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Female

Play trailer Poster for Female Released Nov 11, 1933 1h 5m Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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83% Tomatometer 6 Reviews 55% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
The highly motivated owner of a car company, Alison Drake (Ruth Chatterton), puts up a businesslike facade, but she frequently cuts loose by casually dating men both in her employ and otherwise. When she tires of spending time with opportunistic guys, however, she happens to meet Jim Thorne (George Brent), one of her own engineers, and is smitten. While Jim initially turns away Alison's advances, he eventually falls for her, but can their burgeoning romance work in the long run?

Critics Reviews

View All (6) Critics Reviews
Don Q. Cine-Mundial [Ruth Chatteron] is still a powerful charming woman and, above all, a masterful actress. [Full review in Spanish] Oct 8, 2020 Full Review Michael E. Grost Classic Film and Television Exuberant romantic drama, about a powerful female business woman and her romances. May 17, 2017 Full Review John Beifuss Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) The Chatterton character's appetite for sex is large: She cherry-picks the men in her factory and invites them to her spectacular home for business meetings that turn into seductions. When she's ready, she tosses a pillow onto a fur rug on the floor. Rated: 3/4 Jun 23, 2014 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews This slick romantic comedy offers 'the before its time sophisticated concept' that a woman can run a large company. Rated: B Mar 6, 2008 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 2/5 Jun 30, 2005 Full Review Matt Bailey Not Coming to a Theater Near You Female is more than just a museum piece from that short era after the introduction of sound and before the enforcement of the Hays Code; it's a strangely involving, patently absurd, wildly entertaining movie. May 28, 2003 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member Starts out zesty and modern and is quite entertaining until the cop out ending. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member One of my favorite (mostly) forgotten stars of yesteryear, Ruth Chatterton, stars in this pre-code doozy. She's the head of a motorcar company, and sexually harasses her male underlings in a way I hadn't seen since Dabney Coleman in "9 to 5." This being the 30s, though, she gives it all up for one she loves (played by George Brent, Chatterton's real life husband, who eventually left her for Bette Davis). Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member I would have given this movie 5 stars had it not completely abandonned the feminist agenda. :( Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review Audience Member Female is more than just a museum piece from that short era after the introduction of sound and before the enforcement of the Hays Code; it's a strangely involving, patently absurd, wildly entertaining movie. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Another great pre-code movie. A fantasy about a woman who runs a motor company, which predates the Dagny Taggert character in the "Atlas Shrugged" novel. Billed as a typical woman-who-must-be-tamed picture, but this really comes across much more audacious than that. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review walter m In "Female," Alison Drake(Ruth Chatterton) has her hands full during the day running her father's auto company. But at night she has time to not only get caught up with her old friend Harriet(Lois Wilson) but also to make time with Cooper(Johnny Mack Brown), a new hire. The following day, it is back to business, putting her feet down in opposition to any feelings he might have for her, while she banishes a former lover to Montreal(Oh no! Not that! Anything but that!) before requesting some sensible female additions to the secretarial pool. "Female" is a fast paced drama that has a lot of fun with its reversal of the gender roles of the time the movie was made. The irony is that the movie also wraps up much too quickly but it is still entertaining as far as it goes. But, oh, that poor pig! Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Female

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Cast & Crew

Employees' Entrance 100% 77% Employees' Entrance Watchlist Lady for a Day 100% 80% Lady for a Day Watchlist No Man of Her Own 91% 69% No Man of Her Own Watchlist Alice Adams 89% 71% Alice Adams Watchlist Sylvia Scarlett 73% 47% Sylvia Scarlett Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis The highly motivated owner of a car company, Alison Drake (Ruth Chatterton), puts up a businesslike facade, but she frequently cuts loose by casually dating men both in her employ and otherwise. When she tires of spending time with opportunistic guys, however, she happens to meet Jim Thorne (George Brent), one of her own engineers, and is smitten. While Jim initially turns away Alison's advances, he eventually falls for her, but can their burgeoning romance work in the long run?
Director
Michael Curtiz, William Dieterle, William A. Wellman
Producer
Robert Presnell Sr.
Screenwriter
Donald Henderson Clarke, Gene Markey, Kathryn Scola
Distributor
Warner Bros., First National Pictures Inc., MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc.
Production Co
First National Pictures
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 11, 1933, Original
Runtime
1h 5m