Thirteen Women - Irene Dunne

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "13 Women" )

directed by George Archainbaud
USA 1932

Shortly before shedding her snakeskin vamp persona for good by wrapping herself in the ermine confines of Nora Charles, Myrna Loy terrified and terrorized as the murderous mesmerist Ursula Georgi in the pre-Code horror show Thirteen Women. Following a racist sorority’s cruel rebuff, half-caste Ursula embarks on a blood-thirsty trail of deceit and murder until only one woman (Irene Dunne) is left to face her. Aside from the allure and interest of its two leading ladies – each on the cusp of their ascension into cinema legend – Thirteen Women’s delights are rather more diabolical and devastating than the more domestic concerns of a traditional “Women’s Picture.” From its breathless and terrifying (and arrestingly staged) opening aerial atrocity through its stabbings, suicides and hidden bombs, Thirteen Women’s relentless pace startles and astonishes, ever driven by Loy’s portrayal of Ursula’s unalloyed and unapologetic evil.

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Theatrical Release: 16 September 1932 (USA)

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DVD Review: Warner Home Video (Warner Archive Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC

Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Warner Home Video Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	0:59:26
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 7.64 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Audio	Dolby Digital Mono (English)
Subtitles	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Warner Home Video Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen - 1.33:1 Edition Details: • None DVD Release Date: February 21st, 2012 Keep Case Chapters 30

Comments

Thirteen Women is a precursor to a "body count" picture from 1932 with Myrna Loy in her Asian make-up (seen same year in MGM's The Mask of Fu Manchu disposing of her classmates by murder and hypnosis. This is a curio film, now mostly remembered for a suicide of one the actresses featured in the film - Peg Entwistle made only this film before her lethal jump into immortality from the letter 'H' of the Hollywoodland sign. RKO didn't think much of the film either, editing it from 73 to 59 minutes and disposing of the extra footage. So this truncated version is now available on made-on-demand DVD by Warner Archives.

There is some damage on the print, as seen in screen capture # 3 below, but overall, considering what Warner had to work with. the image is stellar - the progressive, remastered transfer is very good. The soundtrack, while tinny, is also a step up from the print shown on TCM. There are no extras, but generous 30 chapters has been provided for this under-one-hour feature. Per usual standard, no caption or subtitles are provided. Still this is a very good release and is recommended.

- Gregory Meshman

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