Female (1933)
(Michael Curtiz, US 1933, 60 min., 35mm)
“I treat men the exact way they’ve always treated women.” That is the formula for success in both business and intimacy proudly declared by Alison Drake (Ruth Chatterton), a woman who skillfully takes over command of her father’s auto manufacturing company in this Pre-Code Hollywood gem, and male underlings beware! Among the earliest film depictions of a woman CEO, this tale of role-reversal zeroes in on the relation between power and gender at work that women executives continue to face ninety years later. An adaptation of D.H. Clarke‘s novel of the same name declared obscene in 1935 by the New York Supreme court, Female adds to the long list of film successes by director Michael Curtiz including Casablanca, Black Fury, and Mildred Pierce.