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.

Sass Mouth Dames Film Club series 29

Megan McGurk introduces three classic woman’s pictures from Depression-era Hollywood Thursday nights in the Brooks Hotel cinema.

Tickets are available from Eventbrite

Faithless (1932)

Screens 2 May at 7.00

Tallulah Bankhead plays an heiress who lives on caviar, champagne, and designs by Adrian. She scoffs at the idea of living on the $400 a week her fiancé Robert Montgomery makes in advertising. After the Wall Street Crash, the best laid plans of sables, diamonds, and Monte Carlo go bust, catapulting our heroine into a rapid downward spiral. Tallulah loses everything—her money, possessions, and self-respect. When she hits rock bottom, will Bob Montgomery stick?

The Richest Girl in the World (1934)

Screens 9 May at 7.00

Miriam Hopkins shares a fizzy rapport with Joel McCrea in a picture that made a bundle at the box office and brought the co-stars together for four more pictures. Playing a savvy scion inspired by Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, Miriam fends off a shower of fortune hunters who toy with her affections. Since she can’t be sure of any man’s intentions, Miriam switches places with her secretary, played by Fay Wray, to discover if Joel is after her heart or her money.

Stella Dallas (1937)

Screens 16 May

Director King Vidor’s classic three-hankie melodrama captures the way society pressures women to conform within traditional roles. Barbara Stanwyck plays a brassy, fun-loving gal from the wrong side of the tracks who catches the eye of the son from a wealthy small-town family. John Boles falls for her unpolished charm, but as soon as they exchange vows, he tries to smooth her rough edges. Their daughter, played by Anne Shirley, inherits her father’s snobbery, and is mortified by her mother’s loud wardrobe. Barbara Stanwyck’s performance is a belter.

Sass Mouth Dames Film Club series 28

Megan McGurk presents four outstanding classic pictures from the 1950s each Thursday in March at the Brooks Hotel cinema, Drury Street, Dublin.

Tickets are available from Eventbrite

The Damned Don’t Cry (1950)

Screens 7 March

Joan Crawford contributed to the script which was loosely based on the life of social-climber and Bugsy Siegel’s main squeeze, Virginia Hill. Joan spends the run-time in a quest for good taste and a life of her own. After leaving a bitter husband in the rear-view, she sells cigars, models clothes, and dallies with important men. Joan becomes the kind of quality dame who matches appropriate flowers for the time of day. In one scene, she scoffs at the flower box in Steve Cochran’s hands: ‘I don’t care for orchids in the afternoon.’

Mister 880 (1950)

Screens 14 March

On one level, the picture adapts a classic New Yorker essay about a counterfeiter who eluded capture for years. In the middle of the manhunt, a sparkling romance develops between Dorothy McGuire and Burt Lancaster. Screenwriter Robert Riskin had been a master of the ‘meet cute’ for nearly twenty years. Looking for any excuse to prolong contact with the broad-shouldered G-man, Dorothy makes herself a suspect in the investigation by learning antiquated forgerer’s slang, such as ‘boodle of queer.’

Tomorrow Is Another Day (1951)

Screens 21 March

Ruth Roman plays a platinum blonde taxi dancer kept under the thumb of a shady police detective. One night in the club, she picks up Steve Cochran, a chaste ex-con who seems like an easy touch for presents. Hardboiled and world-weary, Ruth realises that Steve is as innocent as a polished apple. After the cop is killed in her apartment, she lets Steve think he pulled the trigger. The star-crossed lovers on the run find refuge among farm workers. Can they make a fresh start? Or will the law catch up with them?

Peyton Place (1957)

Screens 28 March

Lana Turner’s star power summoned box office gold and the sole Best Actress nomination that she received during a long career. Lana kept the lights on at Twentieth Century Fox when the studio was almost bankrupt by the competition from television. The lush melodrama was based on the best-selling novel by Grace Metalious, an impoverished young housewife who lived without running water and fed a family of five on $20 a week. Peyton Place stirred controversy with a frank depiction of taboo topics such as rape, incest, and abortion.

Refunds are available until noon on the day of the screening.

Sass Mouth Dames Film Club series 27

Megan McGurk introduces four stellar woman’s pictures from the 1940s each Thursday in January 2024.

Tickets are available from Eventbrite.

The Feminine Touch (1941)

Screens 4 January at 7.00

Woody Van Dyke’s screwball comedy lampoons polite marital norms. College professor Don Ameche writes a dull book arguing that jealousy is nothing but a holdover from the cave man. Rosalind Russell, as his wife, believes it’s the spice of life. If her husband really loved her, he’d knock out any man who got fresh. Their theories are put to the test with the arrival of Kay Francis, a lusty publisher, and Van Heflin, a horny devil with a goatee and a satin make-out couch.

Phantom Lady (1944)

Screens 11 January at 7.00

Joan Harrison, former screenwriter for Hitchcock, steps into the role of executive producer in a stylish mystery directed by master of noir Robert Siodmak. Ella Raines tries to prove her boss is innocent of a murder charge. During her search for a woman in a standout hat, Ella bargains for answers by egging on a musician who uses a drum kit to perform a frantic masturbatory jazz solo. It’s all in a night’s work for a razor-sharp investigator.

Down to Earth (1947)

Screens 18 January at 7.00

Terpsichore, goddess of dance, played by Rita Hayworth, is outraged by a Broadway show using her likeness. The divine Rita descends on the ‘Big Street’ to mount a highbrow production replacing the formerly glitzy portrayal of the Muses. But Olympian art clashes with American taste and the show flops. Will the goddess ditch the boards for the heavens, or will she be a trouper?

The Fountainhead (1949)

Screens 25 January at 7.00

Forget about the cartoonish polemic of Ayn Rand’s novel. The real draw of this sly adaptation from Warner Brothers studio is the relationship between its stars. Director King Vidor trades ham-fisted politics for the volcanic heat between Patricia Neal and Gary Cooper. Vidor skirts the Production Code censors with scenes staged with a drill, a whip, and a fireplace poker to underscore the explosive chemistry of stars embroiled in a real-life affair. Patricia risked it all for Coop, just like her character on the big screen.

Sass Mouth Dames Film Club Christmas

Megan McGurk introduces the holiday classic Christmas in Connecticut (1945).

Barbara Stanwyck plays a popular magazine columnist who shares recipes and extols the virtues of living the simple life on a farm with her family. In reality, she’s a single woman in the city who can’t so much as boil water. Stanwyck lives the dream (mink coat included) until her publisher invites a wounded veteran to spend Christmas at the fictitious farm. Will Stanwyck be able to carry off the housewife ruse? Or will she be exposed as a fake?

Tickets for a tenner at Eventbrite.

(We start an hour later than the usual time!)