SassMouthDames

Muriel and Sydney Box's Oscar-winning script offers a potent fantasy for women. Byronic James Mason believes in Ann Todd's artistic gift for the piano. He devotes himself to her transformation into a world-class pianist. He waits for her to become great and he waits for her to realise she loves him. This is a heady combination that makes only one ending possible. Ann Todd admitted years later that they had a passionate affair during production.

In Hitchcock's narrative economy, men can't see past the nose on their face. Women, on the other hand, have keen powers of observation. If not for an older governess, a nun, and a society dame in a monogrammed scarf, all would be lost. Margaret Lockwood gets stuck into political intrigue in a picture that made her an international star. Like her character, Iris Henderson, Margaret knew her own mind, and remained steadfast to her vision of dramatic arts during a long an illustrious career in film, theatre, and television.

One night, Temple Drake loses the security and privilege she has always known when a date takes her to a bootlegger's den in the woods. After being penned like an animal and sexually assaulted, Temple summons the courage and fortitude to rise above the brutality she experienced. Instead of hiding behind tradition which would sacrifice a man's life to spare her honour, Temple has a moral awakening during courtroom testimony. Miriam Hopkins gives the performance of her life as Temple Drake.

As the first queen of Twentieth Century Fox studio, Alice Faye shines in a frothy musical made up of glamour, lust, and mistaken identity. That Night in Rio (1941) fires on all cylinders from cast, costume, and story. Alice had worked her tail off from the age of 13 when she became a chorine in New York City and didn't stop until her dramatic exit from the studio in 1945. Alice Faye was the voice of hope and twinkling lights for a generation.

Angela Lansbury was typecast as an older woman when she was still a girl under contract in MGM. She was only 21 when Louis B Mayer insisted she play an unhappily married woman of 35. Lansbury had her own real-life romantic misadventure to draw on when she created the character. The seeds of later roles of villainous women Kay Thorndyke (State of the Union)and the 'Red Queen', Mrs Shaw-Iselin, are here in Angela Lansbury's performance as Mabel Sabre.

Before Grace Kelly grew tired of juggling wolves and left Hollywood, she made an indelible imprint playing Lisa Fremont as a woman of style and action. The silver fox photographer (Jimmy Stewart)has a negative view of glamour and thinks he sees everything, but Lisa Fremont shows him another angle of vision. Lisa's style extends to the way she moves about the world. In a dress and heels, she's more brave than most men. Hitchcock gives viewers a persuasive argument for the power of style.

In her second starring role, Barbara Payton not only holds her own against a leading man with 20 years of experience, she also manages to steal scenes with James Cagney. Barbara's character Holiday might appear to submit to commands such as the blood curdling 'make me a sandwich' but she also throws everything at him except the kitchen table. Barbara Payton is more than the tabloid coverage which sensationalised her sex life and struggle with addiction. She had a rebel spirit that put the Hollywood wolves on notice.

During the studio era, you can find sass mouth dames quietly stealing any picture, even one loaded to the teeth with armed men itching for oblivion. Virginia Mayo plays a fashion merchant who brings style to a frontier town. Ruth Roman plays Boston, a saloon gal with a cash register where her heart should be. Director Jacques Tourneur initially presents them as polar opposites. then makes the distinctions ambiguous, and finally beside the point.

Jacqueline Susann's life was more dramatic than any of the novels she wrote. She made her Broadway debut in Clare Boothe Luce's landmark The Women, worked in theatre, as a showgirl, in radio and television for more than twenty years. After she was diagnosed with breast cancer, Jackie wrote for her life, and finally achieved wealth and fame. She wrote each day from 10 to 5 for 18 months. Jackie's media and marketing savvy was instrumental in the success of Valley of the Dolls. Jackie's first love, comedian Joe E. Lewis always told her never go to Hollywood unless they send for you. When they sent for Jackie, she went in style for her Hitchcock moment, a cameo in the screen version of her novel. The production may have been chaos, but the women in the cast agreed on one thing--they all hated director Mark Robson.

In Daisy Kenyon (1947), Joan Crawford lives a bachelor gal's dream as a commercial artist. Her favourite model tells Daisy 'you cook like you paint, honey--fast, colourful, and glib'. Living in a man's world, Joan has adopted a hardboiled exterior from her married lover, the ruthless tycoon played by Dana Andrews. Soon she's in a three-cornered love affair, with Andrews and a widowed veteran, played by Henry Fonda. We're in proper adult territory: people cheat, lie, play games, and have emotional baggage. But Joan Crawford isn't here to save a man or make him worthy. Grown ups tend to their own ghosts. Daisy Kenyon is a prestige picture, from start to finish.