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George Cukor was a director who was labeled in Hollywood as a “woman’s director,” which as you may guess wasn’t viewed with great esteem. This film may be his quintessential “women’s” film, especially with a title like THE WOMEN. The campy dramedy has a fine time with the pampered and privileged lives of its catty characters.

Mrs. Stephen Haines i.e. Mary (Norma Shearer, 1938’s MARIE ANTOINETTE) is a pleasant woman and a fine mother to her daughter little Mary (Virginia Weidler, A PHILADELPHIA STORY). She’s loaded, but not conceded as her friends Mrs. Howard Fowler i.e. Sylvia (Rosalind Russell, PICNIC) and Mrs. Phelps Potter i.e. Edith (Phyllis Povah, PAT AND MIKE). Sylvia is devilishly bubbling about the newest gossip she has heard from her manicurist — Mary’s husband is having an affair with Crystal Allen (Joan Crawford, WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?), a manipulative gold digger who works at a perfume counter.

Sylvia sets Mary up to find out the dreadful news, which makes Mary want to end her marriage. However, her mother (Lucile Watson, 1941’s MR. & MRS. SMITH) advises that she shouldn’t ruin her life on a man’s fling, which means nothing more significant to him then a new dress means to a woman.

Depending on your perspective, you could say the film is either cynical or extremely practical about love. As the film’s tagline states, it’s all about men. This is true however a more detailed description would be — it’s all about how women view men. Mary believes in the grand love story and her naïve dream is shattered, which is hard for her to deal with. Crystal sees men as simply a way to get up in life.

The entire cast is working at their best. Mary is levelheaded, but sometimes too passive, until the very end when she stands up to fight, which we relish in with delight. Crawford and Russell are wonderfully devious in their roles. The cast also includes a delightful Paulette Goddard (THE GREAT DICTATOR) as the nice mistress Miriam Aarons, the beautiful Joan Fontaine (REBECCA) as the weepy Mrs. Johnny Day i.e. Peggy and Mary Boland (1940’s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE) as the boisterous Countess DeLave.

The story takes its time in developing Mary’s emotional arch, which I liked a lot. The film’s only major misstep is with a silly product placement segment during a fashion show when the film switches from black & white to color and has models parade around in top fashions for a handful of minutes. I’m sure this was not an artistic choice Cukor made on his own. In the end, the film is just delicious fun. It’s funny to see these primped ladies slug it out over philandering rich men. It’s even funnier when you notice that none of the offending sex ever makes even a brief appearance in the entire film.