Women characters in classic films offer some of the strongest, finest performances ever. My niece, Stephanie, has asked me to recount some of my favorite films with strong women’s roles. This is difficult, because there are so many that I admire.
I selected these films as my “Best Of ” not only for the appearance of a strong female character, but also because they provide good, solid, movie entertainment. They do not, therefore, necessarily, represent the top individual performance by an actress (or actresses), but, hopefully, give viewers the greatest “bang-for-the-buck,” as it were, in terms of a complete and satisfying movie-viewing experience. The performances, however, are top-notch and are among the very best available.
Here is my list:
1.
Westward the Women (1951). Denise Darcel, Robert Taylor, and Hope Emerson. Western. When a group of pioneer California settlers (somehow all, or most all, men), having successfully established their farms, decide they need wives, Robert Taylor is dispatched to Chicago to find brides and bring them all out west at once. The women selected range from widows and immigrants to farmer’s daughters and a couple of prostitutes, disguised as respectable. The ensuing wagon-train trek westward is a true ordeal, typical of the frontier, with the women forced to perform the tasks usually done by men, such as mule-whackers and hostlers. The few trail-wise males hired to guide and protect the train introduce predictable complications. Lust, romance and violence plague the journey, but the women show their mettle, bear up, and rise to the challenge as they arrive at their destination fit and resolute, to fulfill their marriage contracts. Not a big fan of Robert Taylor, I liked him in his role as the trail boss who falls for one of the prostitutes. Denise Darcel is excellent as the prostitute, looking for a better life, who has set her cap for the boss, and Hope Emerson shines as the rawboned, profane, mule-whacker who bucks up the fainthearted ones on the trip west. Directed by William Wellman (
Wings,
The Call of the Wild), this is one of my favorite westerns, mainly due to its tribute to the strength, resilience, and resourcefulness of women.
Note: Denise Darcel died Dec.23, 2011, age 87.
2.
Hobson’s Choice (1954). Brenda De Banzie, Charles Laughton, and John Mills. British Comedy. Directed by David Lean (
Lawrence of Arabia,
Bridge on the River Kwai), this is just about my favorite comedy. Charles Laughton plays Hobson, owner of a prosperous boot shop in Salford, a nineteenth century English village. Hobson is a widower with three daughters. The eldest daughter, Maggie, played by Brenda De Banzie, is the mainstay of the business, managing its day-to-day operation and delegating daily tasks to the bootmakers in the workshop in the cellar and to her two younger sisters. Hobson is an habitual drunkard, spending much of his time at Moonraker’s, the pub across the street, swapping lies and gossip with his cronies. Faced with domestic rebellion, as he sees it, Hobson decides to marry off the two younger girls. Maggie, at 30, he considers past marriageable age, plus he realizes she takes care of the business, leaving him free to pursue his intemperate lifestyle. Maggie, however, has other ideas and promptly proposes marriage to Will Mossop, the slow-witted, underpaid but masterful bootmaker who works in the cellar, and who is dumbfounded and confused by her offer, but slowly comes to accept. Maggie then dictates terms to her father to retain hers and Will’s services in the shop. Hobson adamantly refuses and the two leave to set up business on their own. Hilarity ensues when Maggie takes the bit in her teeth and resolutely proceeds to mold Will into an independent, responsible business man and husband, while Hobson fumes and blusters as his business and household decline. I defy anyone to keep a straight face as they watch Maggie manipulate everyone around her, all for their own good, Hobson’s defiant bumbling, and will Mossop’s wide-eyed amazement at his own self-realization.
3.
Adam’s Rib (1949). Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday, Jean Hagen, Spencer Tracy, and Tom Ewell. Comedy. Husband and wife writers Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon crafted the screenplay for this fast-paced and raucous comedy, and there is more than a little material provided from their own relationship (such as the pet names “Pinky and Pinkie”). The story begins with wife and mother Doris Attinger (Judy Holliday) shooting her philandering husband Warren (Tom Ewell) at the apartment of the “other woman,” Beryl Caighn (Jean Hagen). Warren is critically, not fatally, wounded, but anxious to see his wife prosecuted for attempted murder. Prosecutor Adam Bonner (Spencer Tracy ) and his lawyer wife Amanda (Katharine Hepburn) are first seen in their posh apartment, reading the newspaper over coffee, when Amanda sees the front-page item about Doris and her husband. She is intrigued by the case, but Adam is unimpressed by his wife’s contention that a woman should be accorded the same consideration as a man who shoots his wife’s lover in the name of the so-called “unwritten law” in defense of hearth and home. Arriving at the office, Adam learns that he has been assigned to prosecute the sensational case, while Amanda, unbeknownst to Adam, aggressively pursues the handling of Doris’ case and is retained to defend her in court. When Adam learns about this, in a funny cocktail- hour scene, he sees it as a personal betrayal by his wife, insisting that “No one has the right to break the law!” The trial proceeds with Adam visibly discomfited by his wife’s presence, becoming tongue-tied and distracted, Adam asks a prospective juror, “Have you ever served on a motion-picture projectionist before?” The action shifts back and forth between the courtroom and the Bonner apartment. Adam and Amanda are loving and playful at home and contentious and pugnacious in court. Doris Attinger and Beryl Caighn are two sides of the same coin as they each testify in their common provincial New York accent (Bronx?). Doris is the soft, feminine homemaker with a steel core when her home is threatened, while Beryl has a soft and feminine exterior,but hard and cynical inside. The outcome of the trial is unsurprising, but in a following scene, Adam turns the tables on Amanda in a hilarious twist on the opening scene. George Cukor directed this one, considered one of the best of the Tracy/Hepburn outings. Judy Holliday stands out as Doris, presaging her big breakthrough performance a year later in “Born Yesterday” with the same writers and Director.
