The Warrior's Husband

This film still does exist. There is a 16MM copy at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where I was privileged to see it in July, 1995. I found it very enjoyable; anytime one gets to see a rare film like this is a real treat.

Just saw a beautiful print of this at MOMA, and was struck by several things. First, did it really cost only $400,000 to make? It's quite lavish, with thousands of extras, and while those are clearly flats representing the far reaches of the Amazon homeland, it looks like Fox spent a bundle on it. As with the stage source and subsequent Rodgers and Hart musical adaptation, "By Jupiter," it's largely an evening of sex-reversal jokes, but a lot of them are pretty good jokes. Elissa Landi, while perhaps less individual than Katharine Hepburn might have been, is a formidable leading lady, and Marjorie Rambeau is a hilarious Hippolyta. Ernest Truex overdoes the feminine-leading man stuff, but David Manners is a manly and appealing Theseus. It's fun to hear a lot of the dialogue that Rodgers and Hart adapted directly into song, or kept. Too bad it can't be seen more; TCM viewers would eat it up.

"The Warrior's Husband" as a broadway play was an early and successful vehicle for Katharine Hepburn. Alas, when she went to Hollywood soon after she did not appear in the film version. Instead we got Elissa Landi. Alas, also, this film appears to be lost. It is not listed in any film database except IMDB and has not appeared on TV or video cassette to my knowledge. I saw it as a 12 year old and remember it as very funny. Only later did I come to realize that it was a very irreverent and satirical look at a number of topics under the guise of retelling the Theseus/Amazon legend. There was something to offend almost any bluenose of 1933, including homosexuality, militarism, male egotism, family values, or you name it. Probably this was the reason for its disappearance, for it reached the screen just before the Production Code began to be rigidly enforced. The plot involves Antiope, sister to Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, and Theseus, who arrives in Amazon country, apparently wife seeking, only to get an arrow in his shield. In the course of his courting we get a view of Amazon life as girlish looking men lodge complaints against brawny lady warriors for sexual harassment, and so on. In literature based on the Greek myths, Antiope and Hippolyta are often confused. In the generally accepted version, Theseus took Antiope back to Athens as his queen, but Shakespeare in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" has Hippolyta as the lucky lady. It is certainly a pity that this very amusing satirical movie appears to have been utterly lost.