Twelve women, who had been members of a sorority at the St. Alban’s college for girls, participated in a “round robin” letter later in life. One of the women said in the letter that she received a horoscope from Swami Yogadachi (C. Henry Gordon) that was extremely accurate. All the women in the sorority decided to write to the yogi asking for their horoscopes to be done. Each woman received a horoscope warning them of either various horrible events that would happen in their lives or of a tragic end that would befall them.
What the women didn’t know was that the swami was under the hypnotic spell of a woman named Ursula Georgi (Myrna Loy). Ursula is of mixed race, part white and part Asian. Ursula was also a student at the St. Alban’s college for girls but was shunned by the other students due to her mixed heritage. Ursula is now looking to get revenge on the women who treated her cruelly. She is using hypnotic abilities to make Swami Yogadachi do her bidding. When Ursula is done with Yogadachi, she puts a spell on him and makes him fall in front of a moving subway car.
One by one Ursula uses her powers to either make the women kill themselves or to kill someone they love. One of the people left standing is Laura Stanhope (Irene Dunne). Laura’s chart warned her that her son would not live past his next birthday. Laura finally contacts the police. Sergeant Barry Clive (Ricardo Cortez) is assigned to the case. Ursula manipulates Laura’s chauffeur, Burns (Edward Pawley), into helping her. When her plans repeatedly fail, Ursula must do her own dirty work.
“Thirteen Women” was released in 1932 and was directed by George Archainbaud. It is an American pre-code psychological thriller. The movie was based on the 1930 novel by Tiffany Thayer.
Originally the movie was around seventy-three minutes long. A few of the characters were cut in the final version of the film, including two of the thirteen women that were part of the plot. In the end, the film got cut down to about an hour long.
What’s not there is sometimes more interesting than what is there. Peg Entwistle, who played Hazel Clay Cousins, committed suicide just after the American release of the film. Most of her scenes were cut due to the newly installed Production Code. Supposedly, in the original script, her character was having a relationship with another woman.
The movie was mostly ho-hum until near the end when we get to see a car chase reminiscent of old-time serials. There are subtle hints that one character is gay, and that Ursula earned money by prostitution, but the hints are so faint that they are easily glossed over. Also, what the sorority sisters did to make Ursula such an evil bitch is never really explained.
In this instance, a "round robin" is a letter where each person who receives it adds their own contribution before forwarding it on to the next person.