Women in the Wind is a 1939 film directed by John Farrow and starring Kay Francis, William Gargan and Victor Jory.

[Note 1] The women's air derby from Los Angeles to Cleveland means a lot to young aviator Janet Steele (Kay Francis), who uses every trick in the book to try to persuade record-setting pilot Ace Boreman (William Gargan) to lend her his very fast aircraft.

Complications ensue when Ace's estranged ex-wife Frieda (Sheila Bromley) notifies him their Mexican divorce is not legal.

The studio considered her "box office poison" and wanted to end her contract but Francis refused, touching off an embarrassing effort to force the star out, even making her act as a prompter for other actors and assigning her to B-list fare such as Women in the Wind.

In July 1938 writers were told to rewrite the film to incorporate a round-the-world race to exploit the recent achievements of Howard Hughes.

[8] "It is expected that the film will end her career at Warners in a blaze of glory", wrote the Los Angeles Times.

[13] The film did mark an early role for later star, Eve Arden, albeit one that she thought was ludicrous when effects turned her crash landing into an "atom bomb" going off.

The fiery crash scene set off guffaws from the test audience who saw her emerge from the blazing wreck with hardly a smudge on her cheek.

[14] Fortunately, the final release has a more conventional crash scene with Ms. Arden's character badly injured and carried off on a stretcher.

[15] Critically reviewed in The New York Times by Frank S. Nugent, Women in the Wind was considered lackluster and ground-hugging, despite the action being set in an air race.