Thirteen Women
Directed by George Archinbaud
Written by Bartlett Cormack and Samuel Ornitz
1932/US
RKO Radio Pictures
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel
Police Sergeant Barry Clive: We want this woman. Her name’s Ursula Georgi. Half-breed type. Half Hindu, half Javanese, I don’t know. She’s living right here in this town. I want you to find her. Check every move she makes.
Mike – the Detective: There are one million, two hundred and thirty-eight thousand and forty-eight people in Los Angeles, and you want only one woman? Cinch!
Carrying on with my Pre-Code horror series with this one. It’s actually more of a thriller – with few thrills.
Myrna Loy, who was still in her exotic vixen phase at the time, plays Ursula Georgi, a half-caste with hypnotic powers. She manipulates her swami astrologist lover into making dire predictions of the fates of twelve women. Predictions that all come true. With Irene Dunne as the most sensible of the woman and Ricardo Cortez as a detective.
I always enjoy watching these stars but the film isn’t anything I will go back to.
Actress Peg Entwistle jumped off the H in the Hollywood sign to her death two days after this film’s release, making her the first person to do so.
