Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

wes-connors Seven attractive women join the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) in Great Britain during World War II. This was a volunteer branch of the British Army, for female participants, like the United States Women's Army Corps (WACs). The "lead" is (arguably) platinum blonde Joyce Howard (as Anne Lawrence), but they are all essentially supporting roles. The women come from different locations and classes. They get to know each other during training (better than we get to know them). All have moments and/or potential, but it's all for naught...You're likely to recognize the director in the opening sequence is actor Leslie Howard. He keeps his back to the camera while narrating, but still shows a bit of cheek. Later on, Howard's back for another cameo. Presumably "omniscient", Mr. Howard doesn't add much to the story, though his presence helps make the film seem more cohesive. In reality, "The Gentle Sex" is weak on storytelling and character development. Rumored to have been doing more work for the Allies than making movies, Howard died when his plane was shot down by Nazis in June 1943. A tragic loss.***** The Gentle Sex (4/15/43) Leslie Howard ~ Joyce Howard, Lilli Palmer, Rosamund John, Joan Greenwood

Charlot47 Previous reviewers have commented on lack of character development and lack of action. While there is some truth in both assertions, I think we do have to look at the essential purpose of the film, which is to show seven very different young women (though these ones do tend to be above average in looks) being turned into soldiers.An army in wartime is a great mincing machine, taking individuals from all walks of life in at one end and turning them out at the other as soldiers. By definition, they are then no longer individuals but a member of a team that has been trained to achieve objectives jointly. The common experience of first training together and then learning to do the jobs they are assigned means that not only do the young women in the film mature fast as people but also they cohere as soldiers. Loyalty to their mates and their unit overrides personal needs, with their own strengths and weaknesses evened out in the common effort. For example, Barbara Waring has no particular feelings about the Germans, seeing them merely as efficient, but Erna Debruski (who is probably meant to be not French but Czech) has seen their lethal efficiency at work in her country and is driven by violent hatred.Of the tasks soldiers have to do, some are everyday and boring while others are unique and exciting. We see two young men doing very dangerous work, one a fighter pilot and one a commando, but our seven girls end up driving lorries and manning anti-aircraft guns. Even so, they are all put to the test. The lorry girls have to drive through the night to get their trucks aboard a ship sailing to the front, possibly North Africa, and then have to rush fresh ammunition to the anti- aircraft battery during a raid. There the AA girls bring an attacking bomber down in flames. From the seven young strangers who shared a railway compartment at the start to the trained and dedicated women who are doing demanding, even hazardous, jobs to protect their country, surely there has been huge character development and surely there has been action?PS As for that music hall sketch, should we judge it by professional standards? Isn't it meant to be an amateur, who has volunteered to amuse her chums?

ianlouisiana Originally titled "We're not weeping",the script for this movie was handed over to Gerald Kersh as Leslie Howard thought it too feminine as it stood.After Kersh's re-write Mr Howard then considered it to be too masculine so he returned it to the first writer,Miss M.Charles who restored it to her original vision which,hardly surprisingly was again too feminine for the director who re - engaged Kersh who,in turn changed it back to the way he had re - written it in the first place.Reading it,Howard decided to hand it back to Miss Charles to feminise some of the dialogue and at this stage Mr Kersh,serving in the Coldstream Guards at the time,lost interest in the whole thing.It is not to be wondered at that he did not have a particularly high opinion of Howard and steered clear of the British Film Industry for some years before Jules Dassin directed his great novel "Night and the city" with Richard Widmark. What eventually turned out to be "The Gentle sex" was a soporific propaganda movie with nothing to recommend it,directed,if that's not too strong a word,by Leslie Howard and aimed squarely at recruiting women for the A.T.S. Made at a time when when the liberation of women meant opening the gates of Holloway Prison it deals very mildly with potentially huge issues. The largely female cast all speak rather nicely - even the token cockney - and turn out to be dab hands at driving lorries and roadside repairs. The men are all knuckle - headed and quite frankly it's a surprise we ended up winning the war. There is an irritating and patronising voice - over by Mr Howard that adds absolutely nothing to the picture. I'm sorry to be so negative about a movie that was was probably made under all sorts of difficulties.Perhaps Mr Howard should have taken Baden - Powell's advice and whistled instead.

writers_reign Okay, it's 1943 and presumably there's no indication of when the war will end, no sign of any breakthrough and D-Day is still a good twelve months away so why not shoot a little propaganda-lite; a sort of visual blend of 'The Lady' and 'Women's Companion' magazines; a little about food, a little about clothes, a little about men, etc. At the time it was probably a minor success; the viewer is drawn gently into it via Lesley Howard's voice-over as he 'selects' a group of women who have all 'joined up' - in this case the A.T.S - and then permits us to follow them on their train journey to the camp where they will undergo basic training. As a time-capsule it is fascinating because for the viewer in 2007 it is like travelling to Atlantis or one of those lost civilizations that so beguiled Professor Fawcett. Was there EVER an England like this? Clearly there was and Tony Blair couldn't rest until he'd obliterated all traces of it. The cast are all competent and although a handful - Joan Greenwood, Rosamund John, John Laurie, Lili Palmer, Jimmy Hanley - continued to work on stage and/or screen none of them really achieved what today we would call Super stardom. It's a modest effort, quintessentially English, worth watching on TV - which is where I saw it - but not worth searching for on DVD.