The Opposite Sex is a 1956

1956 in film

The year 1956 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 5 - The Ten Commandments opens in cinemas and becomes one of the most successful and popular movies of all time, currently ranking 5th on the list of all time moneymakers * February 5 - First showing of documentary films by...

 musical film.

It is a remake of the 1939 classic comedy The Women

The Women (1939 film)

The Women is a 1939 American comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor. The film is based on Clare Boothe Luce's play of the same name, and was adapted for the screen by Anita Loos and Jane Murfin, who had to make the film acceptable for the Production Code in order for it to be released.The film...

. Both films are based on Claire Boothe Luce's original play. The 1956 musical was directed by David Miller

David Miller (director)

David Miller was an American movie director who directed such varied films as Billy the Kid with Robert Taylor and Brian Donlevy, Flying Tigers with John Wayne, and Love Happy with the Marx Brothers.-Filmography:* Bittersweet Love * Executive Action * Hail, Hero! * Hammerhead...

 and stars June Allyson

June Allyson

June Allyson was an American film and television actress, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was a major MGM contract star. Allyson won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance in Too Young to Kiss . From 1959–1961, she hosted and occasionally starred in her own CBS anthology...

, Joan Collins

Joan Collins

Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...

, Dolores Gray, Ann Sheridan

Ann Sheridan

-Life and career:Born Clara Lou Sheridan in Denton, Texas on February 21, 1915, she was a student at the University of North Texas when her sister sent a photograph of her to Paramount Pictures. She subsequently entered and won a beauty contest, with part of her prize being a bit part in a...

, Ann Miller

Ann Miller

Johnnie Lucille Collier, better known as Ann Miller was an American singer, dancer and actress.-Early life:...

, Leslie Nielsen

Leslie Nielsen

Leslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...

, Jeff Richards

Jeff Richards (baseball player/actor)

Jeff Richards , was an American minor league baseball player with the Portland Beavers who later became an actor. He was sometimes credited as Dick Taylor and Richard Taylor.-Early life and career:...

, Agnes Moorehead

Agnes Moorehead

Agnes Robertson Moorehead was an American actress. Although she began with the Mercury Theatre, appeared in more than seventy films beginning with Citizen Kane and on dozens of television shows during a career that spanned more than thirty years, Moorehead is most widely known to modern audiences...

, Charlotte Greenwood

Charlotte Greenwood

Frances Charlotte Greenwood was an American actress and dancer. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Greenwood started in vaudeville, and eventually starred on Broadway, movies and radio. Standing around six feet tall, she was best known for her long legs and high kicks...

, Joan Blondell

Joan Blondell

Rose Joan Blondell was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for five decades as Joan Blondell.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career...

, Sam Levene

Sam Levene

Sam Levene was an American Broadway and film actor. He made his Broadway debut in 1927 with five lines in a play titled Wall Street, and over a span of nearly 50 years, appeared on Broadway in 37 Shows, of which 33 were the original Broadway Productions, many now considered legendary...

, Dick Shawn

Dick Shawn

Dick Shawn was an American actor and comedian.-Early life and career:Shawn was born as Richard Schulefand in Buffalo, New York. He played Sylvester Marcus, son of Mrs. Marcus , in Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Lorenzo St...

, Jim Backus

Jim Backus

James Gilmore "Jim" Backus was a radio, television, film, and voice actor. Among his most famous roles are the voice of Mr...

, Bill Goodwin

Bill Goodwin

Bill Goodwin was for many years the announcer and regular character of the Burns and Allen radio program, and subsequently The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show on television from 1950-51...

 and Harry James

Harry James

Henry Haag “Harry” James was a trumpeter who led a jazz swing band during the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He was especially known among musicians for his astonishing technical proficiency as well as his superior tone.-Biography:He was born in Albany, Georgia, the son of a bandleader of a...

.

Plot

The story concerns Kay Hilliard (played by June Allyson

June Allyson

June Allyson was an American film and television actress, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was a major MGM contract star. Allyson won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance in Too Young to Kiss . From 1959–1961, she hosted and occasionally starred in her own CBS anthology...

), a former nightclub singer who discovers her husband Steven (played by Leslie Nielsen

Leslie Nielsen

Leslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...

) is having an affair with showgirl Crystal Allen (played by Joan Collins

Joan Collins

Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...

). Kay is the last to find out among her circle of gossiping girlfriends. Kay travels to Reno to divorce from Steve who then marries Crystal, but when Kay finds out that Crystal isn't true to Steve she starts fighting to win her ex-husband back.

Unlike its predecessor, the cast includes male actors to play husbands and boyfriends, whose characters were only referred to in the previous film and stage versions. This alters the structure and tone of the base storyline significantly.

Dick Shawn and Jim Backus appear in a stage number singing the title song.

Harry James and his band are seen and heard in a flashback musical number "Young Man and His Horn."

Cast

June Allyson

June Allyson

June Allyson was an American film and television actress, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was a major MGM contract star. Allyson won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance in Too Young to Kiss . From 1959–1961, she hosted and occasionally starred in her own CBS anthology...

 : Kay Hilliard

Joan Collins

Joan Collins

Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...

 : Crystal Allen

Dolores Gray : Sylvia Fowler

Jeff Richards

Jeff Richards

Jeff Richards may refer to:* Jeff Richards , born Richard Mansfield Taylor, baseball player and actor* Jeff Richards , on both Saturday Night Live and MADtv...

