When Ladies Meet *** (1941, Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor, Greer Garson, Herbert Marshall, Spring Byington) – Classic Movie Review 7504

‘Hollywood Parade Of Stars In Gay Romance’ – sounds appealing, huh? Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios have another go in 1941 at filming Rachel Crothers’s 1932 play following their 1933 movie When Ladies Meet with Ann Harding, Robert Montgomery, Myrna Loy and Frank Morgan – and this time MGM really gild the lily. It is only eight years since the successful original. It seems there were even more remakes in the golden era of Hollywood than today.

The real-life competition between earthy Joan Crawford and ladylike Greer Garson (the latter was then taking over from Crawford as queen bee at the studio) probably did not do any harm to their performances in the Loy and Harding roles as publisher’s mistress and wife. Herbert Marshall takes on Morgan’s old role as the married publisher Crawford falls for and Taylor assumes Montgomer’s role as Mary’s friend Jimmy Lee.

The star performances are polished and sparkling, even if Crawford hardly persuades as a novelist. Anita Loos adds spice and extra wit to the new script (writing with S K Lauren) and director Robert Z Leonard brings this thoroughly enjoyable vintage romantic comedy in smoothly onto the screen.

Crawford plays the modern-thinking novelist Mary ‘Minnie’ Howard, currently writing a novel about a love triangle. She is attracted to her married publisher Rogers Woodruff (Herbert Marshall) and wants to lure him away from his wife and marry him. But her friend Jimmy Lee (Taylor) desires her for himself and plots to introduce Mary to the publisher’s wife Claire (Garson) without telling Mary who she is.

Cinematographer Robert H Planck shoots in black and white when colour would have been nice for this remake, but then you cannot have everything, though this at least would have given a proper excuse for a remake. MGM must have spent all their money on the stars.

To save confusion between the films, the American TV title is Strange Skirts, strange enough as a title, you would think.

Also in the cast are Spring Byington, Rafael Storm, Mona Barrie, Leslie Francis, Florence Shirley, Barbara Bedford, Mary Forbes, Olaf Hytten, Larry Steers, John Marlowe, Harold Minjir and Dorothy Morris.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7504

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