hyped garbage

A lot of fun.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Campy and entertaining, there are flashes of brilliance here: tight shots on Loy, made up as an evil Indian mystic bent on getting revenge against her old classmates, some scenes where tension is built up rather nicely (I won't spoil them), and even a car chase scene, 1932-style. You'll have to suspend disbelief over the concept that the mind can be controlled by another via 'waves', but that's part of the fun. Loy's motivation is revealed towards the end as she confronts Irene Dunne, and it reveals the racial climate of the times: as a "half-caste Indian half-breed", she was not allowed to "pass" as white in a sorority. As she explains it, for half-breed men this meant being a coolie, and for a woman, she simply shrugs, implying prostitution. As with many films treating race relations at the time, it has a mixed message, on the one hand, pointing out the unfairness of the sorority (and how racist its rules were), and on the other, elevating fears of violence by non- Caucasians. It's interesting that the film has quite a bit of the framework of the modern thriller in it, but it's not fleshed out as much as it ideally would have been, and seems abrupt in places. Finding out that the original release was 14 minutes longer could explain that, but I have to review it for what survives. You could do worse, and it's actually kind of a fun movie. Oh, and last point – interesting to see Peg Entwistle in her only credited screen role, before jumping from the 'H' in the Hollywood(land) sign in despair. Watch for her character 'Hazel' early on.

Somewhere written in the stars, made me, want to see this movie. Call it the power of suggestion, but I found this beautiful female ensemble film, pretty interesting. Directed by George Archainbaud, this psychological hypnosis thriller was based on the 1930 bestselling novel by Tiffany Thayer, of the same name. The story tells the story of 13th women, who were once into the occult. During their time as sorority sisters, they mistreated, and condescension, another woman, Ursula Georgi (Myrna Loy), because of her mixed-race heritage. 15 years later, all the girls, receives a horoscope letter from fame, swami, Yogadachi (C. Henry Gordon), foreseeing their end, because of that one crude act. Soon enough, the women started to be die in mysterious tragic ways. Fearing for her life, one of the 13th women, Laura Stanhope (Irene Dunne) to eager to find a way to stop the terrific curse, by confronting the dark figure from the past, in a last ditch attempt to save herself and her family. Without spoiling the movie too much, the movie is very entertaining, despite it, being really dated. While, the special effects are bit rough like the flowing head. It's still works. The action scenes like the slow car chase might seem bit silly, today. It's still intense, watching it. The acting is alright for the most part, but there are way too much characters to keep track of. All of the women, look way too much like each other. The ones that stand out, were a joy. Loy and Dunne were superb. In a rather creepy parallel event, one of the supporting actress, Penny Entwistle, commit suicide, a few weeks, before the movie release by jumping from the Hollywoodland Sign, due to her screen time here being cut-down and her career dying down. Many believe, this movie is haunted, because of that. While the movie might seem like very one-dimension, it's not. Made, before the Hays Code, the movie tackle a lot of deep social issues, such as religionist practices, social classes, women rights, miscegenation, and others. In many ways, Thirteen Women was one of the first exploitation films that feature many lurid subject matters. One of the biggest issues that the movie often, get criticize for, is the way, it seem to present the film's concept of race. While the movie might be look upon, as racist, outdated, xenophobia propaganda, to a lot of modern audiences. The movie does have some moments that taught people, to be a little more racial tolerance and respect, toward people of another race or a mixed-race, in some degree. This little message, would often be, overlook, due to the highly offensive and often preachy, racial purification message that this movie was presenting. The movie haves this idea that mixed breeding is wrong and by doing it, would lead to demon-like supernatural spawns that will seek revenge on the purists. I really found this part of the film to be a bit misleading since genetic diversity has been going on, since the beginning of time. After all, most Caucasian are already mixed-breed on their own, way before this movie came out. The movie would later, contradict this, by pushing making a statement, about race and the social stratification, through the eyes of Ursula Georgi. While, Ursula is play as the villain, in the film, in many ways, the writers made her, seem more like the victim in a way. The movie gave her, a lot more depth and heart that a normal 1930s villain might get. I can relate to her. She was indeed a complex character who often told the truth, more than lie. It's true, that fair-skinned people, in the 1930s had more social freedoms, than minorities. The only problem with this plot, is that Ursula Georgi looks white and could be easily mistaken for one. It's really hard to believe, that Ursula wouldn't be able to gain the same social opportunities as the other women, due to her race. I really find it, funny that Myrna Loy's character is supposed to Javanese mixed with Indian, but she shows, none of the characteristic of being, from that area. It's somewhat also outrageous, how little, the writers know Indian culture. They portray the often peaceful Hinduism religion as an evil devil-worshipping occult to the point that it felt like it was self-referential, something else. I know that, many modern audience today probably couldn't look deeper into the film, due to how offensive, the film is, but I found the movie to be, a little more gripping in its storytelling. I see the film, as a foreshadowing metaphor for the rise of Nazism. There are lots of examples in this film that point to this theory. It's very plausible. Still, I really don't know, if the movie was trying to be anti-racist, or racist. That movie message came across as very clumsy and very un-coherence as the movie seem to no clue, what it was presenting. It change a lot of things from the source material. In no-way, can be compare to better than the book. The movie also falls short of being an uncommonly deep, due to it, feeling a bit incomplete. This might be because, 14 minutes were removed before the movie's release due to censorship disrupts. Due to this, the movie has a lot of awkward cut-scenes with star-shape fade outs. While the movie is call; 13th women; in truth, the film only portrays eleven ladies, due to these awful editing cut scenes. The movie ends in a mere 59 minutes, which is way too short. Sadly, the delete scenes were never put back in, as those scenes were presumably lost even today. The Warner Archive Collection's DVD-R of this movie tries to have a good version, but while it's transfer of this is great. Some reels still have light scratches and scattered dust. Still, overall: this movie is a highly eccentric, vintage RKO thriller, worth the watch. I do recommended

