Seven Women [7 Women] **** (1966, Anne Bancroft, Sue Lyon, Margaret Leighton, Flora Robson, Mildred Dunnock, Betty Field, Anna Lee, Eddie Albert) – Classic Movie Review 3995

John Ford said: ‘Seven Women (1966) is one of my favourite pictures. I thought it was a swell story and a good script.’ But, after three days of filming, original star Patricia Neal had a stroke and Anne Bancroft took over, though Ford called her ‘the mistress of monotone’.

Director John Ford assembles a distinguished cast for his last film, Seven Women, an untypical 1966 pseudo-Western drama about seven dedicated missionary women in 1935 China menaced by a barbaric Mongolian warlord called Tunga Khan and his cut-throat warriors.

Anne Bancroft stars as the tough atheist doctor D R Cartwright, Flora Robson plays the head of the British mission Miss Binns, Margaret Leighton is the rigid mission administrator Head of Mission Agatha Andrews, and Sue Lyon is Mission Staff member Emma Clark, Mildred Dunnock is the Head of Mission’s Assistant Jane Argent, Betty Field as the Mission Teacher’s pregnant wife Mrs Florrie Pether and Anna Lee as Mission Staff member Mrs Russell, making up the movie’s starring seven women.

You can feel the force of the high-quality acting, as you would expect from this cast, and there is top-level direction from an involved and committed Ford. And it is fascinating to find Ford using a sympathetic actress and portraying a sympathetic heroine, having a cast almost entirely female and avoiding his usual Achilles’ heel of displays of sentimentality.

However, good though it is, nevertheless it is hard not to feel a slight sense of disappointment with the result, which does not approach Ford’s best films for power and stature. And it did not do well at the box office. However, it has its admirers. The French liked it: Cahiers du Cinéma voted it the sixth-best film of 1966. And leading American film critic Andrew Sarris championed it as one of the Most Misappreciated American Films of All Time.

Seven Women also stars Eddie Albert as Mission Teacher Charles Pether, Mike Mazurki as Bandit Leader Tunga Khan and Woody Strode as Lean Warrior.

Also in the cast are Jane Chang as Mission Staff member Miss Lee, Hans William Lee as Mission Staff member Kim, H W Gim and Irene Tsu.

Bancroft replaced original star Patricia Neal, who suffered a stroke during filming, just three days into the shoot.

Janet Green and John McCormick carve out the screenplay from the short story Chinese Finale by Norah Lofts.

The score is by Elmer Bernstein and the cinematography by Joseph LaShelle. It is produced by Bernard Smith and John Ford for MGM.

Sue Lyon, one-time Lolita for Stanley Kubrick, turned 70 on 10 July 2016. She died on 26 December 2019 in Los Angeles after a long illness, aged 73. Her last film was Alligator (1980).

John Ford: ‘It’s one of my favourite pictures. I liked the story and I got paid for it. I thought it was a swell story and a good script, so I did it.’

Ford began filming on 8 February 1965 on the MGM back lot, but after three days, original star Patricia Neal had a stroke. Anne Bancroft took over her role of Dr Cartwright, but Ford was unhappy with her, calling her ‘the mistress of monotone’.

MGM insisted on contract star Sue Lyon, though Ford wanted Carol Lynley.

Shooting finished on 12 April 1965, six days behind schedule.

Ford chose Otho Lovering as film editor after first working together on Stagecoach (1939).

It runs 87 minutes.

It was released on 5 January 1966.

The cast are Anne Bancroft as Dr D R Cartwright, Sue Lyon as Emma Clark, Mission Staff, Margaret Leighton as Agatha Andrews, Head of Mission, Flora Robson as Miss Binns, Head of British Mission, Mildred Dunnock as Jane Argent, Andrews’ Assistant, Betty Field as Mrs. Florrie Pether, Charles’s pregnant wife, Anna Lee as Mrs. Russell, Mission Staff, Eddie Albert as Charles Pether, Mission Teacher, Mike Mazurki as Tunga Khan, Bandit Leader, Woody Strode as Lean Warrior, Jane Chang as Miss Ling, Mission Staff, Hans William Lee as Kim, Mission Staff, H W Gim as Coolie, and Irene Tsu as Chinese Girl.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3995

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