WHEN LADIES MEET (1941)

Greer Garson and Joan Crawford

WHEN LADIES MEET (1941). Director: Robert Z. Leonard.

Successful novelist Mary Howard (Joan Crawford) is having an affair with her married publisher, Rogers Woodruf (Herbert Marshall of Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble). Exploring this situation in her latest unfinished novel, Mary thinks that her heroine should go and talk things over frankly with her lover's wife. Jimmy Lee (Robert Taylor of The Night Walker), a boyish reporter who is in love with Mary, contrives to put wife and mistress together at a house in the country during a weekend in an effort to pull Mary away from Woodruf. When Mary meets Clare Woodruf (Greer Garson of Random Harvet) the latter is using a phony name as part of Jimmy's ploy, and has no idea who she really is. Neither does Clare realize that Mary is her husband's latest mistress. The two, who like each other very much, talk frankly about men, love, marriage, infidelity and the like until Rogers walks into the room, and the tenor of the conversation changes dramatically. 

Greer Garson and Robert Taylor

When Ladies Meet is a remake of the 1933 version starring Myrna Loy and Ann Harding. This version, although longer and with added sequences that are only mentioned in the original film, is equally entertaining and just as well-acted. One might argue that while Woodruf might get bored with the sweet Ann Harding, the very glamorous and beautiful Garson is a different kettle of fish! Still, Garson gives a good performance, along with Crawford, and as in the original film, the best scene is when the two ladies have a long talk just before bedtime. Taylor is good, but a cut below Robert Montgomery in the original, while Spring Byington as the weekend's hostess, Bridget, while perhaps not as funny as Alice Brady in the '33 version, is as spirited and delightful as ever.

Herbert Marshall and Joan Crawford

One improvement in the remake is the casting of Herbert Marshall as Rogers Woodruf. While Frank Morgan in the original was about as romantic as a dead fish, the more attractive and likable Marshall makes a convincing playmate for Crawford. While Woodruf is still a philandering dog in this version, the script and his emoting make his character much more palatable, and he seems genuinely concerned that he may have hurt Mary. Bridget's French butler, Pierre (Max Willenz) is funnier in this version, while Rafael Storm makes a bit more of an impression as Bridget's architect boyfriend, Walter. Another difference with the remake is that the Woodrufs have no children.

Verdict: A remake that is just as good as the original. ***.