"When Ladies Meet" is a 1941 remake of a 1933 film of the same title. Both are based on a 1932 Broadway play by Rachel Crothers. MGM must have liked it enough to remake it just eight years later, with an all new cast. And this is one of those few instances when the remake is a notch above the original. The story is a comedy drama - the rarest type of comedies.
The six main characters are the same. Most but not all the scenes are the same, and the bulk of the dialog in the same scenes is identical. My review of the 1931 film focused on the differences in the screenplays. Here I compare the characters and the actors in their roles. Anyone who hasn't seen the 1933 film should watch it also. The best roles vary between the two films, but this 1941 cast is better overall. By comparison, the plot is clearly more believable with three key performances in this film.
Mary Howard and Jimmy Lee have been friends for five years. She's a successful novelist and he's a newspaper journalist. Jimmy is madly in love with Mary, but she won't commit beyond friendship. Bridget Drake is a wealthy middle-aged widow socialite who is a friend of both. Mary changed publishers while Jimmy was away for a month on work, and she has fallen for her new publisher, Rogers Woodruf. He's a married man, but she thinks true, deep love trumps everything else. Rogers and Mary have been spending much time together evenings, to finish the last chapter of her new book.
Walter Manners is a bachelor architect whom Bridget had hired to completely redo her country home in Connecticut. He is an admirer, and probably in love with Bridget, but she keeps their relationship proper for the time being. Rounding out the main cast is Woodruf's wife, Clare.
The romance between Mary and Rogers is quite hard to believe in the 1933 film. Morgan's Woodruf appears at least 20 years older than Loy's Mary. Loy seems stiff in her role, and not as convincing, and Crawford's Mary seems closer in age to Marshall's Woodruf. Crawford also shows real naivete about loving a married man and what to expect. Morgan's role is clearly as a cad looking only for a relationship on the side. Marshall is more believable and shows his naivete at not thinking seriously about what divorce from Clare would mean.
While Robert Montgomery is okay as Jimmy Lee, Robert Taylor gives the role much more zest and enthusiasm for Mary. It's easy to believe he loves her madly. He seems more keenly aware of Woodruf's character, and cares more deeply that Mary not be hurt.
Spring Byington gives a very good performance as Bridget Drake in this film, but Alice Brady's performance in the 1933 film was exceptional. It is the best of all the performances in both films. She is picture perfect and believable as the wealthy middle-aged widow and socialite who is very scatterbrained yet quick and clever at times. Brady transitioned well from silent to sound films. She won an Oscar for best supporting actress in 1938 but died of cancer the next year, at age 46. Byington will be remembered more by movie fans from the mid-20th century on. Her career spanned four decades through the 1960s, and she was especially known for her matronly roles as a giddy, forgetful mother and wife in many comedies and dramas.
The role of Clare Woodruf is handled deftly and beautifully by both actresses who were established stars at the time. Ann Harding is very good as the wife of Rogers Woodruf, and the mother of his children. Harding's star had already risen as a dramatic actress. Note that in the 1933 film, the Woodruf's have children. In this 1941 film, they do not have children, but Greer Garson's Clare says she had hoped Rogers would settle down and that they might yet have a family. Garson has a slight edge in her role because she seems more pensive and animated in her discussions with Crawford's Mary.
Both of these films are very good. To enjoy them both, and compare them for quality and performances, one should watch the 1933 film first and then this one. This is mostly adult fare only because young audiences would probably find it too slow and even boring.
There are some deep lines with poignant discussions between Mary and Clare - all of the obviously serious aspects of a love triangle. The comedy is handled in witty comments and crispy rejoinders. Here are some samples. For much more interesting dialog, see the Quotes section under this IMDb movie Web page.
Bridget Drake, "Of course, there's no denying it - the only real unhappiness in life is losing a man. "
Jimmy Lee, "Someday, you're gonna go sailing off in a pink balloon and bump smack into Pike's Peak."
Bridget, "Mary's such a fool, but I love her for it. It makes me feel so close to her."
Jimmy, "Oh, baloney... He's nuts about you for the same reason I am, and it's not because your brainy."
Bridget, "If a woman must make a fool of herself, the least a man can do is let her be one in her own way."
Mary Howard, "Do you believe most men think somebody else wants them?" Clare Woodruf, "Of course. And somebody usually does."
Bridget, "You know, I think we're awfully cozy, we three. You see, most women who know anything treat me as though I didn't. But you and Mary don't."
Mary, "Oh, I adore Bridgie. She's the most intelligent fool I've ever known."
Clare, "But, surely you must have known that even a different woman resents being cast aside."
