Leading Ladies Collection, Vol. 2 DVD Credits:

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Leading Ladies Collection, Vol. 2 DVD Release Date: 6th November 2007

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Leading Ladies Collection, Vol. 2 DVD Review:

Although the Leading Ladies Collection is certainly filled with a number of great films and incredible performances, it is also somewhat of a sad commentary on what it often takes to be a strong female character in a film. In all but one of these films the title women must deal with an unbelievably rude, inconsiderate and often hurtful male. Although these women are strong for other reasons, the emphasis is on their ability to take abuse from the ever abusive men. As a testament to their courage many of these women are able to stand alone at the end of the film. Unfortunately there are not many positive representations of men, and even in the realistic depiction of divorce in Shoot the Moon, the husband is the cause of the divorce and still manages to be the only unbelievably angered by the entire procedure. In other words, from this sample of films it seems that men must be portrayed as cretins in order to give these leading ladies more sympathy.

A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966)
This film shows that one hand of cards can be stretched out to last nearly an entire film, leaving room only for a brief set-up and quick resolution. Henry Fonda and Joanne Woodward star as a traveling couple on their way to happiness when Fonda gets himself in a high stakes card game. Woodward is forced to step in and play his last hand when he has heart problems. The performance are great all around which is fortunate considering the film is stretched to its limit plot-wise.

I’ll Cry Tomorrow (1955)
Susan Hayward set the standards for biopic performances with her portrayal of Lillian Roth in I’ll Cry Tomorrow. It seems that biopics continue to follow in this tradition, perhaps due to the fact that Hayward won a Best Actress Oscar and a Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award for her performance. Hayward does her own singing in portraying the alcoholic journey of Roth.

Rich and Famous (1981)
Following a unique friendship of two very different women who met in college, Candice Bergen and Jacqueline Bisset star in Rich in Famous, not to mention Meg Ryan’s film debut as Bergen’s rebellious daughter. This was director George Cukor’s last film, and this along with the performances is what makes the roller coaster friendship film entertaining. It is a frustrating tale about the two friend and their attempts as writers, each with a different approach. One has written a well received novel with critical acclaim and none of the book sales, while the other writes trashy novels that sell extremely well.

Shoot the Moon (1981)
Just before directing Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Alan Parker made this domestic drama about a family dealing with a bad divorce. Beginning with a harrowing scene in which the daughter hears her father is having an affair until an absurdly melodramatic climax, Shoot the Moon is the Scared Straight of adultery films. Albert Finney is the cheating husband and Diane Keaton plays the wife more than willing to move on, if only her husband would allow it. The divorce is frightening most because of the three children witnessing the fighting.

Up the Down Staircase (1967)
Academy Award winner Sandy Dennis (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?, Splendor in the Grass) stars as a naïve young English teacher determined to teach the students at a rough school. Surprisingly subdued, this worn out story doesn’t contain all of the clichés one might expect from the films in this sub-genre made today. For the most part none of the kids seem affected by the caring young teacher and some even mistake her kindness for something entirely different, but when she sticks with the kids she finds that there is at least one person that she can teach.

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Leading Ladies Collection, Vol. 2 DVD review written by: Ryan Izay