Watching Filming the Feminine Headliners is like digging through a dusty attic

Is it worth your time?

Honestly? Only if you are a massive fan of old newsreels or have a weird obsession with early 20th-century sports gear. If you are looking for a cohesive story, look elsewhere. People who love history might get a kick out of it, but everyone else will probably find the pacing incredibly jarring.

The whole thing feels like someone just grabbed a bunch of film reels from a shelf and spliced them together without a script. It starts with women running, jumps to swimming, and then suddenly we are at a beauty pageant. It’s a bit of a whiplash, really. 🏊‍♀️

Oddly specific observations

There is this one shot of a diver that goes on for way too long. She stands on the board, looks down, and you can practically hear the director screaming for her to just jump already. It’s not graceful—it’s just kind of awkward.

The transitions are non-existent. One minute you’re watching a high-stakes track event, and the next you’re watching someone pose for a camera in a swimsuit in Atlantic City. It feels like the movie just gave up on the sports theme halfway through. If you liked the tone in Stripes and Stars, you might find this familiar, but it lacks that same focus.

The title is a bit of a stretch, honestly. It promises "feminine headliners" but feels more like a random grab-bag of footage. It doesn't have the narrative grit you might find in Three Girls Lost, or the personality of something more character-driven.

• The music is mostly just tinny, repetitive piano.
• The editing feels like it was done with actual scissors and tape.
• The bathing beauty contest at the end feels like it belongs in a completely different movie.

You can tell the filmmakers were trying to be progressive by highlighting female athletes, but the execution is so stiff it’s hard to take seriously. It feels like a relic. A very, very dusty relic. 🎞️

I caught myself checking my watch about ten minutes in. It’s not that it’s "bad" exactly, it’s just… empty. It’s a collection of bodies in motion with zero insight into who these people actually were. If you want a real look at the past, maybe stick to something like King of the Wild Horses instead.

I guess it’s a decent enough watch if you have nothing better to do on a rainy Tuesday. Just don’t expect a masterpiece. It’s a footnote in history, and that’s probably all it was ever meant to be.