When Women Wrote Hollywood – “The Women” (1939), Wr: Jane Murfin – 45 in a series

To highlight the wonderful yet largely forgotten work of a collection of female screenwriters from the early years of Hollywood (and as a companion to the book, When Women Wrote Hollywood) we will be posting quick bits about the many films they wrote along with links to further information and clips from their works which are still accessible online. Take a few moments once or twice a week to become familiar with their names and their stories. I think you’ll be surprised at how much bold material these writers tackled at the birth of this new medium. — Rosanne Welch

When Women Wrote Hollywood – “The Women” (1939), Wr: Jane Murfin – 45 in a series

The Women is a 1939 American comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor. The film is based on Clare Boothe Luce’s play of the same name, and was adapted for the screen by Anita Loos and Jane Murfin, who had to make the film acceptable for the Production Code for it to be released.

The film stars Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Paulette Goddard, Joan Fontaine, Lucile Watson, Mary Boland, Florence Nash, and Virginia Grey, as well as Marjorie Main and Phyllis Povah, the last two of whom reprised their stage roles from the play. Ruth Hussey, Virginia Weidler, Butterfly McQueen, and Hedda Hopperalso appeared in smaller roles. Fontaine was the last surviving actress with a credited role in the film; she died in 2013.

The film continued the play’s all-female tradition—the entire cast of more than 130 speaking roles was female. Set in the glamorous Manhattan apartments of high society evoked by Cedric Gibbons, and in Reno, Nevada, where they obtain their divorces, it presents an acidic commentary on the pampered lives and power struggles of various rich, bored wives and other women they come into contact with. — Wikipedia

Watch the trailer from “The Women”

More about The Women

• The Women on Wikipedia
• The Women on IMDB
• The Women on TCM

More about Bella and Sam Spewack

• Read more about this screenwriter in When Women Wrote Hollywood
• Like When Women Wrote Hollywood on Facebook
• Jane Murfin on Wikipedia
• Jane Murfin on IMDB
• Jane Murfin at Women Film Pioneers Project

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