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the audience applauded

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

"When Ladies Meet" is the story of a married couple, a lady author and a charming single journalist. Joan Crawford, the author, considers herself a "modern woman" freed from tiresome conventions and moral imperatives. Despite the movie's 1941 date, the author's relativistic attitude toward marriage and fidelity would be right at home in today's left-wing intellectual circles. Her gradual evolution towards a different attitude is the meat of the movie. Mirroring the situation in her book is the situation of the married couple, Greer Garson and Herbert Marshall. The fourth member of the group is Robert Taylor as a journalist whose surface gaiety hides a serious moral foundation.The four actors make the movie much better than the script. Garson and Crawford strike sparks off each other in every scene they share. Herbert Marshall is suitably smooth and sleazy. But it's Robert Taylor in a role involving physical comedy whose work is the most impressive. As it turns out, he is the person most grounded in reality--and the hidden hand behind everything.Everything has the expected MGM gloss--extravagant costumes, beautiful sets, excellent photography. Highly recommended.

A stylish showcase for some of MGM's top stars of the classic era -- Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor and Greer Garson in the second adaptation of a successful Broadway romantic "dramedy." It was aired on TCM, recently as part of their salute to Robert Taylor, and it's a movie that this Joan Crawford fan had never seen! From the start, it's readily evident that MGM has given full reign to their excellent production designers throughout the movie, and it certainly looks as great as any production from that studio in the 1940s. The interiors are lavish and artfully decorated, and the few exterior sequences look fantastic and are expertly filmed in MGM's highest standards of production. And certainly an in-depth review of just the costume design could be possible! Unfortunately though, the dramatic proceedings presented are much too refined and diluted to be of much interest today, since the drawing room dialog and the plot convolutions seem somewhat antiquated -- if not downright clichéd. Today movies like this can only be wholeheartedly recommended to hardcore "completists" of the stars or the Studio.Workman-like director Robert Z. Leonard fails to add much punch to the story line of a "love rectangle" involving the three leads, plus Herbert Marshall -- who takes the role of the object of affection of both Crawford and Garson! Crawford is a lady novelist, whose newest book reflects her own personal life, in a plot device that becomes labored at times. Taylor is Crawford's former lover and now platonic best friend, and Marshall is her doting publisher. Garson plays Marshall's somewhat uninvolved, ultra-sophisticated and globe-trotting wife. And apparently both women prefer Herbert Marshall's extremely subtle charms over that of dashing Robert Taylor, which is a plot point that would leave audiences scratching their heads.The great stars struggle here to inject some sparkle to the proceedings, but the end result is somewhat of a great big yawn. On a positive note, fans of outrageous Hollywood fashion would find much here to appreciate, with some extreme gowns by Adrian worn with panache by the female leads, especially Joan Crawford, whose hooded gown in the opening scene is especially memorable and decidedly impractical.Greer Garson appears at the height of her luminous beauty, and even though she doesn't make her entrance till nearly halfway through the film, manages to equal Crawford's expert photogenic appeal. Spring Byington is also on hand to supply much of the comic element, doing one of her ditsy takes on an open-minded society lady, who may have taken a somewhat effeminate interior decorator (Rafael Storm, in an amusing role) as a lover.Never before or since, have two beautiful woman clashed so politely and in such a refined manner. The viewer would have been better served if the writers (Anita Loos included) had turned up the heat, cranked up the volume, and let loose with a little real raw emotion!**1/2 out of *****

This film earns a 6 purely because of the good acting and the usual MGM polish. However, the plot itself really disappointed--it should have been a lot better.The film begins with a writer (Joan Crawford) all giddy because she's fallen in love with a man (Herbert Marshall). The problem, however, is that he's married! And the man who inexplicably wants Crawford (Robert Taylor) decides the best way to break up this elicit romance is to introduce the "other woman" to the sweet and very, very long-suffering wife (Greer Garson). However, there are many, many problems with the plot:1. Why would Marshall want Crawford? Garson is a lovely wife and generally played Mary Poppins-like wives that are "practically perfect in every way" in all her films.2. Why would Taylor want a woman who is having an affair with a married man?3. Why would Garson put up with Marshall when she knows about his many infidelities?4. Why would the two women handle the affair so civilly and nicely? While not every wife would "get Jerry Springer" on the other woman, almost none would be as sickeningly sweet, forgiving and understanding. And, for that matter, the other woman by her very nature is selfish--why would she suddenly feel guilty?5. Why would the audience want to see such a tame "altercation"? There were no fireworks....nothing!Overall, an incredibly dull film with lovely acting (particularly by Garson) and a nice polish. So, it looks good but is pretty empty. And, now that I think about it, a lot like the similarly dull "The Grass is Greener".

I find the previous reviewer's comment about Greer and Davis' fans insulting. Every actor has their own way of acting.Garson did an outstanding job in this film. Here MGM's big female stars (the older of the famous stars) are set to play opposite each other. One fighting to get the man, while the other fights to keep him. It is an amazing transition film, foreshadowing Crawford's replacement by Garson in a smooth and flattering setting to both of their incredible skills.You can't compare their acting styles to each other when they are so different. "When Ladies Meet" is a showcase for both of their styles and they compliment each other.This is a classic. I only wish they would put it out on DVD.