Actually despite being somewhat offensive on its face, there is some wisdom in the advice Mary receives from her mother. Any marriage counselor will tell you that infidelity need not destroy a marriage, and while Stephen Haines never appears onscreen, there's a suggestion that if Mary hadn't headed for Reno so precipitously (and against the advice of her somewhat more worldly-wise mother), the whole thing with Crystal would have fizzled out and he never would have married her. It sounds like blaming the victim, but really it isn't. It would be if Mary really wanted the divorce she sought and went to Reno resolute, never looking back, but she does not do that. She gives her husband a divorce that he may not actually want to shore up her pride; that he eventually manages to rid himself of Crystal seems to bear out Mary's mother's contention that she was never really a threat to the marriage in the first place.
Now don't get me wrong: I think cheating is wrong; I've been the victim of it and I've also been guilty of it, and from either side all it does is create pain and mess. But I can also say from experience that one incident of cheating isn't necessarily a deal-breaker and some couples would do better to allow for a "cooling off" period before making any major decisions.
At any rate, this movie is too much fun to pick to pieces the sexist elements in it. It was made over seventy years ago; times have changed, and it must be viewed as a period piece.
Never mess with a middle-aged, Bipolar queen with AIDS and an attitude problem!
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