THE OPPOSITE SEX
Starring
JUNE ALLYSON as Kay Hilliard
JOAN COLLINS as Crystal Allen
DOLORES GRAY as Sylvia
ANN SHERIDAN as Amanda
ANN MILLER as Gloria
LESLIE NIELSEN as Steven Hilliard
JEFF RICHARDS as Buck Winston
AGNES MOOREHEAD as Countess Grafin
CHARLOTTE GREENWOOD as Lucy
JOAN BLONDELL as Edith
SAM LEVENE as Mike Parker
BILL GODWIN as Howard Fowler
ALICE PEARCE as Olga
CAROLYN JONES as Pat
Director of Photography - Robert Bronner Music by George Stoll New songs- Sammy Cahn
Screenplay by Fay & Michael Kahn Adapted from "The Women" by Claire Luce Booth
Costumes by Helen Rose Produced by Joe Pasternak Directed by David Miller
(c) 1956 MGM ... 116 MINS ... METROCOLOR.....
This glorious film from MGM, has an all star cast and is a remake of a 1939 Joan Crawford / Norma Shearer film called "The Women", based on a play by Clare Luce Booth. The original was a drama, while MGM decided to add musical numbers to this version and bill it as a musical. It was originally set to star Esther Williams, but she was not interested in the role, maybe the lack of a swimming pool put her off!! The role instead went to June Allyson, who was a favourite with fifties audiences.. Joan plays the role off the vixen Crystal, originally played by another J C , Joan Crawford. Of course much later in her career, Joan would become involved with another Crystal, albeit spelt differently! Carolyn Jones who plays Joan's roommate Pat in the film was living with Aaron Spelling at the time, he been another connection with Joan's later career success. Joan was under contract to Fox, but they were delighted with her performances, so they were more than happy to loan her out to MGM for this film. But glamorous as the finished production looks, it was not all heavenly on set. Joan had a few unpleasant incidents during shooting. Whilst shooting a bath scene, which took three days, she developed a reaction to the detergent they were using to create the bubble bath. This caused her to break out in a rash, which burned her skin... While shooting a confrontation scene where June's character Kay finds out Crystal is seeing her husband, June has to slap Joan across the face. Well June slapped Joan so hard that her earring fell off and Joan had a black eye for a few days. June ended up in a worse state than Joan, with the shock as she had not been instructed to do the scene properly. Between being burned by bubble bath and battered by a fifties sweetheart, the last straw was when Joan's ex-husband Maxwell Reed appeared on the Hollywood scene, as he had just opened a lawsuit against her, claiming she owed him over a thousand dollars a month in palimony. He charged her with cruelty and desertion in his superior court suit. He laughably said he had made her the success she was! She even had to deal with been served a summons on the set to appear in a Los Angeles court over the matter..
However Joan enjoyed making the film, even though there was endless costume fittings. The film is more famous for it's fabulous fashion parade, than anything else. The costumes by top MGM designer Helen Rose, who has two Oscars for her work and has been nominated on eight occasions, are sensational to look at.. The costumes have even influenced today's designers, most famously Isaac Mizrahi, who has commented that they had inspired him! The director David Miller was delighted with Joan's performance and was heard telling Joe Collins, Joan's dad that he thought she was the perfect actress, reliable, co-operative, always on time and wonderfully untempremental... I recently spoke to Leslie Neilsen , who liked Joan and has met her over the years, but he could not remember much about the film. "The Opposite Sex" was nominated for Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy at the 1957 Golden Globe Awards. Even though it got panned by critics and viewers alike, it still is a glorious film to watch, with a sparkling cast of legendary ladies, glorious costumes,not too great songs, but two out of three ain't bad!!
Joan offset with director David Miller, Agnes Moorhead, Ann Miller, Carolyn Jones, June Allyson & others
Grace Kelly & Eleanor Parker were originally in the frame for the role of Kay Hilliard but it was give to June Allyson..
REVIEW :
The New York Times ...
Bosley Crowther Nov 16th 1956 ...
ALTHOUGH Clare Boothe's "The Women" was staged about twenty years ago and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer filmed it in 1939, it has aged gracefully, to judge by "The Opposite Sex," the remake that arrived at the Capitol yesterday.Most of Miss Boothe's comedy-drama still drips vitriol and the fangs and claws of its decorative vixens are almost as terrifying as they were two decades ago. The venomous mixture of deadly females vs. deadlier females, sharp dialogue and songs is a surface inspection of a segment of Manhattan society rather than the deep dissection it once was. One might not want to live in this plush "jungle" but the principals, who keep the catfights going briskly, make it an interesting place to visit.Although some aspects of the original investigation of the well-endowed Park Avenue-Broadway echelon have changed, "The Women" basically is still the story of "the jaded, frenetic women" whose meat is gossip and whose wine is divorce talk.It is still the soignée tale of Kay Hilliard, former singer, whose ten-year marriage to play-producer Steven Hilliard is the envy of one of her malicious, well-heeled friends. The pointed chatter of beauty salons and bistros that eventually leads to the wreck of the marriage as well as several others, is still highlighted by some bitter satire. Although our heroine's happy home life finally is restored, it is, as has been noted, a feline carnival for the ladies before the villainesses get their comeuppances.Speaking of the ladies, it might be added that it is this corner's opinion that the lush wardrobes, enhanced by excellent color photography, provided for this covey of dames, is enough to drive distaff viewers to distraction. Although the addition of five new songs by the team of Nicholas Brodszky and Sammy Cahn would seem out of place in a comedy of manners and mores, most of them are fitted neatly into the plot. June Allyson, who does an excellent job as indomitable Kay, gives a good, throaty rendition of "Now, Baby, Now."Joan Collins' performance as the two-timing chorus girl who snatches Miss Allyson's husband is eye-filling but hardly inspired. Dolores Gray, as the blonde gossipmonger who loses her mate to Ann Miller; Ann Sheridan, as a sympathetic, unattached writer who knows all about the opposite sex; Joan Blondell, in a brief role as the gentle matron who is making a career of motherhood, and Agnes Moorehead, as a brassy, much-married countess, lend spice to the palaver and punch to the battles.The men—including Jeff Richards, as a handsome Reno cowpoke for whom the Misses Gray and Collins fall; Leslie Nielsen, as Miss Allyson's husband, and Sam Levene, as her agent—try desperately to color comparatively pallid assignments. There's no point in underestimating them. Despite commendable stints by producer David Miller and director David Miller, the ladies dominate "The Opposite Sex." It should be a treat for them.
Joan & June slug it out in the film's infamous scene!
Joan with Dolores Gray
'The Opposite Sex' was recently released on Blu-ray from Warner Archive, it had previously released it on dvd a few years earlier.. The film looks glorious and a feast for the eyes.. The only extra is the original trailer..
ORDER THE OPPOSITE SEX BLU-RAY HERE!
You can also order the dvd version of the film at the above link!
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| Dvd Sleeve of the Warner Archive release .. |
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