4.
Now, Voyager (1942). Bette Davis, Gladys Cooper, Ilka Chase, Claude Rains, Paul Henreid, and Bonita Granville. Drama. William Wyler directed this intense melodrama with Bette Davis, in an Oscar-winning performance as Charlotte Vale, the repressed and introverted spinster daughter of Mrs. Henry Vale, an implacable, domineering Boston matron played dauntingly by Gladys Cooper. Charlotte is completely dominated by her mother, who controls all aspects of her life, down to her very frumpy, unflattering wardrobe, for which she is teased by her niece, June (Bonita Granville). Almost completely lacking in self-confidence and self-esteem, Charlotte elicits the sympathy of her concerned sister-in-law, Lisa Vale (Ilka Chase), who introduces her to a psychiatrist, Dr. Jaquith (Claude Rains), who runs a sanitarium in Vermont. He finally persuades Charlotte to visit his sanitarium, where she undergoes a transformation, becoming self-assured and confident. With Lisa’s encouragement, Charlotte delays her return to Boston, choosing, instead, to embark on a cruise to South America. Aboard the ship, she encounters a kind, considerate, married man, named Jerry Durrance, played suavely by Paul Henreid. She learns from his traveling companions that Jerry is unhappily bound to a manipulative, jealous woman to whom he remains married because of his deep devotion to his adolescent daughter, Tina. Arriving in Rio de Janeiro, Jerry invites Charlotte to accompany him on an automobile tour to Sugarloaf Mountain. An accident with the car, causes them to miss their boat, and they are in Rio together for another five days, at the end of which, though they are now in love, they agree that it would be best not ever to see each other again and they go their separate ways. Finally returning home, Charlotte finds it necessary to stand up to her ailing mother and, after a time, her mother dies of a heart attack following a heated argument with Charlotte. Guilt-ridden, emotionally distraught, and mourning her lost love, Charlotte returns to the Vermont sanitarium, where she is amazed to discover, as a patient there, Jerry’s unhappy daughter, Tina (Janis Wilson), with whom she almost immediately connects, since Tina has a domineering mother of her own. Obtaining Dr. Jaquith’s grudging permission, Charlotte becomes Tina’s mentor and friend, slowly restoring joy to both their lives. Tina remains unaware of Charlotte’s previous relationship with her father, and when he comes to visit, Jerry and Charlotte, though still in love, choose to be content with sharing just their common love for Tina, as Charlotte utters the closing line, “Oh Jerry, don’t let’s ask for the Moon. We have the stars.”
5.
The Women (1939). Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Paulette Goddard, Mary Boland, Joan Fontaine, and Marjorie Main. Comedy/Drama. Adapted from the Clare Booth Luce stage play and directed by George Cukor, no men appear anywhere in the cast, though they are talked about at length. The plot deals with the lives of several privileged Manhattan women who contend with gossip, infidelity, and double- dealing. The principal character, Mary Haines, is played by Norma Shearer. She is the wife of a wealth, successful, and handsome man named Stephen Haines. Mary is slyly maneuvered by her catty, gossip-monger cousin, Sylvia Fowler (played by Rosalind Russell in an over-the-top, outrageous, and often humorous, performance), into “accidentally” overhearing rumors about an affair between Stephen and a scheming, opportunistic, perfume-counter girl named Crystal Allen (Joan Crawford). At first, dismissive of the gossip, Mary continues to focus on being a good wife to Stephen and a loving mother to their young daughter, Little Mary, played by Virginia Weidler (
The Philadelphia Story). Later on, Stephen’s behavior leads Mary to suspect the truth of the rumors. She takes a vacation to Bermuda to ponder her life and marriage. Upon her return home, she confronts Crystal, who neither denies nor admits anything, but hints at the truth of the gossip. A hurt and humiliated Mary rashly decides to divorce Stephen and takes a train to Reno. On the train, Mary comes in contact with some other women who are going there for the same purpose, including an older, very wealthy woman, the Countess de Lave (Mary Boland). Ensconced at a dude ranch in Reno, operated by a gravel-voiced woman name Lucy (Marjorie Main), the women become better acquainted. Divorcing her fourth husband, the Countess is already being courted by a young, ambitious drugstore cowboy named Buck. While she awaits the conclusion of her divorce, Mary is surprised by the sudden arrival of her cousin Sylvia Fowler, who also has learned that her own husband has been unfaithful and is divorcing her. What she doesn’t kno, but soon learns, is that her husband’s lover, Miriam Aarons (Paulette Goddard) also resides at the Ranch while divorcing her present husband in order to marry Mr. Fowler, this fact precipitating a fight. After breaking up the fight, Mary calls Stephen in New York in an attempt to patch things up, only to be told that he and Crystal have been married. Two years later, while visiting her father, Little Mary overhears a conversation between Crystal and Sylvia, revealing that Crystal is now engaged in an affair with Buck, who is by now married to the Countess and who has become a radio star. Sylvia, still an incurable gossip and troublemaker, has wormed this information out of Crystal and is saving it for future use. At a party it all comes to a head, as Mary elicits the details of Buck and Crystal’s affair, and feeds them to Hedda Hopper, a real gossip columnist, who plays herself. The Countess also is told, and to make a long story not quite so long, Crystal’s plans are spoiled, and it seems likely that Mary and Stephen will get back together. Far-fetched and convoluted , but all in all, good fun and great entertainment! You can almost see the men, though they’re not here.
