The Women had been a Broadway hit playing 666 performances. When Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer purchased the play, Norma Shearer had always been considered for the lead role of Mary Haines. Reluctant to take the part, she was aware it would be a big hit and prove her critics wrong three years after the death of Irving Thalberg. A story of a broken marriage, Shearer’s character Mary Haines is the core of this circus of infidelity and backstabbing humor. Rosalind Russell’s portrayal of Sylvia Fowler brings comic relief to the proceedings, while the casting of Joan Crawford as Crystal Allen brings sparks to the screen. Shearer and Crawford had a long-standing rivalry (from Crawford’s end), so their scenes together are especially crisp.

Completely devoid of any male actors, the dozens of females in this film make it a delight. The Women would go on to be Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s second biggest box-office film of 1939, behind the co-production of Gone with the Wind.