WOMAN'S WORLD
US, 1954, 94 minutes, Colour.
Clifton Webb, June Allyson, Van Heflin, Lauren Bacall, Fred Mac Murray, Arlene Dahl, Cornel Wilde, Elliott Reid, Margolo Gilmore.
Directed by Jean Negulesco.
A Woman’s World was one of the earliest Cinemascope films, a glossy star-studded drama set in a boardroom (similar themes had been explored in the 1954 Executive Suite, on a more serious level – which also starred June Allyson – as well as Patterns of Power with Van Heflin in 1956).
Clifton Webb had had a new lease of life at this time after emerging as a serious star with Laura as well as a comic star with Sitting Pretty and the Mr Belvedere films and an assorted range of brief comedies at 20th Century Fox. He appeared in Three Coins in the Fountain as well as The Man Who Never Was.
The film focuses on three couples who apply for a job. Webb, as the interviewer, is interested also in the role of the wife and the influence of the wife on the husband and how this will affect his suitability for the job. The cosy domestic couple are June Allyson and Cornel Wilde. The reliable couple are Lauren Bacall and Fred Mac Murray. Arlene Dahl portrays an ambitious woman trying to drive Van Heflin.
There is an atmosphere of tension in the interviews as well as the final dinner when the choice is made.
The film lightly touches on the world of business, ambitions, the relationship between marriage and career. Jean Negulesco directed tight melodramas during the 1940s including The Mask of Demetrios as well as Johnny Belinda. With the coming of Cinemascope he directed a number of glossy films including Three Coins in the Fountain as well as many based on bestsellers like The Best of Everything, The Rains of Ranchipur, A Certain Smile and Count Your Blessings.
1. The tone of the credits and the meaning of the title? The background of the song, meaning, tone? as setting the tone for the film?
2. The use of colour, cinemascope, vistas of New York, the New York tour, New York in the fifties?,
3. Was this a glossy romance film or was there something more? A comedy, drama, insight into the business world?
4. The presentation of men and women, the role of each? in America, in business, the presuppositions of men and women, their relationships and mutual influence?
5. What insight into the business world did the film offer? The Gifford firm and the descriptions of the manufacture of care? The humorous look at the business world yet the belief in work, the visiting of the factory and the pride in manufacturing, the roles of executives and the belief in the power of the executives? Influence of business, work on people and people subjecting their lives to business and careers?
6. What did the film have to say about priorities as regards the business world? How important were human values? Gifford's stating that personal interaction had to be sacrificed?
7. Did the film explore human values well? The quality of being a human person, not dying of ulcers etc? The quality of love. Relationships, marriage? The importance of happiness, ambitions? The question of integrity and achieving success on one’s own merits?
8. What did the film say on the best qualification for the executive job. Why was Talbot successful? What did each of the promissory dates exhibit? cacophony? Appearances, realties?
9. The portrait of the Baxters, sharing of their marriage ups and downs, Katie’s gaffes, sentiment, a typical American couple, their wanting happiness, their family, Baxter's honesty, the nature of mistakes, the human element? Audience glad when they did not get the job?
10. The contrast of the Byrnes family: brittle, ambition, the ulcer, not admitting mistakes, the irony of quarrels, the selfishness of Byrnes? The sequence in the restaurant and their eating their wedding meal? The possibilities of reconciliation? Audience glad that they did not get the job?
11. The portrayal of the Talbots? The Texas background, Mrs Talbot and her pushiness, her going after Gifford for the job, the irony of the dialogue between the couple? Talbot’s integrity, his discussion of ‘x plus’, the quarrel with Caroline and their break? credible? Did he deserve the job?
12. The role of Evelyn in testing out the various candidates? The advice she gave to Katy Baxter?
13. The dramatic importance of the showdown between Gifford and Caroline Talbot? Between Caroline Talbot and her husband? The break-up of the marriage as the solution to the filling of the job? The moral and ironic comment?
14. The humour of the dinner scene and the revelation of who got the job? How enjoyable was the film? The priority of its values, capacity for communicating this?
