It is finally time to do Mannequin! A joke that would go over better if I had not started putting the year in the title of the posts. Yes, there is another film with the name of a certain Kim Catrall vehicle released precisely five decades later. While there are about 20 seconds of the 1987 film that is near and dear to many readers’… hearts… this one has more and better furs in it. Much better.
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Mannequin
Genre: Drama
Format: DVD
Mannequin (1937) – The Movie
So, the first thing to get out of the way is the 1987 film is not a remake, and it has nothing to do with this movie. The 1937 film is about Jessie Cassidy, played by Joan Crawford. Fun fact, Joan and Kim were both 31 when they starred in their Mannequin movies. Jessy convinces her good-for-nothing boyfriend Eddie (Alan Curtis) to get married, and she catches the eye of shipping magnate John L. Hennessey (Spencer Tracy). So, while many homewrecking tales are about a woman, this was somewhat progressive for the time. As their love is true, they end up together roughly 95 minutes later.
Mannequin (1937) – The Furs
Miss Crawford doesn’t get us started. That is Jessie’s friend Beryl (Mary Philips) casting shade on her new hubby, Edie, in a silver fox-trimmed dress.
I may have alluded to a particular affection for “large collars” on this site over the years. Let’s review, shall we? This is a large fur collar.
Do you have a large fur collar? Ask yourself: Is your face visible in profile? If the answer is no, then you have a large fur collar.
Is your fur collar wider than your shoulders? Then you have a large fur collar.
Do you look like Joan Crawford surrounded in a halo of fur? Probably not, but you could still have a large fur collar. And this one is magnificent. Sadly only screen for about 15 seconds.
They are great seconds.
Jessie has another fur in the show. She’s “subtly” propositioned by Hennessey during the show multiple times, and she shoots him down.
So, we’re hurrying ahead quite a bit. Jessie did divorce her husband and married Hennessey, but as a ploy by her ex to take the rich guy for all he’s worth when she then divorces him. She… She didn’t expect to fall in love (sniffle, obviously). Amazingly, this is the second-largest fox fur collar in the movie.
This most-likely red fox fur-trimmed coat gets more attention, though not a lot of variety as Jessie and Hennessey chat on an airplane bound for an exotic European trip. It has nice cuffs, too, though those are less obvious.
Later again, we have Jessie meeting up with her ex to spurn his plan as she has fallen for Hennessey. She does so in this silver fox-trimmed coat and matching muff.
Sadly, this is the least-best fur in the film and is given by far the most screen time. I can only complain about a pretty decent fur in this context.
This fur gets about two-and-a-half minutes of screen time, about the same as everything else combined. It does include the best thing about any Joan Crawford film, close-ups of Joan Crawford in fur.
That is Mannequin, 1937. That collar is fantastic, and they added another almost as amazing one. Big film for collar fans is what I’m saying, and it has a solid runtime percentage, if not the biggest. Obviously, those collars deserved even more screen time, so I have to ding it for that omission.
Fur Runtime: approx 5 minutes
Film Runtime: 95 minutes
On-Screen Fur Ratio: 5%
Trying something a little hi-tech. The video is upscaled from 480 to 720. Thanks to FurFan#9811 on discord for upscaling.
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