SYNOPSICS
Woman's World (1954) is a English movie. Jean Negulesco has directed this movie. Van Heflin,Lauren Bacall,Cornel Wilde,Clifton Webb are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1954. Woman's World (1954) is considered one of the best Drama movie in India and around the world.
Needing to fill the position of general manager of his company, and believing that an executive's wife is crucial to her husband's success, auto industry mogul Gifford brings three couples to New York to size up: Jerry and Carol: he hard-driven and self-reliant, she willing to use her beauty to further her husband's career; Sid and Elizabeth, he ulcer-ridden and torn between achieving success and restoring their troubled marriage, she positive that his job will kill him, but gamely agreeing to play the good wife for the duration; and down-to-earth Bill, whose good-natured Katie fears that his promotion would spell the end of their idyllic familiy existence.
Same Actors
Woman's World (1954) Reviews
Car Lover's Alert
Last night I saw Woman's World: The plot concerns three hot shot salesmen who have been summoned to New York for consideration as the general manager of a fictional automobile company. They salesmen are asked to bring their wives along as the company president believes his executives need the proper kind of wife to be an effective senior manager. Much intrigue, drama, and hilarity ensue. Ford motor company participated significantly in this movie. In addition to a large number of 1954 Ford products, the movie featured two Ford fiftieth anniversary concept cars from 1953: the X-100 and the XL-500 At the beginning of the movie, one couple is shown driving to New York in a Mercury Monterey. The lead character played by Clifton Web is the president of 'Gifford Motors. Gifford Motors' cars all resemble Ford Motor Company cars. In one scene, the lobby of the Gifford building is shown with the X-100 and the XL-500 displayed. A Gifford manager is demonstrating the features of the X-100 to a member of the public. The Plexiglas roof panel is shown automatically sliding into position as the windows rise to prevent the interior from being damaged in case it rained while the car was left open. Apparently this was a big problem in the 50s as 'automatically closing in case of rain' was a feature of many concept cars including the Buick LeSabre. Later, the three wives are given a tour of New York in the X-100 with street scenes of the car in front of the New York Public Library and the United Nations among other locations. Throughout the movie, company executives come and go in a Lincoln sedan and a convertible. In one scene the president take the three potential general managers to the 'proving grounds' where we see a variety of Fords whizzing around a banked oval at high speeds with appropriate sound effects. Another scene shows a futuristic feature being demonstrated by three large-scale tabletop models of prototype cars: one model drives forward, stops, makes a whirring sound, and then moves sideways into a parking space between the other two models. Presumably it was lowering dolly wheels when it made the whirring sound. This was a 50s approach to solving the age-old parallel parking problem for which solutions are still being pursued today – see the latest Lexus automatic parallel parking feature. A boardroom scene also shows a tabletop model although it's not clear if it's different from the previous three. There is also a scene in the interior design department with many prototype seats of varying color and design. In addition to being a great movie, it is a real treat for lovers of early 50s Ford products.
What a Time Capsule
Slick, superficial CinemaScope stuff from Hollywood's early-'50s panic attack: How ya gonna keep 'em down at the flicks after they've seen TV? Fox tried to with big screens, splashy colors, and half a dozen or so stars crammed into one entertaining soap-opera premise. There's no cinema-making genius going on here, but the movie is overwhelmingly entertaining, both for its look and its morality. A consumerist's paradise, it's so stuffed with cars and gowns and doodads that you're seized with an overwhelming urge to go shopping after you've seen it. (The cars, in particular, are '50s-futurists designs from Ford/Lincoln/Mercury, and they're knockouts.) And the morality is so utterly of its time: The onscreen drinking and smoking are nonstop, the gender premises (men seek power, women seek men) are unquestioned, and the subtext is clearly that money and power are fine, but holding on to your man is what really counts. And to do that, you'd better learn to be a dear little klutzy wifey like June Allyson instead of a calculating harlot like Arlene Dahl. Of the women, Allyson's wife-waif act becomes monotonous, and while Dahl is luscious to look at and seems to be in on the joke of how one-note her character is, she's not really much of an actress. So Bacall, her crisp-sophisticate act honed to a fine sharpness, comes off best by default. The men are all OK, but New York is the real star.
