I was delighted when I finally found another female director that fit my ridiculous, self-imposed criteria for "Great Directors" entries. Dorothy Arzner has directed more than ten films, those films aren't impossible to find, and she is definitely a major figure in the film landscape - along with being the first female member of the DGA, she's credited with helping along the careers of some major stars, and apparently invented the boom mike. Unfortunately, I didn't respond well to her most famous film, the Maureen O'Hara and Lucille Ball showbiz comedy, "Dance, Girl, Dance." Fortunately, there were plenty of other candidates worth writing about.
I settled on the melodrama "Craig's Wife," which is fairly atypical for an Arzner film. Most of her pictures feature female leads, and portray them as admirable and sympathetic. Harriet Craig, played by Rosalind Russell, is a cold, controlling perfectionist who secretly hates men. The film watches her drive away everyone in her life through her selfishness - her servants, her niece, and finally her husband. The original play that the film was based on is more satirical, and has been criticized for treating Harriet Craig as a one-dimensional tyrant. The film adaptation, however, offers a more interesting, psychologically complex portrait of Harriet Craig's neuroses.
It's clear that Harriet is a monster, bullying her employees, trying to sabotage her niece's romance, and avoiding a dying sister. However, she's a product of her environment and upbringing. Her callousness and obsessions with social status, financial security, and control comes from a traumatic childhood and bad experiences with men. She considers romantic love a liability because all emotional attachment is weakness that she can't tolerate. Her marriage - which she views as a business transaction - is based on maintaining the facade of a perfect, charming housewife, and her downfall comes when this facade is threatened by those closest to her. She's fine with acquaintances and neighbors admiring her life, but she has no interest in actually interacting with them. Her loving husband, once he becomes a source of potential scandal, is a liability. The only thing she truly values is her house and its furnishings, which she insists on keeping spotlessly clean.
"Craig's Wife," was the first film where Rosalind Russell got top billing. She's fantastic at making Harriet sympathetic, in spite of her impossible expectations and ice queen demeanor. She's so intelligent and poised, with a clear capacity for improvement, that I was rooting for her to learn the error of her ways and be redeemed in the end. The other adaptations of the play are less kind to Harriet, but here Arzner treats her as a tragic figure. She only learns to appreciate human company after she's ruined her relationships with every other character, leaving her alone with her empty, pristine house. Even then, Arzner suggests that Harriet still has a chance at happiness, setting up an encounter with a neighbor that could lead to something that's been completely missing in the film - the presence of female companionship.
The one complaint I have about the film, and why I was originally hesitant to write about it, is that it is so short - only 75 minutes in total. When "Craig's Wife" was remade with Joan Crawford in 1950, it was given an extra twenty minutes and Harriet's background was fleshed out considerably. Arzner's version is faithful to the stage play, though with a few additional scenes and locations to help fill out Harriet's world. In addition, there are bits and pieces of subplots involving the supporting characters that I'd love to see expanded. The murder mystery elements, for example, never really land well, and were eliminated from the later adaptation entirely.
As for Dorothy Arzner, she's one of those forgotten film pioneers who led a uniquely fascinating life. She worked with many other famous leading ladies early in their careers, including Kathrine Hepburn and Joan Crawford, uniquely positioned as the only female studio director during the Pre-Code era when silent films transitioned to sound. She's known for portraying women in more unconventional relationships, and particularly with foregrounding female friendships. It's rumored that she retired in the 1940s after the Hays Code came in, and Arzner's penchant for challenging the moral strictures of the day fell out of favor - cutting short a remarkable career.
What I've Seen - Dorothy Arzner
Get Your Man (1927)
The Wild Party (1929)
Sarah and Son (1930)
Anybody's Woman (1930)
Honor Among Lovers (1931)
Merrily We Go to Hell (1932)
Christopher Strong (1933)
Craig's Wife (1936)
The Bride Wore Red (1937)
Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
First Comes Courage (1943)
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