SassMouthDames

Stereotypes about 'good' and 'bad' women are dismissed in Cabin in the Sky(1943) through stylish turns in costume and musical numbers. The all African-American production makes it possible to draw similar conclusions about racial stereotypes. Vincente Minnelli's directorial debut was a star vehicle for Lena Horne, but the picture also claims success through the nuanced performance of Ethel Waters....

Marion Davies could have done this picture in her sleep, since she had plenty of experience onscreen playing a woman who has a makeover and wins the man she loves. After two grifters doctor a composite photo of leading studio glamour queens (Garbo, Harlow, Dietrich, and Francis), Marion assumes the role with less fuss than it took to apply her eyelashes. The supporting cast are the best from Warne...

Man-Proof could describe the women of MGM's lot who resisted the studio executive efforts to divide and conquer women with type-casting politics. This woman's picture is a standout because it gives Myrna Loy a chance to be bitchy and sullen, rather than playing the wife. And I say Glory Be to that. Also, Rosalind Russell's wedding veil is a design marvel. I end the episode with a passage from Myrn...

1932 was a banner year for platinum blondes, but none dazzled more than the ethereal glow Mae West cast with white hair, a lavish gown from Travis Banton, and dripping with her own diamonds. In her first screen role, Mae West wrote her own material and set the bar very high for sass mouth dames set loose in a nightclub. She's modern, funny, and a total sex bomb. I close the episode with an excerpt...

More than any other actor in classic Hollywood, Jean Arthur showed audiences the inner workings of her moral compass When goodness flew out the window, Jean Arthur shines as a woman trying to do her level best. In this classic screwball comedy, Jean embodies the contradictions of modern life, playing a woman in a sable coat who can't afford the price of a good dinner. At the end, I read a brief pa...

Unfairly branded as one of the stars who couldn't make the transition to sound, Pola Negri was in desperate need of a hit when she went to Germany in 1935 to make the film. Pola delivered her greatest triumph in talking pictures, with a gut-wrenching performance of a singer on trial for killing a composer. Unfortunately, Jack Warner bought the rights and suppressed her film, so no one in Hollywood...

One of the most durable storylines in a woman's picture explores the search for a fresh start. Can women leave their past behind and start over? What happens when Baxter tries to move from being a madame in a brothel to a lady? Add in swoon merchant Rock Hudson, Julie Adams as a bitchy rich girl, and baby Natalie Wood and you have exquisite melodrama. I close the episode with an excerpt from Anne...

Lifelong friends, the rapport between Joan and Glenda translated to their onscreen work together in eight films. In five masterclass scenes, they become the ultimate tricksters, serving court summons to witless men who only see two hot blondes. I close the episode with an article Joan Blondell wrote in 1936, 'My Pal Glenda'.

Gloria Swanson was no stranger to ruthless men. She was crafty and figured out how to get permission for a banned production. Later, she fought the studio moguls who tried to stop her. Let it be said the bastards couldn't keep a good woman down. I close the episode with an excerpt from her memoir Swanson on Swanson, which tells the story of real conversion in Gloria's life, when she became an advo...

For episode 20, I'm pleased to welcome my first guest, Matt Harris, an archivist and hardcore Joan Crawford fan (@Glamorous_Matt on Twitter). We disregard the lukewarm critical reception and celebrate one of Joan's best films from her tenure in Warner Bros. Anyone who insists on calling Joan too old for the part should remember her character's salvo 'You just wouldn't believe how much trouble it i...

Although she takes third billing, Mayo Methot shines as the true star of Vanity Street (1932). With the face of a Pre-Code angel, she runs the gamut from hard as nails to raw vulnerability. Gertrude Purcell’s riveting script illustrates how quickly fortunes turn when your name lights up Broadway. This picture—a true gem—doesn’t receive half as much attention as it should. The episode concludes wit...

Instead of glass slippers and a poofy ball gown, Claudette Colbert receives a trunk full of glamorous clothes from her fairy godfather, played by John Barrymore. Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder offer a modern update to the classic Cinderella fairy tale. They replace the old standby wicked stepmother and evil spawn with a formidable high society adversary played by Mary Astor. Directed by Mitchel...

Ava Gardner saves this picture. There's no question that without her, it would have gone down in the annals of cringeworthy productions. Forget about the Spanish Civil War and a bounty on priests. Instead, read this picture as an allegory for how Hollywood wasted her in simple sexy dame parts. At the end, I read a brief passage from Mearene Jordan's book Living with Miss G. Mearene lived with Ava...

