Film Screening: The Warrior’s Husband

In a comic role made famous on Broadway by Katharine Hepburn, Landi stars as Antiope, bold leader of the Amazon army in 800 B.C. Antiope is confounded by her first encounter with the Greek warrior, Theseus (Manners), whose strapping masculinity is something new to her: Antiope attacks him with a sword; Theseus conquers her with a kiss. “Entertaining proof that gender issues are not exclusively a 21st-century concern…Director Lang effectively lob[s] some broadly suggestive pre-code gags, including a startling moment when the Amazon army salutes their queen with raised middle fingers” (Dave Kehr).