The Second Greatest Sex (1955)

Jeanne Crain is Liza McClure, a young woman with a fiance and a big problem.

That fiance, Matt Davis (George Nader), seems too busy to marry.

Like the other men in Osawkie, Kansas, he’s busy fighting rival towns over a safe containing legal papers that determine which town is the county seat.

And now that he and the other men have captured the safe for Osawkie, he seems to spend all his time working on construction of a courthouse.

But he has a lovely voice and a charming way about him and eventually convinces Liza he’s ready to settle down.

Their wedding goes off without a hitch.

Their wedding night? Not so well.

Men from Mandaroon break into Matt’s barn and steal the safe. So hours after Liza’s marriage, the men of Osawkie are on the warpath again, trying to get it back.

Enough is enough, Liza declares. School teacher Cassie Slater has told her the ancient Greek story of Lysistrata, in which women launch a sex strike to end the Peloponnesian War.

Liza decides the woman of Osawkie will follow that example. So they move into an abandoned fort, where they plan to stay — without any men — until their men declare the fighting is over once and for all.

Jeanne Crain as Liza McClure as her fiancee sings her a love song in The Second Greatest Sex (1955)

George Nader as Matt Davis and Keith Andes as the Rev. Peter Maxwell in The Second Greatest Sex (1955)

Review:

A mixed bag of a musical comedy Western that picks up steam once the women rally around Lysistrata.

Mamie Van Doren has a delightful role as ditzy Birdie Snyder, who’s smitten with the local reverend.

So does Edna Skinner as the school teacher, who passes out every time traveling salesman Roscoe Dobbs shows her attention.

But there’s also lots of silliness, like when Katy Connors tosses a bottle of wizard oil to the side and a male dancing ghost appears to twirl from the saloon’s chandelier.

Yep, that’s Bert Lahr of Cowardly Lion fame played Liza’s dad. And Jimmy Boyd, who plays her younger brother, had recently scored a Billboard hit at age 13 with the original version of “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.”

Edna Skinner as school teacher Cassie Slater, sharing the story of Liz Estrada as Birdie Snyder (Mamie Van Doren) listens intently in The Second Greatest Sex. (1955)

Kitty Kallen as Kathy Connors, singing about her lonelinees in The Second Greatest Sex (1955)

Directed by:
George Marshall

Cast:
Jeanne Crain … Liza McClure
George Nader … Matt Davis
Kitty Kallen … Katy Connors
Bert Lahr … Job McClure
Mamie Van Doren … Birdie Snyder
Keith Andes … Rev. Peter Maxwell
Kathleen Case … Tilda Bean
Paul Gilbert … Roscoe Dobbs
Tommy Rall … Alf Connors
Edna Skinner … Cassie Slater
Jimmy Boyd … Newt McClure
Cynthia May Carver … Cousin Emmy
Ward Ellis … Zachary Bean
Mary Marlo … Sarah “Ma” McClure
Shed Wooley … Silsa
George Wallace … Simon Clegghorn
Harry Harvey … “Doc” Grimshaw
Sharon Bell … Sally McClure

Runtime: 87 min.

Paul Gilbert as Roscoe Dobbs, the traveling salesman in The Second Greatest Sex (1955)

Jeanne Crain as Liza McClure and Mamie Van Doren as Birdie Snyder in The Second Greatest Sex (1955)

Memorable lines:

Birdie Snyder: “Oh, if I had a white satin wedding dress, I’d never take it off.” She peeks at the Rev. Maxwell. “Well, hardly ever.”

Ma McClure: “Revealing neckline. That’s out.”
Pa McClure: “Now don’t be hasty, ma.”
Ma McClure: “She’s your own daughter, Job McClure. Not one of those wax women in the store window. We don’t want her looking so original, she’s indecent.”

Birdie Snyder: “Be careful, Rev. Maxwell.”
Rev. Maxwell: “The good Lord will watch over us, but I do appreciate your interest.”
Birdie: “You do? I’ll remember that always, even if I live to be 30.”

Katie, on lookout at the fort: “It’s the men, Liza, bearing down on the fort like Indians on the warpath.”
Liza: “Now control yourself, Katie. Now we all must remember, be resolute, firm, stick together.”
Birdie: “I’ll try, Liza. But if Rev. Maxwell is with them, I may come apart.”

Ben Lahr as Job McClure, as he and the men get more than they bargained for in Jones City in The Second Greatest Sex (1955)

Jimmy Boyd as Newt McClure, Liza’s younger brother, who carries messages between the men and women in The Second Greatest Sex (1955)

Jeanne Crain as Liza McClure, sharing her plan for getting the man to behave while Birdie Snyder (Mamie Van Doren) listens in The Second Greatest Sex (1955)

Jeanne Crain as Liza McClure and George Nader at Matt Davis, squabbling over an impending marriage in The Second Greatest Sex (1955)