O Marido da Guerreira

"The Warrior's Husband" as a broadway play was an early and successful vehicle for Katharine Hepburn. Alas, when she went to Hollywood soon after she did not appear in the film version. Instead we got Elissa Landi. Alas, also, this film appears to be lost. It is not listed in any film database except IMDB and has not appeared on TV or video cassette to my knowledge. I saw it as a 12 year old and remember it as very funny. Only later did I come to realize that it was a very irreverent and satirical look at a number of topics under the guise of retelling the Theseus/Amazon legend. There was something to offend almost any bluenose of 1933, including homosexuality, militarism, male egotism, family values, or you name it. Probably this was the reason for its disappearance, for it reached the screen just before the Production Code began to be rigidly enforced. The plot involves Antiope, sister to Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, and Theseus, who arrives in Amazon country, apparently wife seeking, only to get an arrow in his shield. In the course of his courting we get a view of Amazon life as girlish looking men lodge complaints against brawny lady warriors for sexual harassment, and so on. In literature based on the Greek myths, Antiope and Hippolyta are often confused. In the generally accepted version, Theseus took Antiope back to Athens as his queen, but Shakespeare in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" has Hippolyta as the lucky lady. It is certainly a pity that this very amusing satirical movie appears to have been utterly lost.