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| Woman Against Woman - 1938 |
Coming up next we have 1938's "Woman Against Woman", a story about a woman who finds herself suddenly divorced from her husband. Her behavior towards his next wife is less than cordial, and the claws come out as each woman fights for the affections of the man.
The film's cast includes Herbert Marshall, Virginia Bruce, Mary Astor, Janet Beecher, Marjorie Rambeau, Juanita Quigley, and Zeffie Tilbury.
Lawyer Stephen Holland has a surprise one day at his office. His former nanny, who is also the nanny of his daughter Ellen, quits and decides to move to California. When pressed for a reason, the nanny tells Stephen that she doesn't like the way his wife controls his life and the life of their child. She leaves Stephen with some very sobering thoughts about what his life has become.
When he gets home, Stephen goes to see his daughter. The two are very close.
When he goes to talk to his wife Cynthia, Stephen finds that she's dressing for a dinner date that he had already told her he didn't want to take part it. She convinces him to go. "I don't like dining at the house of a man I detest!" he exclaims.
When they return home, Cynthia's behavior during their evening out causes Stephen to make a decision. He wants a divorce. "You've changed my mind for me so often it's a miracle I've got one left," he says before he leaves the house for good.
Initially, Cynthia is stunned, but then her mood turns into anger.
When the divorce comes through, Cynthia plays heavily on Stephen's mother's sympathies. Mrs. Holland is firmly on the side of her former daughter-in-law. Cynthia confides in her that she hopes that Stephen will realize his mistake and come back to her.
In Washington D.C. to present a case, Stephen meets Ms. Maris Kent at the home of some good friends of his. Maris is at the affair with her grandmother, who can't stand the cowboy band that is playing. "What with all these cowboy singers and cowboy
bands on the radio, I often wonder who’s left to
watch the cows," says Grandma as she hurries out the door.
Maris and Stephen are drawn to each other, and the two of them spend every moment that they can together. Eventually, Stephen proposes and he is eagerly accepted by Maris.
When she confides to her grandmother that she's worried because she doesn't know if she's going to the chopping block or to the altar, Grandma tells Maris, "Baby, there isn't a bride in the world that doesn't wonder which it's going to be."
Cynthia, still hoping to be reunited with Stephen, isn't at all pleased to here of his remarriage.
Mrs. Holland, still on Cynthia's side, is cordial but distant, and doesn't fully embrace Maris as her daughter-in-law.
Finally, the two wives meet. Initially, Cynthia makes a favorable impression on Maris, who declares her to be wonderful.
But Cynthia's true colors eventually come out. She drags Stephen away from Maris, leaving her alone on their first holiday together, and she also plays on the sympathies of her friends in town to undermine Maris's position.
Maris has enough of Cynthia's nonsense and confronts her about it. Cynthia decides to take her daughter and leave town for good, never to let Stephen see little Ellen again. However, Stephen and his mother calm her down enough that she decides to go and spend some time with Ellen at a mountain lodge instead.
Interrupting Stephen during an important court hearing, Cynthia tells him that Ellen is very ill and has been asking for him. (In reality, Ellen is just fine.) Stephen says he can't get away, but that if Ellen gets at all worse Cynthia is to let him know. Upset that her ploy to get Stephen to come to her didn't work, Cynthia decides to go dancing.
Naturally, when Stephen, Maris, and his mother come to make sure Ellen is alright, they find Cynthia has misled them. Mrs. Holland is furious with her former daughter-in-law, and Cynthia realizes she's overplayed her hand.
Maris gives Cynthia a few hard truths, which annoys Cynthia. "I don't have to listen to this," she says indignantly. To which Maris replies, "Oh, yes, you do.
You’re beaten, and you know it.
You never wanted to leave town. You wouldn’t know what to do without a couple
of hundred shoulders to weep
on."
The next time they all meet, the three behave like old friends and settle into a comfortable world where they can all peacefully exist in the same town.
Cast rundown:
Herbert Marshall..............................Stephen Holland
Virginia Bruce..................................Maris Kent
Mary Astor.......................................Cynthia Holland
Janet Beecher..................................Mrs. Holland
Marjorie Rambeau............................Mrs. Kingsley
Juanita Quigley................................Ellen Holland
Zeffie Tilbury...................................Grandma
And that's it for Woman Against Woman. At one hour in length, this is one of the shortest feature films that we've included on the blog. However, that doesn't mean this movie lacks anything. On the contrary, it is full of humor, zippy dialogue, and the kind of '30s chic that only Herbert Marshall, Virginia Bruce, and Mary Astor can supply.
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