Anybody's Woman

Anybody's Woman is a 1930 American pre-Code drama film directed by Dorothy Arzner and written by Zoe Akins and Doris Anderson, as based on the short story "The Better Wife", which had been written by Gouverneur Morris; the movie was formerly known as The Better Wife prior to changing the title. The film stars Ruth Chatterton, Clive Brook, Paul Lukas, Huntley Gordon, Virginia Hammond, Tom Patricola, and Juliette Compton. The film was released on August 15, 1930, by Paramount Pictures.

Plot

Neil Dunlap, an attorney whose wife has left him for a richer man, goes on a drinking binge and impulsively marries his neighbor Pansy Gray, a burlesque performer he once defended in court. After initially contemplating annulment, the unusual couple decide to try making the marriage work.

Cast

Ruth Chatterton as Pansy Gray
Clive Brook as Neil Dunlap
Paul Lukas as Gustave Saxon
Huntley Gordon as Grant Crosby
Virginia Hammond as Katherine Malcolm
Tom Patricola as Eddie Calcio
Juliette Compton as Ellen
Cecil Cunningham as Dot
Charles K. Gerrard as Walter Harvey
Harvey Clark as Mr. Tanner
Sidney Bracey as Butler
Gertrude Sutton as Maid

Reception

Variety stated "The picture will appeal to some and probably not to others", believing the "social ostracism" angle was overdone. Fred Camper of The Chicago Reader in 2004 noted the parallels presented in the film about an outsider's attempt to make it in a different world and Arzner's life as one of the few women filmmakers and a lesbian while also calling the directing "only competent." Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times called the story "invariably amateurish in its writing and its development."