What's the deal with the one scene in color?

I am not 100% sure of this but I believe it was a tribute to Adrian the famous clothing designer at MGM. He had been complaining about the lack of glamour in movies, he was not selected to costume any characters in Gone With the Wind which MGM released later that year - thus he was given his own fashion show in color for the movie.

The real reason has to do with the contract that the studio had with the Technicolor company. Certain studios contracted with that company and were required to shoot so much footage using their process. Therefore, many studios first started using color in short films. (MGM was a frontrunner in using color for their shorts in color in the early thirties. Of course that color was two-strip rather than the three-strip that became the norm after 1935.) In the early thirties, MGM would film certain musical scenes in color for some musicals. For example, 1929's Broadway Melody showcases "The Wedding of the Painted Dolls" in color (although you'd be hardpressed these days to find a print that contains the color sequence).

After the process of three-strip was used for the short La Cucaracha and the feature Becky Sharp, both 1935, studios started to take an interest in color features, but they were still a bit wary of using it because of the expense and the difficult conditions of filming in color (large camera, extreme heat, extra attention paid to color schemes). So, by 1939, the year of The Women, only a few films in color were released: Drums Along the Mohawk, Four Feathers, The Mikado, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, The Wizard of Oz, Gulliver's Travels (an animated feature), and of course, Gone With the Wind, each from a different major studio. There may have been a couple of others. This was also the first year that the Academy created a separate category for color cinematography, which had been a special award between 1936 and 1938.

I guess the point I'm getting to is that major studios fulfilled their contracts at this time with special color sequences in big budget black and white films rather than use it on too many features. So, they always found scenes that would be enhanced by the use of color, and that is certainly the case with The Women.

"That was a good movie. You should have been in that movie."

I liked it a lot. Maybe color was superohmygod expensive in 1939... and they wanted to be prudent. Whatever the reason, I thought it worked.

Yes, almost as good as All About Eve ... which is one of my all time faves.

Bambi

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Also, ladies of their social status had nothing to do but "do lunch" and
fashion shows, among other things. I think the fashion show in color, was very creative as well as inventive, and gave us some insight as to how women of stature spent their time.

"OOO...I'M GON' TELL MAMA!"

I agree that it felt strange; however, color footage was new and one of MGM's focus at that time was to showcase the fashions that could rival the imagination of the magnificent Edith Head - call it a small "FU" shot at "Vogue" Magazine and "Harper's Bazzar" - seems to me that they ere getting a little tired of being disregarded at the Ball of the "High Fashion" ...... jmho.

What I want to know is if the names of the fashion models in the color section are listed anywhere. They don't appear to be on IMDB. One of them, the striking lady in the red and white outfit who throws the flowers at the "bull" in the picnic scene, looked a lot like Ruth Hussey, who plays Stephen's secretary in the regular part of the movie. If it isn't her, I'd just like to know who she is. All the models were gorgeous, but this one really stood out. Anyone know where a list could be found? I'm tempted to write to TCM's Robert O., but they probably are too busy to reply.

Katie Sloan
Eugene, OR

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This movie was created for a female audience during the depression, and that scene was clearly put in so the audience could go, "ohhh! ahhh! Look at the fancy dresses!" This is a movie about wealthy socialites, and there would be much admiring by the audience of a lifestyle that was way beyond their budget. But yeah, the scene is totally out of place and doesn't do anything for the movie.