Original Versus Remake

When I went to the Sundance Film Festival in 2002, I watched Stoked, a documentary exploring the rise and fall of '80s skateboard legend Mark "Gator" Rogowski. Director Helen Stickler did a Q&A after the screening and one audience member asked about the "feminist style" and flow of the movie, clarified to mean that it was structured like cross-chatter, "the way women talk."

The Women '39 (two stars total) from the Broadway smash by Clare Booth, reminded me of that description. There are so many characters and they all talk so fast, I couldn't keep track of them, even after copying their names from the credits. Sylia, the catty gossip, played by Rosalind Russell, reminded me of a cross between Lucille Ball (from I Love Lucy) and Moira Kelly (my favorite actress). She was the only endearing face in the movie. Stars back then could get away with smaller eyes, rounder faces, and bigger noses. The lead character, played by Norma Shearer, was no better-looking than the manicurist with the buck teeth and the annoying accent. The best-looking character was either the maid, Jane (played by Virginia Grey), or the perfume girl, Pat (played by Muriel Hutchison), both small supporting roles that get mere minutes of screen time each. Joan Crawford will always be old to me. The fact that there is an awkwardly inserted fashion show and a manicurist is the story's catalyst lets you know this is a movie about women for women, and yet I don't think it should have been called The Women. It should have been called The Divorcees, because it's more about these idle ex-wives' male-bashing than it is the admittedly cool concept of a movie absent of men. It's hard to believe a movie ALL about divorce was made in 1939, then again, that was the same year as Gone withe the Wind, which director George Cukor was being fired from right before doing The Women. The black and white to color effect from The Wizard of Oz is copied here during the aforementioned fashion show. Women seem to like epic movies that take place over years and this one doesn't disappoint in that regard. The best line may be "there's a name for you ladies, but it isn't used by high society, outside of a kennel," but how many movies nowadays have someone say they want to lay "spread out in bed like a swastika"?

They separated these two movies by genre at the store. They shelved The Women '39 under comedy and The Women '08 (one and a half stars total) under drama, but I would have done the reverse, or just left them together, under which genre I'm not sure. The remake is an intriguing update of the same story but the fast-talking, pre-war style doesn't carry over. What was expert pacing in the original feels like farce on fast-forward now. Just as the Sylvia character was my favorite in the original, Annette Bening's version was my favorite in the new movie. Her Sylvia is almost more important than the main character, Mary, played by Meg Ryan. It seems like everyone has daddy issues this time around, which is tacked on but makes more sense for how Mary could have missed her husband's affair. What doesn't make sense is why the most emotional scenes were not shot as close-ups on faces as they were in the original. My problems with this remake have nothing to do with what was added or left out however, they're merely the things I hate in all mediocre movies, like after-school special music, multiple musical montages, and a token gay couple. I loved the cracks at GPS, teens getting tattoos, and the pot-smoking scene with Bette Midler, who improves on the Countess character. The most interesting change is that the maid, Jane, is a gap-toothed redhead and no longer the best-looking character and neither is the perfume girl Pat. If ever there were two stars that don't have anything to do with each other, it would be Joan Crawford and Eva Mendes. Eva's Crystal is just a drama queen without any of the subtlety of Joan's. As a side note, the fashion show in the original is replaced now by lingerie shopping. This made me realize some things about the diminishing sensuality of clothes over time. The more chaste swimsuits of yesteryear (and featured in the original movie's fashion show) were more revealing than the skimpy bikinis of today, not because of the amount of skin showing, but because of the way they accentuated the figure. Skin distracts from, rather than highlights curves and workout clothes were sexier back then too, and more feminine. If I missed anything from The Women (1939) in The Women (2008), it was the hot, but goofy workout scenes. I know my time is up but I want to leave you with one last thought. These two movies made me realize that old movies weren't just shot in black and white, they were "black and white."