| The Women | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 131 reviews)
Sales Rank: 10188
Category: Video
Actors: Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Mary Boland, Paulette Goddard
Director: George Cukor
Publisher: MGM (Warner)
Studio: MGM (Warner)
Manufacturer: MGM (Warner)
Label: MGM (Warner)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, Digital Video Transfer, Hifi Sound, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: VHS Tape
Running Time: 133 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 6304056958
UPC: 027616578037
EAN: 9786304056950
ASIN: 6304056958
Release Date: June 25, 1996
Theatrical Release Date: September 1, 1939
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com essential video
George Cukor, Hollywood's legendary "woman's director," had his hands full with the all-female cast of this 1939 film adaptation of the Clare Boothe play. The story finds a group of catty, competitive friends destroying reputations at social gatherings. The dialogue sparkles, Joan Crawford's performance as a husband stealer is still a classic, the film looks wonderful in Cukor's hands, and the Technicolor fashion-show scene is a one-of-a-kind Hollywood experience. --Tom Keogh
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| Customer Reviews: Read 126 more reviews...
Magnificent obssession! September 3, 2008
I'd like you be a bit more accurate with the description of the product, especially in relation to the different languages and subtitles of the product.
Just like TCM August 1, 2008
I saw this on TCM and bought it that day. It came in the correct packaging, on time in new condition. Excellent.
The Women July 12, 2008
The copy I purchased of the DVD version of The Women perfectly met my expectations. I received it promptly and was just what I ordered.
The original "Chick Flick" July 12, 2008
Hysterical, insightful, classic - a great movie to watch for a girls' night out/get together, along the lines of "Sex in the City" from the 1940's.
A Great Film June 25, 2008
"Remember, it is being together at the end that matters."
~ "Mrs. Moorehead" in Clare Booth Luce's "The Women"
"The Women," one of the many spectacular films of 1939, explores love, marriage and divorce from the strictly female point of view. Not a single male character is shown in the film, nor in the play by Clare Booth Luce, upon which the movie was based, although the conversation constantly swirls around the husbands and boyfriends of the protagonists. While the women involved are wealthy socialites, many of their follies, sins and heartbreaks are those which pervade the lives of the female sex in every time and place. The ease of securing a divorce, however, is an issue confronting modern people; Mrs. Luce dissects with slow, brilliant cruelty the pain and devastation that goes with breaking up a family. No matter how cordial and legally effortless the parting of ways can be, it is almost impossible to escape upheaval, scandal, and tears.
The Women revolves around the lovely Mary Haines (Norma Shearer), who discovers that her previously devoted husband Stephen is having an affair with a shop girl. The gossip of her friends contributes in no small way to the destruction of the situation. The pivotal moment is when Mary refuses to listen to the wise words of her mother, Mrs. Moorehead (Lucile Watson) who begs her to ignore the infidelity and stop confiding in her friends. "They will see that you lose both your husband and your home." She also implores Mary to consider her young daughter, who must come first no matter what.
Indeed, the little girl is torn to pieces when Mary tells her that the divorce is imminent. One of the saddest scenes shows the child sobbing in private, "Oh, Mother, oh, Daddy!" knowing that the home she has known is gone forever. It is also disturbing how the daughter must later have to deal with her father's cheap new wife. Watching "The Women" always makes me annoyed at both Mary and Stephen for allowing their child to be exposed to such circumstances. But Mary wants to get back at her husband for hurting her more than she wants anything else. She seeks divorce on almost an impulse as pain dominates her reason. She comes to bitterly regret it.
In spite of the heaviness of the topic, "The Women" is fraught with humor; the dialog is one of the wittiest ever to grace the screen. And I do not think that there is single weak performance. Norma Shearer is sweetly sympathetic even when it would be nice to slap her. Joan Crawford is at her slutty best as "Crystal," the callous home wrecker. Rosalind Russell is hilarious as the gossiping Cousin Sylvia, who basically rejoices over Mary's misfortune. Paulette Goddard is the goodhearted wench who tells Mary what's what. A remake is debuting this year; it seems a little coarser and less elegant than the original, but then, of course, it is a reflection of our time.
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