There may have originally been 13 women targeted for revenge but the cutting of the film obviously lessened that number considerably. Nevertheless, this story of one woman's mission to do away with the girls who snubbed her for sorority membership is worth watching.Myrna Loy, again playing the role of an Eurasian, is beautiful and mysterious as the revenge seeker. Due to her unusual beauty, she made her early career playing exotics and the low-key lighting of this film served her well in some of her scenes. Included in the cast are the then Mrs. Laurence Olivier (Jill Esmond), Irene Dunne and Peg Entwhistle (whose tragic real-life leap from the Hollywoodland sign is her only claim to fame). I could not identify Ms. Entwhistle so it is possible that her scenes ended up on the cutting room floor.Ricardo Cortez plays the detective although he usually was cast as a villain, mob boss or gigolo. He doesn't appear until late in the film which might also say something about the cutting of part of the story. C.Henry Gordon, a stalwart in 1930s film, plays a swami advising Loy with his usual panache. She has her way with him eventually adding to the body count.It's true that the film is dated and a bit overwrought but for my money it is a good entry into the early RKO thriller category

Myrna Loy in one of her earliest--and perhaps silliest--roles, that of a half-caste named Ursula Georgi who strikes back at the women who ostracized her many years ago at a girls' school in San Francisco using "the power of suggestion." Loy, ever the outcast, looks made-up for a night with Fu Manchu; with her colorful appearance and eyes glinting with delicious revenge and evil satisfaction, one may assume Myrna was getting a kick out of these overwrought proceedings. Although the film was produced by RKO and probably had a fairly large budget for 1932, it seems tatty and awkward, and saddled with an anti-climactic finish. It may be just enough of a curio to garner a desperate audience, however anyone looking for the Golden Age of Hollywood would be well-advised to duck for cover. ** from ****