When Ladies Meet (1941)

“Women are like eggs, my darling. When they’re good, they’re good. When they’re not….”

When Ladies Meet is a 1941 remake of the 1933 version of the film which starred Ann Harding, Robert Montgomery and Myrna Loy. This was originally a stage play, and that shows in many of this film’s light witty, comedic scenes. Joan Crawford plays popular romance author Mary ‘Minnie’ Howard. Her longtime beau, journalist Jimmy (Robert Taylor) returns from an assignment only to discover that he’s been supplanted in Mary’s affections by her new publisher, Rogers Woodruff (Herbert Marshall).

Woodruff is a married man, but his wife remains just a vague idea and an obstacle to Mary. She’s convinced that she loves Rogers and that she wants to spend the rest of her life with him. To her, they “live in a world apart.” If she ever stops to think about Rogers’ wife, Mary imagines that she must be a dull housewife, an intellectual inferior.

The film scenes have perfect timing, and this shows best in the sparkling scenes between Mary and Jimmy. Mary is busy working on her latest novel that revolves around a love triangle between a married man, his wife and his mistress. Mary and Rogers avidly discuss the novel and its happy ending, and while they are supposedly discussing characters in a book, it’s very obvious to everyone around them, that Rogers and Mary are discussing the possibility of a future together. Jimmy, a realist who sees Rogers as a weak roué, can’t stomach the sort of double talk alluding to a great romance that passes back and forth between Mary and Rogers. Robert Taylor really does well in this role, and Jimmy is seen as a straight shooter who is under gunned in the romance department, but who wins hands down when it comes to sincerity.

Like a great many love affairs, Mary’s is rooted in fantasy, and Jimmy manages to spoil these fantasies on more than one occasion with a few ill-timed visits. While Mary’s dingy friend, the addlepated Bridgie (Spring Byington) tries to provide Mary with an alibi for a weekend in the country, Jimmy manages to disrupt the great love affair when he arrives with Mrs. Woodruff, played by a very elegant Greer Garson. At first the two women, Mary, the mistress and Claire, the neglected wife are oblivious to each other’s identity and significance, but all that changes in a single weekend when everyone descends on Bridgie’s ostentatious country home which she shares with her designer gigolo housemate.

The main theme in When Ladies Meet is adultery and what happens when one very accomplished ‘other woman’ meets the very accomplished wife of her lover. The film takes a different look at an old situation, and Mary meets and likes Mrs. Woodruff before she knows that she’s met her rival. These two women appreciate each other, and in so doing, Woodruff emerges as the villain of the piece–a man who’s betrayed a number of women. This is a very different take on a familiar theme–we so often see the spouses fighting, and this is an almost passionless disintegration of a marriage that manages to be poignant.

Special mention here for Greer Garson’s elegant performance conducted with grace, dignity and subdued emotion. This is quite possibly one of the least passionate adultery films I’ve seen, but it’s quietly effective and surprisingly sweet. Directed by Robert Z. Leonard.