The Women + A Reason to Live

(George Cukor, US 1933, 127 min., 35mm)

Mary Haines’s (Norma Shearer) spiteful friends can’t contain their glee when her husband has an affair with scheming shop girl Crystal Allen (Joan Crawford). But a hasty Reno divorce fueled by gossip only makes matters worse. Can Mary forget her pride and forgive her man? Crawford is at her sharp-tongued best in this drama adapted from the Clare Booth Luce play.

Preceded by A Reason to Live (George Kuchar, US 1976, 30 min., 16mm). “This film is about depression, although it's not that depressing. I suppose it has a message of faith and hope in it . . . it does for me. . . . But then again my interest may not match yours. It was shot in San Francisco and in Central Oklahoma with a cast of one man and four women. Crushing emotions are indulged in against a massive meteorological background that brings inspiration and terror to the characters involved.” – George Kuchar