Female

I am indebted to others on this site to learn that Mr Curtiz was by no means the only director involved in this film, that the sprightly Ruth Chatterton was 41 and married to her co-star at the time of shooting. I also might not have been aware of the Frank Lloyd Wright architecture on display but what I wouldn't have needed any prompting on was just how much fun this movie is. Chatterton as head of a major company employing many men rather enjoys suggesting overtime in her room at night and then, astonishingly, tossing a cushion onto the floor to get the message across. Great cars, great buildings, some amazing dialogue and some eye popping moments as our leading lady goes from hard and calculating, to assured and seductive before rejecting all this manly stuff and reverting to being female and married and all that stuff. Most enjoyable, audiences at the time must have sat mouth agape.

A pre-code drama that turns the male stereotype around by having Ruth Chatterton play an executive that's all business by day, but a man-eater by night. As Alison Drake, the head of an automobile manufacturing company that was started by her now deceased father, the actress plays a confident decisive woman that surrounds herself with good looking male secretaries and assistants that she can invite to her home after business hours for sexual liaisons. If any of the men get too chummy, she has them fired or transferred by her only older assistant, a trustworthy father-figure type (Ferdinand Gottschalk) named Pettigrew.

But Alison tires of the routine, realizing that everyone wants something from her, and she doubts the authenticity of the compliments (and a marriage proposal from Douglas Dumbrille, not looking very suave in a bathing suit) she constantly receives. Desiring to be 'just a woman', Alison escapes to a common part of town where she sees and pursues a man (George Brent) that she meets at a shooting gallery. They dance, have hamburgers and a good time together but, at the end of the evening, he declines Alison's offer to take her home, claiming he has a strict rule about pick-ups.

Of course, the man turns out to be Jim Thorne, an engineer that her company just hired to design a car with an automatic transmission. However, Alison learns that her regular routine doesn't work with Jim; the vodka her butler serves doesn't make him amorous and he spurns her advances.

Predictably, this causes her to revert to being a more typical female, one who's willing to chuck everything just to win him.

Originally directed by William Dieterle and then William Wellman, the only screen credit was given to Michael Curtiz, who was brought in to reshoot the scenes with Johnny Mack Brown (per some comments Robert Osborne made when the film aired on TCM), who plays one of Chatterton's pawns. Donald Henderson Clark wrote the story that was adapted by Gene Markey and Kathryn Scola.

Female (1933)

Smart, fast, witty, daring, fresh, impressive. A great little movie (just an hour long) with such a swirling series of events, and such great acting, you hardly know it's over. The filming is really tight and modern, the writing is sharp, and the leading role, the sexually liberated executive woman played by Ruth Chatterton, is spot on perfect. When George Brent appears (after half an hour), he matches her in a subtle, convincing performance that shows why, after having made twenty films already, he still had his career ahead of him. Chatterton, by contrast, made few films later, which is our loss.

The astonishing thing about the plot, of course, is how racy it is. Even today, with no holds barred (just some letters in a rating system), to have a leading woman sleep around with every handsome young man she wants, without any down side (no backstabbing, no violence, no disease, no remorse, nothing at all) is bold. These days, of course, she'd be a poster child against sexual harassment on the workplace.

But really the movie is about strength, and romance, and is remarkably modern and alive. The director is Michael Curtiz, who made such a huge number of films some of the gems like this one get lost. Some of his other gems, of course, are not lost at all (like, uh, Casablanca or Mildred Pierce). Give this its due. Worth every frame.

A powerful FEMALE tycoon is accustomed to getting everything she wants - including men - until she meets a fellow utterly unimpressed by her wealth.

Ruth Chatterton completely dominates this brilliant, fascinating little film, until off-screen spouse George Brent shows up midway through the proceedings. Deftly handling the details of her life - from controlling her commercial competitors to adroitly arranging her next romantic conquest, Chatterton never lets up for a moment. Suave & composed, Brent arrives on the scene, calmly pegging targets in a sideshow, and presents the immovable object to her irresistible force.

Definitely pre-Code, the script throws a few zingers into the face of complacent modern viewers, with Chatterton & Brent doing all they can to entertain their audience. If her toughness turns into compliant conformity at the fadeout, it's a small price to pay for an hour's amusement.

Impish Ferdinand Gottschalk steals several scenes as Chatterton's fey factotum, while Ruth Donnelly makes the most of her tiny role as a spinster secretary. Johnny Mack Brown & Philip Reed are two of Chatterton's discarded young men.

Movie mavens will recognize Robert Greig & Rafaela Ottiano as Chatterton's butler & maid, as well as elderly Charley Grapewin as a sidewalk inebriate, all uncredited.

Warner Brothers gave the film a first-rate production; the terrific sets use detail to add to the story, rather than detract from it. Also, notice the ironic use of the Harry Warren tune during the seduction scenes; by the end of 1933 it would be famous as 'Shanghai Lil,' (with lyrics by Al Dubin) climaxing Warner's FOOTLIGHT PARADE.

I think that this was one of the most incredible and yet most under-rated films for it's time. For even though they ended with the woman succumbing to the whim of man and the traditional "woman's role", it still spoke miles for the woman. She was strong, brave, and did everything that a man could do and wasn't ashamed and had they only kept her going she could have been great. In fact, she could have won. But did she really lose? I don't think so, because maybe it showed something more about the female mystique, something that people missed because they thought that it only showed how a woman in power breaks down under pressure. What if they were really trying to show something deeper...I don't know now I am getting lost...too many things going through my mind to explain. Nonetheless, I do know that I was in awe after watching this film and it has had a lasting impression on me ever since.