Walter Del Canto, "What in the world are you doing down here, Bridget?" Bridget, "Me? I'm a ship in the fog tooting a horn."
The six main characters are the same. Most but not all the scenes are the same, and the bulk of the dialog in the same scenes is identical. My review of the 1931 film focused on the differences in the screenplays. Here I compare the characters and the actors in their roles. Anyone who hasn't seen the 1933 film should watch it also. The best roles vary between the two films, but this 1941 cast is better overall. By comparison, the plot is clearly more believable with three key performances in this film.
Mary Howard and Jimmy Lee have been friends for five years. She's a successful novelist and he's a newspaper journalist. Jimmy is madly in love with Mary, but she won't commit beyond friendship. Bridget Drake is a wealthy middle-aged widow socialite who is a friend of both. Mary changed publishers while Jimmy was away for a month on work, and she has fallen for her new publisher, Rogers Woodruf. He's a married man, but she thinks true, deep love trumps everything else. Rogers and Mary have been spending much time together evenings, to finish the last chapter of her new book.
Walter Manners is a bachelor architect whom Bridget had hired to completely redo her country home in Connecticut. He is an admirer, and probably in love with Bridget, but she keeps their relationship proper for the time being. Rounding out the main cast is Woodruf's wife, Clare.
The romance between Mary and Rogers is quite hard to believe in the 1933 film. Morgan's Woodruf appears at least 20 years older than Loy's Mary. Loy seems stiff in her role, and not as convincing, and Crawford's Mary seems closer in age to Marshall's Woodruf. Crawford also shows real naivete about loving a married man and what to expect. Morgan's role is clearly as a cad looking only for a relationship on the side. Marshall is more believable and shows his naivete at not thinking seriously about what divorce from Clare would mean.
While Robert Montgomery is okay as Jimmy Lee, Robert Taylor gives the role much more zest and enthusiasm for Mary. It's easy to believe he loves her madly. He seems more keenly aware of Woodruf's character, and cares more deeply that Mary not be hurt.
Spring Byington gives a very good performance as Bridget Drake in this film, but Alice Brady's performance in the 1933 film was exceptional. It is the best of all the performances in both films. She is picture perfect and believable as the wealthy middle-aged widow and socialite who is very scatterbrained yet quick and clever at times. Brady transitioned well from silent to sound films. She won an Oscar for best supporting actress in 1938 but died of cancer the next year, at age 46. Byington will be remembered more by movie fans from the mid-20th century on. Her career spanned four decades through the 1960s, and she was especially known for her matronly roles as a giddy, forgetful mother and wife in many comedies and dramas.
The role of Clare Woodruf is handled deftly and beautifully by both actresses who were established stars at the time. Ann Harding is very good as the wife of Rogers Woodruf, and the mother of his children. Harding's star had already risen as a dramatic actress. Note that in the 1933 film, the Woodruf's have children. In this 1941 film, they do not have children, but Greer Garson's Clare says she had hoped Rogers would settle down and that they might yet have a family. Garson has a slight edge in her role because she seems more pensive and animated in her discussions with Crawford's Mary.
Both of these films are very good. To enjoy them both, and compare them for quality and performances, one should watch the 1933 film first and then this one. This is mostly adult fare only because young audiences would probably find it too slow and even boring.
There are some deep lines with poignant discussions between Mary and Clare - all of the obviously serious aspects of a love triangle. The comedy is handled in witty comments and crispy rejoinders. Here are some samples. For much more interesting dialog, see the Quotes section under this IMDb movie Web page.
Bridget Drake, "Of course, there's no denying it - the only real unhappiness in life is losing a man. "
Jimmy Lee, "Someday, you're gonna go sailing off in a pink balloon and bump smack into Pike's Peak."
Bridget, "Mary's such a fool, but I love her for it. It makes me feel so close to her."
Jimmy, "Oh, baloney... He's nuts about you for the same reason I am, and it's not because your brainy."
Bridget, "If a woman must make a fool of herself, the least a man can do is let her be one in her own way."
Mary Howard, "Do you believe most men think somebody else wants them?" Clare Woodruf, "Of course. And somebody usually does."
Bridget, "You know, I think we're awfully cozy, we three. You see, most women who know anything treat me as though I didn't. But you and Mary don't."
Mary, "Oh, I adore Bridgie. She's the most intelligent fool I've ever known."
Clare, "But, surely you must have known that even a different woman resents being cast aside."
Walter Del Canto, "What in the world are you doing down here, Bridget?" Bridget, "Me? I'm a ship in the fog tooting a horn."