Director: George Cukor
Year Released: 1939
Rating: 2.0
Oft-praised anti-feminist picture has the socialite wife (Norma Shearer) discover her wealthy engineer husband is cheating on her with a meanie shop clerk (Joan Crawford), so she divorces him and runs off to Reno with her gal-pals. There are no men at all in this movie - presumably because they're doing "important things" like earning money while their wives and mistresses are busy doing "frivolous things" such as watching runway shows and spending their hubbies' cash - so we're left with the ladies themselves, constantly being catty and sniping at each other. The women, too, are identified solely by who they're married to - it's no mistake that in the opening credits (and even during the movie) they're listed by their spouses' names - and the third act is a massive blow to womankind, as Shearer runs back to her husband's arms after he decides his fling with Crawford wasn't working out, concluding that pride is something a woman in love cannot afford to possess (ouch!). At least the skilled cast is able to deliver the crackling dialogue with aplomb.
