film often when tempted to pass judgement in the future.

I was amazed at how little things have changed in 75 years as well, including an early spin class at the spa. I kid you not! A very modern film in many respects (and women never change it seems). It was a little weird however to hear a line like "Living alone has it's compensations. Heaven knows it's marvelous to spread out in bed like a swastika"!!!!

Lastly, if you don't know anything about the author of the original play Clare Boothe Luce, you should take a minute and read her Wikipedia page.  She was a writer, Congresswoman, Ambassador to Italy and Brazil and even coined the phrase "No good deed goes unpunished". This awesome woman needs to be remembered, so please join me in awe.

Cheers!

P.S. Skip the 2008 version. The original is here:

My Fair Lady- Will it be remade?

There have been rumours for a few years now of attempts to have My Fair Lady remade. Imagine if you will Hugh Grant or Colin Firth as Henry Higgins. Or Keira Knightley or perhaps Carey Mulligan as Eliza Doolittle. Apparently Emma Thompson is behind it all by writing a new screenplay and if my instincts are correct, she will have a little role in it for herself. Mrs. Higgins, Henry's mother, if I am not mistaken would be the part she would inhabit as she is quite a delightful character who gets to tell Henry what she thinks of him. Although Emma Thompson is much too young for Mrs. Higgins. Perhaps Mrs. Pearce the housekeeper?

So, assuming this is a good idea, what do we think of Colin Firth as Henry Higgins? I think he is too nice to play the self-absorbed professor. You have to be a bit of a misogynist  to play Higgins, don't you? I don't know if Colin Firth has the ability to access that part of his personality. Now Hugh Grant, oddly enough, fits the part a little better. He is a bit of a recluse...self-absorbed...can't commit to a woman...

Nononono...it has to be Hugh Laurie, doesn't it? And he can sing and play the piano! Yes!

Who do we have for our dear Eliza Doolittle? She must be able to sing, as we couldn't have any more of that dubbing disaster that poor Audrey Hepburn had to suffer through. And she must be able to do both the accents impeccably. Maybe Carey Mulligan could pull it off. Any ideas? Surely we have seen enough of Keira Knighley lately.

 

And who do we have in mind for good old Colonel Pickering? I admit I am stumped here. A kindly very proper English gentleman. Who, who, who? Help me out here friends!

Olga from Ottawa gets credit for suggesting that if we have Hugh Laurie as Higgins, we have to have Stephen Fry as the Colonel. Brilliant! I have just posted our suggestions to the IMDb board. Let's hope the producers read the IMDb board for My Fair Lady (????)
 

Although I said I though Emma Thompson might covet the role of Mrs. Higgins for herself, wouldn't it be wonderful irony to have Julie Andrews play her? I mean, it would only be fair after she was denied the role of Eliza in the original even after she owned the part of Eliza onstage opposite Rex Harrison.

I think I have a good suggestion for Eliza's father Alfred P. Doolittle. Michael Caine would be able to pull of both the accent and be enough of a ham for this juicy role. Yup, that's it!

Now the last thing that I would like to propose is that this not be a musical but be more of a remake of the original Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. I mean, we are almost in 2013 here. Can the public handle a musical almost 50 years after the original? I think if you left the music out, it would be different enough to be a success. Or is the music what people love and it would suck the life out of the story not to have it?

Discuss amongst yourselves and post your opinions below please. I would love to know what you all think!

Did you know that Pygmalion was a figure in Greek mythology who carved a woman out of ivory and then fell in love with her? He apparently asked Venus for a bride who would be "the living likeness of my ivory girl" and the statue came to life when he kissed it.

Also, did you know that the words My Fair Lady do not exist in either the play or the film? It is apparently how Mayfair Lady sounds in a Cockney accent. Mayfair is my fave place in London (v. posh, just north of Green Park and Buckingham Palace) even though my great-grandfather was a Cockney from the East End of London. No wonder I love this story so much!