Only Fox knew how to put this multiple character studies together
In the fifties, Fox specialized in this multiple stories around one theme stories that were making money and the other studios started to copy. Movies like Three Coins the Fountain, How to marry a millionaire, We're not married!, forcing MGM to make Executive Suite which A woman's World is a lot like. One of three men will get the high post of a high-up executive in charge of production for a car company? Who it will be will be decided by the kind of woman they are married to. This film calmly taking its time shows the nuisances of the businessworld, the path to success and failure; the folly/desire for power in the nature of man by contrasting all the characters. The ending is a surprise and so is the movie. And most importantly, it gets better with every viewing.
Highly flawed, yet entertaining
From my perspective, this is a pretty good film with one huge and one small flaw. The huge flaw is making June Allyson's character a buffoon. The small flaw is the lovely Arlene Dahl, who just doesn't work out in this project. The story is interesting. There's a major opening in the management of an auto company owned by Clifton Webb. Webb believes that in such a position, a wife's role is almost as important as her husband's role. So he invites 3 couples to New York City to try out for the position. The first couple is June Allyson and Cornel Wilde. The second is Fred MacMurray and Lauren Bacall. The third is Van Heflin and Arlene Dahl. The most interesting couple is MacMurray and Bacall. They're having serious marriage problems. It's not that they don't love each other. It's that they have different goals. MacMurray isn't dealing well with the pressures of business, and Bacall thinks that the promotion will kill him. Will she stay or go? Will he turn down the opportunity or go for it? Then there's June Allyson and Cornel Wilde. He wants the job, but his wife wants "small town" life in Kansas City. And third is Van Heflin and Arlene Dahl -- Texans. Dahl is overly ambitious, and seemingly more for herself than her very down to earth husband. Loving partner or slut? And then there's Clifton Webb, who is a clever owner of the company. Observing each of the couples carefully while playing things close to his chest. As mentioned, June Allyson plays the down-to-earth housewife from the mid-west who doesn't feel she will fit in New York City. She doesn't plot to intentionally sabotage her husband, but she's like a hick bull in c china shop. The trouble is, it's overdone and would have been even more effective had it been more subtle. Cornel Wilde is very good as the husband, and it seems like a very different role for him, Van Heflin seems oblivious to his handicap -- his wife. But he learns, and in doing so it's a fairly strong performance (for an actor I don;t usually enjoy much). Arlene Dahl just seems all wrong for this role -- a totally unlikable character that is all to beautiful; and I say that usually having liked her as a second tier actress. This is hardly Fred MacMurray's best role, but he does "alright" with it. Lauren Bacall shines in it as his wife. Clifton Webb is excellent here, although his role is secondary here. But he is controlled and poised, just as the role calls for. Webb always had a way of stealing scenes, although here he doesn't. Nevertheless, it's a fine performance. His sister in the film is a sort of balance to him; Margaret Gillmore plays the role just right. The success of the film turns on whether or not Webb chooses the "right" man/couple for the promotion. He does, although who that right person is will surprise some, although the groundwork for the decision is not laid until late in the film. Interesting turn of events. Despite the flaws, a unusually interesting film of the type that 20th Century Fox was quite well known for in the 1950s.
Wonderfully entertaining
WOMANS'S WORLD cries out for a DVD transfer. When will it be? It has everything a Fox film of the 50's had. CinemaScope, color, stereo sound, all star cast, New York settings and a sensational musical score. The seven stars really shine here. Clifton Webb is .. well Clifton Webb and does his Clifton Web to the hilt. The men Cornel Wilde; Fred MacMurray and Van Heflin couldn't be better. The women are even better. Lauren Bacall is her usual sophisticated self and is at her best, even better than in HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE. June Allyson is a delight as the not-so-in with it wife, and Arlene Dahl steals the show with her red hair and ample figure. Although I think Marilyn Monroe would have really excelled in the role as well. The plot line is fun and quite exciting as to who will be the new general manager of a car company. Who gets the job and why is a nice twist. So come on Fox, get this on DVD...NOW.