The story concerns Kay Hilliard, a former nightclub singer who discovers her husband Steven is having an affair with showgirl Crystal Allen. Kay is the last to find out among her circle of gossiping girlfriends. Kay travels to Reno to divorce from Steve who then marries Crystal, but when Kay finds out that Crystal isn't true to Steve she starts fighting to win her ex-husband back.
Unlike the 1936 play and the 1939 film adaptation, The Opposite Sex includes musical numbers and features male actors who portray the husbands and boyfriends, whose characters were only referred to in the previous film and stage versions. This alters the structure and tone of the base storyline significantly. Fay Kanin who co wrote the script with her husband Michael said the studio's argument was "you can't play a love scene alone." Michael said the studio "felt the movie audience would be somehow be disappointed at not seeing men in it. After all, a man is a fact." Fay Kanin thought the "manless world" of the play "was a stunt, an artificial trick, but it was accepted. But in a movie, which has the freedomto go out, the device would seem constrained and self conscious." Michael claimed "we only put in men to relieve the strain - and only when they are called for." The Kanins gave the story a show business background to help justify it being turned into a musical although "there are no big production numbers," according to Fay Kanin. Elaine Stewart was promised Joan Collin's role prior to filming. Grace Kelly was supposed to have June Allyson's role, but she retired from acting prior to filming. MGM studio head Dore Schary envisioned Esther Williams in June Allyson's role. According to her 2000 autobiography, The Million Dollar Mermaid, Williams objected to Schary's casting suggestion, resulting in her suspension from the studio. Shortly after, on agent Lew Wasserman's advice, she left Metro after fourteen years. Eleanor Parker was later cast as Kay Hilliard but was replaced by June Allyson. Jo Ann Greer dubbed Allyson's ballad "A Perfect Love". In November 1955Joe Pasternak was pursuing Marlene Dietrich and Miriam Hopkins. In December 1955 MGM announced the lead roles would be played by June Allyson, Dolores Gray, Ann Miller, and Leslie Nielsen with filming to begin January 16, 1956. In the 1939 version of The Women, actress Lucile Watson was featured in the cast as Mrs. Morehead, the loving, wise, and supportive mother of Norma Shearer's character Mary Haines. For the 1956 version, the role was eliminated entirely and a new character was created instead - Amanda Penrose, a playwright who not only served as Kay Hilliard's kind friend, but also her wise confidante as well. Ann Sheridan was cast in this part. Barbara Jo Allen had the distinction of being in both the 1939 and 1956 versions - in the first film, she had a small, uncredited part as a receptionist; in the second, she played the gossip columnist Dolly DeHaven. This was June Allyson's final film for MGM after having worked at the studio for nearly fifteen years.
Reception
According to MGM records the film earned $1,735,000 in the US and Canada and $1,025,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss of $1,513,000.
