This is an oldie but a goodie, albeit a short one - one of the other comments explains what happened, but no one knows the reason.

Myrna Loy is very beautiful and exotic as Ursula Georgi (which I actually think is an Italian name) who is a half-caste seeking revenge on sorority sisters who kept her out of their group. She uses the power of suggestion, switching their actual horoscopes by mail that they receive from a swami with predictions of doom. One by one, the women die. She ultimately knocks off the swami and turns her sights on the disbeliever of the group, played by Irene Dunne.

Loy would soon break free from exotica with "The Thin Man" series. Mrs. Laurence Olivier at the time, Jill Esmond, appears in the film, as do Ricardo Cortez and Peg Entwhistle. For Entwhistle, the dire predictions in the film played out in real life for her. Shortly after this movie was made, she achieved a lasting fame by committing suicide by jumping from the "Hollywoodland" sign in Los Angeles.

What struck me first about THIRTEEN WOMEN (just shown on TCM this evening),is the fact that it has a musical score by Max Steiner at a time when early thirties movies seldom used much music on the soundtrack for atmospheric purposes. But here, at least, Max does let loose with some sinuous exotic strains for a few scenes.

The second thing was how beautiful MYRNA LOY photographed, playing a half-caste who is determined to avenge what snobbish sorority sisters did to her in finishing school where she was exiled because she wasn't white. Loy at this stage was still playing these exotic roles, complete with slanting eye make-up--but as a woman with an hypnotic gaze she was quite convincing. C. HENRY GORDON as Yogadachi, the fake Swami, was rather hammy here--whereas five years later he was very effective as a turban-wearing Indian in CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE.

***POSSIBLE SPOILER AHEAD***

IRENE DUNNE is the last of the sorority girls to survive and the last one to be punished by Loy. However, as suspense builds to a climax aboard a speeding train, Loy's plan fails with the police hot on her trail.

The 59 minute running time means that some fifteen minutes were cut from the original release and it shows. The ending is much too abrupt and before you know it "The End" is flashed on the screen. Someone was busy with the scissors on this one, particularly during those final moments.

Would love to see the complete film some day, but I suppose that's not going to happen if the footage hasn't been restored by now. All the performances are rather standard, including RICARDO CORTEZ as the detective who's able to solve the case. FLORENCE ELDRIDGE is almost unrecognizable as one of the women and KAY JOHNSON is a bit over the top as one of the victims who shoots herself.

Summing up: Not bad and certainly worth a watch.

I've got to admit that this film is far from a great work of art--with a ridiculous plot and some of the sillier story elements I've seen in some time. Because of this, you really need to suspend disbelief to enjoy the film--exactly what you'd have to do with a monster film or fantasy movie. If you CAN'T do this or you are looking for Shakespeare or something with "the Lubitsch touch", you'll probably hate the film. Read on and decide if the film is for you.

The film stars Myrna Loy in a completely ridiculous role of playing a woman who is incredibly evil and possessing super-human hypnotic powers. To make it worse, she is supposed to be half-Indian (from the country of India)! This sort of bizarre casting happened several times in Myrna's career before she took on the Nora Charles role from THE THIN MAN--Hollywood producers just didn't know what to do with her. Another great example was her co-starring in THE MASK OF FU MANCHU as a Chinese woman!!! You MUST get past all this to enjoy the film, I know! In addition to Ms. Loy, the film also stars Irene Dunn and Ricardo Cortez. Both did a fine job--in particular Cortez. His role as a police detective was exceptionally well-written, as unlike MOST movie cops of the era, he was smart and didn't make the usual stupid mistakes! He was quite believable and capable in the role.

The plot is all about 13 ladies who all went to the same boarding school many years earlier. Apparently, Ms. Loy didn't feel very welcomed at the school and decided to use LOTS of evil dirty tricks to exact her revenge--such as trying to murder their children, pushing them to suicide or actually killing them outright!! She is a truly diabolical and awful (but very fun to watch) nemesis! Additionally, the film breezed along well and featured some excellent and appropriate stunt work. The entire package results in a fun "guilty pleasure"--a fun film for a Saturday afternoon like THE COBRA WOMAN or an Errol Flynn adventure film.