This is a gift to Astor fans as a peak experience during a string of starring roles in her mid-twenties as a stunning beauty on camera. Or at least LaCava makes the case, as this is about how extraordinary she is by every measure. Ames, on the other hand was in uncertain health and died two months after release of the picture. Mary/Nancy has the life she wants and no one is going to mess with that. If she loves the imperfect Ames/Don then that's nobody's business but her own. Or as Loretta Lynn had it, you ain't woman enough to take my man. Although set in a particular time, this is particularly timeless and as if by Aristophanes or Shakespeare or Woody Allen. Bogie/Spade fell hard for Astor/Shaughnessy in 1941 but go back a decade to pre-code RKO when she ruled the screen.
Review of Smart Woman
