A neurotic southerner steals her sister’s husband then vies with her for another man.
(Turner Classic Movies)

A vile woman schemes to destroy her sister’s marriage and her subsequent engagement to another man.
(TV Now)

Neurotic. Vile. Can we find no way to talk about an unsympathetic female character without questioning her mental health or calling her physically disgusting?

Those may be fitting words for this despicable character, but what does it say about the person who dreamed the character up? I wanted to say this is the sort of character only a real misogynist could create, but the film is based on a novel written by a woman. I would like to find a copy of this book to see how far the director and screenwriter fell from the author’s intent, or how complicit the 1940s writer was in perpetuating this distorted image of women.

Equally troubling: what does all this say about the IMDb voters who have given this film a relatively high rating of 7.0? How is this film at all respected? The screenplay is weak, the story meanders, and the supporting actors are almost universally poor. That apart from any feminist concerns of mine. What are other people seeing here?

Oh, this kind of role angers me nearly as much as Davis’ positively simpering turn in The Petrified Forest, also apparently beloved by some. Can women in the golden age of Hollywood only be dolls or monsters? Even the indomitable Tracy Lord was finally made yare.

The film intends to demonstrate the horror of women who try to become men. There is nothing revolutionary about either sister; they are not ultimately meant to be seen as free spirits. Their father (who, incidentally, is probably more stereotypically feminine than anyone in this film, and intentionally so) made the mistake of naming them Stanley and Roy and giving them the personal and financial freedom of a man. Stanley drives her own car (fast) and won’t allow any man to “boss” her. When Craig tells Roy she’s intelligent, she notes, “that’s a trait every man admires — in another man.” The film posits that when intelligence, wealth and a mind of one’s own is crossed with feminine sexuality and manipulation, the product is Stanley: a selfish, revolting, psychopathic monstrosity. What saves Roy from the same fate is her final willingness to marry Craig.

Recommended only for woman-haters and forgiving fans of Davis.