 : Buck Winston

Ann Sheridan

Ann Sheridan

-Life and career:Born Clara Lou Sheridan in Denton, Texas on February 21, 1915, she was a student at the University of North Texas when her sister sent a photograph of her to Paramount Pictures. She subsequently entered and won a beauty contest, with part of her prize being a bit part in a...

 : Amanda Penrose

Ann Miller

Ann Miller

Johnnie Lucille Collier, better known as Ann Miller was an American singer, dancer and actress.-Early life:...

 : Gloria Dell

Leslie Nielsen

Leslie Nielsen

Leslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...

 : Steven Hilliard

Agnes Moorehead

Agnes Moorehead

Agnes Robertson Moorehead was an American actress. Although she began with the Mercury Theatre, appeared in more than seventy films beginning with Citizen Kane and on dozens of television shows during a career that spanned more than thirty years, Moorehead is most widely known to modern audiences...

 : Countess Lavaliere

Charlotte Greenwood

Charlotte Greenwood

Frances Charlotte Greenwood was an American actress and dancer. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Greenwood started in vaudeville, and eventually starred on Broadway, movies and radio. Standing around six feet tall, she was best known for her long legs and high kicks...

 : Lucy

Joan Blondell

Joan Blondell

Rose Joan Blondell was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for five decades as Joan Blondell.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career...

 : Edith Potter

Sam Levene

Sam Levene

Sam Levene was an American Broadway and film actor. He made his Broadway debut in 1927 with five lines in a play titled Wall Street, and over a span of nearly 50 years, appeared on Broadway in 37 Shows, of which 33 were the original Broadway Productions, many now considered legendary...

 : Mike Pearl

Bill Goodwin

Bill Goodwin

Bill Goodwin was for many years the announcer and regular character of the Burns and Allen radio program, and subsequently The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show on television from 1950-51...

 : Howard Fowler

Alice Pearce

Alice Pearce

Alicia “Alice” Pearce was an American actress. Brought to Hollywood by Gene Kelly to reprise her Broadway performance in the film version of On the Town , Pearce played comedic supporting roles in several films, before being cast as Gladys Kravitz in Bewitched in 1964...

 : Olga

Barbara Jo Allen

Barbara Jo Allen

Barbara Jo Allen was an actress also known as Vera Vague, the spinster character she created and portrayed on radio and in films during the 1940s and 1950s. She based the character on a woman she had seen delivering a PTA literature lecture in a confused manner...

 : Dolly

Sandy Descher

Sandy Descher

Sandra "Sandy" Descher is an American former child actress of the 1950s.-Biography:Although born in Burbank, California, she was discovered by accident while on vacation. When Descher was about five years old, her family had travelled across country to New York City where the girl fell in love...

 : Debbie Hilliard

Carolyn Jones

Carolyn Jones

Carolyn Sue Jones was an American actress.Jones began her film career in the early 1950s, and by the end of the decade had achieved recognition with a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Bachelor Party and a Golden Globe Award as one of the most promising actresses...

 : Pat

Barrie Chase : Specialty Dancer

Dick Shawn

Dick Shawn

Dick Shawn was an American actor and comedian.-Early life and career:Shawn was born as Richard Schulefand in Buffalo, New York. He played Sylvester Marcus, son of Mrs. Marcus , in Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Lorenzo St...

 : Psychiatric Patient

Jim Backus

Jim Backus

James Gilmore "Jim" Backus was a radio, television, film, and voice actor. Among his most famous roles are the voice of Mr...

 : Psychiatrist

Harry James

Harry James

Henry Haag “Harry” James was a trumpeter who led a jazz swing band during the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He was especially known among musicians for his astonishing technical proficiency as well as his superior tone.-Biography:He was born in Albany, Georgia, the son of a bandleader of a...

 : Himself

A Slight Change In Casting

Originally, MGM

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...

 studio head Dore Schary

Dore Schary

Isadore "Dore" Schary was an American motion picture director, writer, and producer, and playwright who became head of production at MGM and eventually president of the studio...

 envisioned Esther Williams

Esther Williams

Esther Jane Williams is a retired American competitive swimmer and MGM movie star.Williams set multiple national and regional swimming records in her late teens as part of the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team...

 in June Allyson's role. According to her 2000 autobiography, The Million Dollar Mermaid, she objected to Schary's casting suggestion, resulting in her suspension from the studio. Shortly after, on agent Lew Wasserman

Lew Wasserman

Lewis Robert "Lew" Wasserman was an American talent agent and studio executive, sometimes credited with creating and later taking apart the studio system in a career spanning more than six decades...

's advice, she left Metro after fourteen years. Jo Ann Greer

Jo Ann Greer

Jo Ann Greer had one of the most distinctive and elegant voices, yet least-known faces of all the successful jazz and pop singers in show business....

 dubbed Allyson's ballad "A Perfect Love" and ironically also sang for Williams in her last MGM musical, Jupiter's Darling (film)

Jupiter's Darling (film)

Jupiter's Darling is a musical romance film released by MGM in 1955 and directed by George Sidney. It starred Esther Williams as the Roman woman Amytis, Howard Keel as Hannibal, the Carthaginian military commander and George Sanders as Fabius Maximus, Amytis's fiance...

.

Translations

France : Le Sexe Opposé

Belgium : Het Andere Geslacht

Finland : Heikompi sukupuoli

Sweden : Oss kvinnor emellan

Germany : Das Schwache Geschlecht

Italy : Sesso debole?