Joan Bennett demonstrates that ignoring a man can be as effective as having an expert sass mouth. Her natural champagne blonde hair suits the icy character she plays. George Raft exhibits more range here than in any other film of his career. He cracks jokes, sings, and tries to be worthy of Joan Bennett. I close the episode with an excerpt from Tay Garnett's memoir Light Your Torches and Pull Up Y...

Olivia de Havilland won her first Oscar for Best Actress in Mitchell Leisen's drama about unrequited mother love. Through attention to detail of the period and emotional finesse in underplay, the picture explores the way women carried on despite personal sacrifice. Olivia's performance has so much depth and nuance that she never renders the character as simply a noble cardboard cutout. The episode...

Barbara Stanwyck once told a reporter 'I hate whiners. You have to fight life and make it work for you'. When she yells blue murder at a man onscreen, it serves as an instant mood elevator and restores order to the universe. In The Gay Sisters, Stanwyck protects her sisters from a pack of men who wish to rob them of their land. Irving Rapper's picture blends comedy and drama for another standout p...

Mitchell Leisen’s Lady in the Dark (1944) may rate as one of the most troubled productions in Hollywood history, but none of the backstage drama translates to the finished picture. Ginger Rogers exhibits so much range in her role as a fashion magazine editor who has a psychological breakdown when she suddenly can’t make a decision. In the middle of her crisis, Ray Milland, as the head of advertisi...

What do you do when your lover sells you into the sex trade? If you are Kay Francis, you become ‘Spot White’ and learn how to use men to gain freedom. In Mandalay, from 1934, directed by Michael Curtiz, Kay Francis becomes ‘Spot White’ and develops coping strategies to survive the fate Ricardo Cortez consigned her to in the beginning, all while wearing exquisite designs by Orry-Kelly. A bad penny...

Marlene Dietrich, as glamorous Concha Perez, carries on the Pre-Code tradition of emptying men's pockets. In her last of seven pictures with von Sternberg, Marlene lives by her wits, beauty and charm to stay ten steps ahead of men. I close the episode reading from Marlene by Marlene Dietrich, about when she tried to turn her blue eyes black for the production.

After her father tossed her on the street, Anna Lucasta, played by Eartha Kitt, does her level best to survive a waterfront hellscape. When her family attempts a reunion to marry her off to a greenhorn with a fortune, Anna struggles with society's expectations and her own dream for love. I close the episode with an excerpt from Kitt's memoir 'Confessions of a Sex Kitten,' where she recalls first m...

In this Gothic tale, Ida Lupino plays a housekeeper who manipulates the lady of the house, a former chorine played by Isobel Elsom, into letting her two 'eccentric' sisters stay for a prolonged visit. A large bread oven sits in the parlour like Chekhov's gun. This episode is spoiler-free. At the end, I read Ida Lupino's essay 'Me, Mother Directress' from the book Hollywood Directors 1941-1976, edi...

In The Joyless Street (1925), Pabst overlaps the stories of three desperate women to highlight the post-war catastrophe in Vienna during 1921. In a climate of scarcity and exploitation, women are appraised and traded like any piece of meat in a butcher's shop. The director asks us to consider what value morality has when people starve. While the men speculate on stocks with reckless abandon, women...

Susan Hayward learns that fortunes turn on a dress. She makes her debut in New York City in a dress that screams 'Boise'. If not for stiff competition from Olivia de Havilland in The Heiress, Hayward would have won the Oscar for Best Actress in her stirring portrayal. I close the episode with a brief passage from Beverly Linet's bio Susan Hayward: Portrait of a Survivor.

Ann Dvorak plays a character who inherited her mother's bad reputation. On the run from the law, and down on her luck, she falls for a fast-talking reporter played by Lee Tracy. Molly Louvain side-steps a romantic triangle to present a woman who draws strength from forgiveness to do the right thing. I close the episode with a brief excerpt from Christina Rice's biography Ann Dvorak: Hollywood's Fo...

William Wyler's modern fairy tale charms viewers at every turn. Margaret Sullavan looks like a Dickensian waif but carries a deep woodsy voice that makes her a standout. I close the episode with an excerpt about their romance during production that led to nuptials, from Jan Herman's bio 'A Talent for Trouble: The Life of Hollywood's Most Acclaimed Director, William Wyler.'