When Ladies Meet

I had a blast watching this sparkling and affable MGM classic - the first and best adaptation of Crothers' luridly sophisticated play, beautifully shot in black and white with some stylish Cedric Gibbons art direction. Elegant and effervescent, this pre-Code film is a triumph of casting: Myrna Loy, Ann Harding, Robert Montgomery, Alice Brady, and Frank Morgan all in top form. Loy is surprisingly enjoyable as the lady novelist Mary who is deeply in love with the publisher Rodge (Morgan). I agree Ann Harding steals the show; she never looked beautiful and radiant as the wife of the publisher. Alice Brady is a revelation as the whimsical society matron Bridget. The film sometimes feels too gabby but it is aided by the stars' charisma and a tremendously witty dialogue.

.....that you can't help but like. Whether it's her unusual beauty, her sensuous speaking voice, her obvious intelligence - all together she has enormous appeal. She was extremely popular in the early thirties before fans tired of her "stiff upper lip" portrayals and they found favourites with more down to earth appeal. Her best known film is probably "The Animal Kingdom" and the cinema rivalry in that film between Harding and Myrna Loy was such a hit that they were paired again in "When Ladies Meet", a scintillating comedy adapted from Rachel Crothers play.

Mary Howard (Myrna Loy) is a best selling author who is seeing a lot of her publisher, Rogers Woodruf - for business purposes!!! Her dizzy friend Bridgit (Alice Brady) tells her she should "go for it" after all his wife is an "awful dub"!! "He's a married man" - "I know, the best ones always are"!! Unbeknownst to everyone they are having a very secret affair. Her new book is very close to her heart - it is about a woman, having an affair with a married man, who wants to confront his wife and have a heart to heart talk - her lover is against it, much the same as her real life situation.

Meanwhile, Jimmie Lee (an annoying Robert Montgomery), who spends a lot of his free time proposing to Mary, who rejects him just as frequently, starts spending time with Claire (Ann Harding), Roger Woodruf's wife, who is more darling than dub!!! Knowing that Mary is staying at Bridgit's for the weekend, he "accidentally on purpose" brings Claire for a visit. Even though their friendship is platonic, for a gag, Jimmie suggests they give the impression that they are... .... to make Mary jealous -"I'm dust under her feet - not the cream in her coffee"!!! Claire throws herself into her role with great gusto - "Jimmy-Jimmy, did I leave my handkerchief with you, when we were waiting to be alone!!!"

The film only picks up when Ann Harding appears - even though she didn't appear until almost half an hour into the film. MGM was just starting to realise what they had in Myrna Loy. Even though she is the second billed actress - she is the main character. But Ann Harding was a real delight, I agree with some of the other reviewers, she steals the movie with her elegance and sophistication, the scenes between her and Myrna Loy are riveting to watch. The first half hour was pretty "talkie" without much being said. Robert Montgomery, who has never been a favourite of mine, played his usual type, shallow playboy who never seems to have employment (he is supposed to be a reporter and he occasionally mentions deadlines, but never meets them)!!!! Frank Morgan plays Rogers Woodruf, the publisher both women seem to be crazy about. But apart from Alice Brady as balmy Bridgit, together Ann Harding and Myrna Loy wipe everyone else off the screen. The conversations they have "When Ladies Meet" make for essential viewing.

Highly Recommended.

What a thought provoking and stimulating movie. One begins to sense what was lost due restriction of the Hays Commission. The svelte Ann Harding steels the show. She literally makes you fall in love with her character. Frank Morgan's role was very different from those that he later played. The sincere caring that the two female characters had for one another shows a sophistication that is as entrancing as it is admirable.

This first film version of the Rachel Crothers play finds Robert Montgomery as the irrepressible playboy who will do just about anything to win Myrna Loy back from the clutches of married publisher Frank Morgan. Even if that means bringing Morgan's wife Ann Harding into the picture. And When Ladies Meet, watch out.

A later version was done by MGM but with more of an emphasis on the mistress than the wife. Joan Crawford had Myrna Loy's role and Ann Harding's part was done by Greer Garson.

Robert Taylor played Montgomery's role and the difference between the two films is the quality of their performances. Taylor had developed a real gift for light comedy, but for Robert Montgomery this kind of part was what made his reputation.

Frank Morgan was far better than Herbert Marshall because he played the role as the two timing rat he was. You watch Marshall's performance and you'd think he was the wronged party. As for Morgan, no one loved him more than I in the role of the inept bumbler he usually played, but parts like in When Ladies Meet and also in Hallelujah, I'm a Bum do show him to good advantage in other kinds of roles.

It's hard to choose between Garson and Harding though. Both of them have the best part in the film and both make equally good use of it. Each are the best in their respective casts.

Eliminated from the second version is a great deadpan performance by Sterling Holloway as the allergy prone golf caddy who destroys Montgomery's game as he's playing with Harding.

The original play ran on Broadway for 191 performances in the 1932-1933 season and starred Walter Abel, Frieda Inescourt, Herbert Rawlinson and Selena Royle. Ironically all of these folks had substantial film careers, but could never be classified as any kind of box office.

When Ladies Meet is witty and bright and a great example of the sophisticated type comedy that's just not being done any more.

I love old movies for many reasons, that they are time capsules of the era they come from being the primary one. This is a classic based on the source, the cast & the studio. That the same studio remade it post-code is remarkable, I just wish Myrna was given the wife role this time, opposite her old friend Joan. Unfortunately, when Myrna left MGM for Fox to film The Rains Came, Greer assumed many of her roles, beginning with Goodbye, Mr. Chips (Myrna, in her un-diva way, cites Greer's generosity to her decades later while touring,apparently oblivious to the fact she enabled Garson's star turn. No wonder Loy was friends with Crawford for fifty years!). There is no such thing as a bad Myrna movie, this one also scores points for trivia like the terrace beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, when's the last time you saw that?! Any old movie can be criticized for many things,but eyebrows? No wonder today's hits come from comic books...