Sass Mouth Dames Film Club series 38

Megan McGurk introduces two gems in Technicolor and Metrocolor in The Brooks Hotel.

Get your tickets at Eventbrite.

Please note that refunds are no problem if requested by noon on the day of the screening.

(Give me a chance to re-sell the ticket, please).

Grab a drink at the bar. Outside food and drinks are not permitted.

Woman’s World (1954)

Screens Wednesday 18 March at 7.00

Clifton Webb plays an automotive titan who intends to promote one of his men, but before he chooses a top executive, he wants to meet their wives, because in the business world, the woman makes the man. Dowdy June Allyson and ambitious Cornel Wilde are the small-town hayseeds with a large brood. Chic Lauren Bacall is ready for divorce since Fred MacMurray is an ailing workaholic. Arlene Dahl is the bombshell social climber who drags her husband, Van Heflin, up the corporate ladder. Which wife wins? Director Jean Negulesco’s shots of historic Manhattan locations, such as the 21 Club, combined with Charles LeMaire’s lavish mid-century wardrobe, produces a magnificent feast in Technicolor.

BUtterfield 8 (1960)

Screens Thursday 26 March at 7.00

Elizabeth Taylor, in a fury over a torn dress, gives a man hell to pay. Instead of reading the plot about a disillusioned call girl, it’s easy to interpret Taylor’s anger at a personal level, directed at a clutch of MGM executives who worked her like a dog since she was a child, not to mention the outrage she felt at being called a homewrecker by the press. Taylor’s brilliant performance as Gloria Wandrous is a highly stylised portrait of rage done in lipstick, mink, and stiletto heels. Even though Taylor considered the script ‘a piece of shit,’ it still netted her an Oscar for Best Actress. Metrocolor and designs by Helen Rose showcase Taylor’s ability to weaponise glamour.

Sass Mouth Dames Film Club series 37

Megan McGurk introduces two gems from the 1940s in The Dot Theatre.

Tickets are available at Eventbrite.

I Wake Up Screaming (1941)

Screens 5 February at 7.00

Victor Mature is a publicist who decides that waitress Carole Landis has what it takes to make it in Manhattan’s café society. After she’s murdered, Vic becomes the prime suspect, but her sister, played by Betty Grable, isn’t so sure. Twentieth Century Fox mogul Darryl Zanuck believed that typecasting was as immutable as an astrological sign. Once typed, a star had little hope of changing their aspect in the studio. Zanuck was especially resolute in keeping women in limited roles. I Wake Up Screaming is the only non-musical picture Betty starred in during her Fox tenure. Betty exhibits a knack for dramatic roles in a downplayed performance.

The Harvey Girls (1946)

Screens 12 February at 7.00

In the Old West, we are told, nice women can ruin a town. Instead of the usual beef between ranchers and outlaws, the story whips up a feud among waitresses and saloon girls which looks like a candy-coloured treat. The picture boasts peak Judy Garland, Angela Lansbury with coiffures to die for, deadpan Virginia O’Brien, Marjorie Main, Cyd Charisse, John Hodiak, gorgeous costumes by Helen Rose and Irene, and songs by Johnny Mercer and Harry Warren. Director George Sidney and the Arthur Freed unit corral a sprawling cast in one of Metro’s most free-wheeling and feel-good musicals. Judy brandishing two six-shooters is not to be missed.

Sass Mouth Dames Film Club series 34

Megan McGurk introduces two classic woman’s pictures.

Join us for a complimentary glass of wine or bring your own.

Tickets are available at Eventbrite

The Palm Beach Story (1942)

Screens Friday May 9 at 7.00

In Preston Sturges’s glorious screwball comedy, ‘sex always has something to do with it,’ which means that Claudette Colbert can step on Rudy Vallee’s face (twice), and rather than give out to her, he buys her a new wardrobe. Claudette plays a mug’s game, by convincing herself that she can divorce her swoon merchant husband Joel McCrea, who happens to be broke, just to grab the first millionaire she meets. In a classic woman’s picture, economic pragmatism flies out the window when Eros shoots an arrow in your can.

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)

Screens Thursday, May 15 at 7.00

Lana Turner takes as much pride in her Twin Oaks uniform as the soldiers who stormed Normandy Beach. She’s a hard worker, keen on amounting to something. But what’s a gal to do when a drifter (John Garfield) gives you a look that promises to give you the business? Her husband (Cecil Kellaway) plans to cart her off to another country to be a caretaker for his sister. It will take an attorney more twisted than a corkscrew (Hume Cronyn) to pull her heels out of the fire. Lana should have gotten her flowers for playing a woman caught in a jam between duty and desire.

Sass Mouth Dames Film Club series 32

Megan McGurk introduces two superlative melodramas to ring in the new year.

Complimentary wine and snacks or bring your own.

Tickets are available at Eventbrite

The Best of Everything (1959)

Screens 9 January at 7.00

Rona Jaffe’s bestselling novel follows Hope Lange, Suzy Parker, and Diane Baker, three roommates who work as secretaries in a New York City publishing house. Their career path is littered with the usual perils: The louche boss who chases them around desks (Brian Aherne), a detached and judgy know it all (Stephen Boyd), a heartless Broadway lothario (Louis Jordan), a rich fuck boy (Robert Evans), and a boss who fears they are after her job (the exquisite Joan Crawford). This picture has the best of everything.

All That Heaven Allows (1955)

Screens 16 January at 7.00

Douglas Sirk’s portrait of suburban America highlights the poisonous underbelly that lurks behind the large homes and manicured lawns. Jane Wyman plays a widow who falls for the hunky gardener, played by Rock Hudson, a man who’s built like one of the trees he cultivates. Unfortunately, their passion is uniformly disapproved of by the local gossips and her snotty kids. Like so many heroines before her, Wyman’s character ignores what she desires just to please everyone else. Melodrama, thy name is Sirk.

Sass Mouth Dames Film Club series 30

Megan McGurk introduces three sparkling pre-Code gems in the Brooks Hotel.

Grab a drink at the bar.

Popcorn is free!

Tickets available at Eventbrite

Red Headed Woman (1932)

Screens 12 September at 7.00

Jean Harlow leapt to stardom playing an unabashed gold digger (or a ‘sex pirate’ as screenwriter Anita Loos preferred) who never met a man she couldn’t trim. She turns the tables on her married boss (Chester Morris) who assumes he’s in charge of a little office slap and tickle. Harlow lampoons sexual double standards without missing a beat. Keep an eye out for swoon merchant Charles Boyer as the chauffeur.

Trouble in Paradise (1932)

Screens 19 September at 7.00

Director Ernst Lubitsch set the gold standard for sophisticated comedies brimming with style in Depression-era Hollywood. Kay Francis plays an elegant parfumier who gets tangled up with two swindlers, played by Miriam Hopkins and Herbert Marshall. The ‘Lubitsch touch’ is on tap with the moon in champagne, daring jewel robberies, an obscenely expensive handbag, class upheaval, and a scintillating three-cornered romance.

Murder at the Vanities (1934)

Screens 26 September at 7.00

Once Florenz Ziegfeld kicked the bucket in 1932, Earl Carroll became the top chorus line producer on Broadway. Carroll developed the story about a backstage murder mystery and took his showgirls to Hollywood. Directed by Mitchell Leisen, a king of woman’s pictures, and costumed by Travis Banton, the musical revues give Busby Berkeley a run for his money. Not to be missed for the ‘Sweet Marijuana’ number.