This being Thursday, it's time for another edition of Thursday Movie Picks, the blogathon run by Wandering Through the Shelves. This week's theme is "Female Bosses", something which wasn't particularly common in the sort of old movie that I normally blog about. The Production Code generally wanted women to stay in the home and be good mothers and housewives. But there were women who could certainly be considered bosses, although only one of my selections is in the traditional business sense:
Female (1933). Ruth Chatterton plays a woman who inherited her father's automobile company, and decided to run it herself, something she's very good at. So good that she doesn't have time for a serious romantic relationship. At least, not until she meets automotive engineer George Brent. Modern-day women will probably dislike the ending to this one.
This Woman Is Dangerous (1952). Joan Crawofrd plays the boss of a gang of criminals that pulls off high-value heists. Unfortunately, she's also going blind, and needs an operation that only specialist doctor Dennis Morgan can perform. So she drops out of sight (no pun intended) to get the surgery, not telling second-in-command David Brian. She falls in love with Morgan and decides to go straight, but Brian finds out where she is. It's the sort of over-the-top melodrama that Crawford was so good at doing in the 1950s, even if the movies aren't the highest quality.
The Virgin Queen (1955). Bette Davis plays one of the ultimate female bosses, Elizabeth I of England. This time, she's pursued by Sir Walter Raleigh (Richard Todd), who is looking for financing to undertake an expedition to the New World (remember, this is a good quarter century before Jamestown). Of course, there's all sorts of palace intrigue going on, and Raleigh complicates things by falling in love with one of Her Majesty's ladies-in-waiting (a young Joan Collins).
3 comments:
I have not seen The Virgin Queen (yet) but I've heard a lot of good things about it.
I hope I'll get to watch it sometime.
I really need to see both the Joan and Bette movies.
Nice to see you again. I'd like to see Ruth Chatterton on a good ole movie like this. I wonder if Constance Bennett did a film where she is the boss.
I haven't seen your other 2 bit Joan played a few manly roles. I chose Mildred Pierce but I could have gone with Johnny Guitar too. This one seems to have the men in the female roles and the 2 gals as the 2 men.i have yet to see Bette as Elizabeth 1st. I wonder how many.actresses played her.
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