The Women

With an incredible stellar cast, Cukor's acerbically hilarious masterpiece adapted from Clare Boothe's hit stage play by Anita Loos and Jane Murfin (screenwriters of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes among others), it's pretty clear that this is very much a film by, about and for women. If a man had to direct it, and in 1930s Hollywood it was pretty much always a man, then George Cukor (Little Women, Gaslight, The Philadelphia Story) was the very best choice. When Norma Shearer's Mary loses her husband to man-eating Joan Crawford, the knives are out and combat begins.