Film Friday: The Women (1939)
In honour of Norma Shearer's 114th birthday, which was on Wednesday, this week on «Film Friday» I bring you what is arguably one of her most iconic pictures. Directed by George Cukor, The Women (1939) begins when Sylvia Fowler (Rosalind Russell) learns from her manicurist, Olga (Dennie Moore), that Stephen Haines, the husband of her cousin Mary (Norma Shearer), is having an affair with a predatory perfume clerk named Crystal Allen (Joan Crawford). A notorious gossip, Sylvia shares the news with her Park Avenue friends and then sends Mary for a manicure with Olga so that she hears the rumour herself. Mary's mother, Mrs. Morehead (Lucile Watson) urges her to ignore the gossip, but she cannot control herself when she encounters Crystal at a fashion show. To Sylvia's delight, the meeting between the two rivals makes the front page of the society columns, which leads Mary to ask for a divorce. Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Norma Shearer, Joan Fontaine, Mary Boland and Pau...