Thirteen Women ** (1932, Ricardo Cortez, Irene Dunne, Myrna Loy, Jill Esmond, Florence Eldridge, Julie Haydon, Marjorie Gateson, C Henry Gordon) – Classic Movie Review 12,962

The fascinating 1932 American pre-Code psychological horror thriller film Thirteen Women is based on the 1930 bestselling novel by Tiffany Thayer, and stars Ricardo Cortez, Irene Dunne, and Myrna Loy. Supposedly the first slasher movie. 

Director George Archainbaud’s 1932 American pre-Code psychological horror thriller film Thirteen Women is based on the 1930 bestselling novel by Tiffany Thayer, and stars Ricardo Cortez, Irene Dunne, Myrna Loy, Jill Esmond, Florence Eldridge, Julie Haydon, Marjorie Gateson, C Henry Gordon, and Peg Entwistle.

An ill-fated number of ex-school chums is quickly becoming fewer after contacting a clairvoyant to have their horoscopes done. Police sergeant Barry Clive (Ricardo Cortez) investigates a baffling case, in which a woman rejected from a sorority gets revenge by causing the murders of its members.

The women, who were all sorority sisters at the all-girl’s college St Alban’s, write to a clairvoyant, Swami Yogadachi (C Henry Gordon), who mails each of them a horoscope foreseeing swift doom.

Thirteen Women is a well-crafted, but hammy old murder-mystery, with glamorous Myrna Loy stealing the show as the vengeance-seeking half-Javanese Eurasian woman Ursula Georgi, from a splendid cast of other notables. Unfortunately, the talents of these worthy actors are not equalled by the quality of the rather ridiculous script by Bartlett Cormack and Samuel Ornitz.

However, it is a fascinating film for its pioneering influence on the slasher genre and as an early example of the female ensemble film, though it perhaps a bit of a missed opportunity as a movie. But it is a milestone in cinema as Thirteen Women is sometimes considered the first slasher movie.

The film premiered at the Roxy Theater in New York City on October 15 1932, with a limited US release in 1933.

It originally ran 73 minutes but was cut by the studio to only 59 minutes before release after the film had poor reactions from test audiences. The cut film is a bit if a swizz, not as advertised. The film portrays only 11 women, not 13, with Phyllis Fraser as Twelfth Woman and Betty Furness as Thirteenth Woman playing the two characters edited from the film with their scenes deleted. Leon Ames’s scenes were also deleted, and so were Julie Haydon’s and Violet Seton’s.

It is the only film appearance of Peg Entwistle, who despaired about her career and jumped to her death from the Hollywood sign on September 16, 1932. There is no happy ending here, not even as a postscript. Entwistle had a significant supporting role in the original cut with 16 minutes of screen time, but after the film’s poor reactions from test audiences, her screen time was cut to only four minutes.

The cast are Irene Dunne as Laura Stanhope, Ricardo Cortez as Police Sergeant Barry Clive, Jill Esmond as Jo Turner Myrna Loy as Ursula Georgi, Mary Duncan as June Raskob, Kay Johnson as Helen Dawson Frye, Florence Eldridge as Grace Coombs, C Henry Gordon as Swami Yogadachi, Peg Entwistle as Hazel Clay Cousins, Harriet Hagman as May Raskob, Edward Pawley as Laura’s chauffeur Burns,  Blanche Friderici as headmistress Miss Kirsten, Wally Albright as Bobby Stanhope, and Lloyd Ingraham as Inspector.

Thirteen Women is directed by George Archainbaud, runs 73 minutes or 59 minutes, is made and released by RKO Radio Pictures, is written by Bartlett Cormack and Samuel Ornitz, based on the novel by Tiffany Thayer, is shot in black and white by Leo F Tover, is produced by David O Selznick, is scored by Max Steiner, and designed by Carroll Clark.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,962

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