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Wife vs. Secretary (1936)

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Wife vs. Secretary. Feature film. (1936, 88 mins) IMDB

...not as good as I expected...

C

lark Gable plays a successful businessman in NYC. He's a bon-vivant. What's not to like.

Mryna Loy is his fun loving wife.

The two have the perfect marriage.

Then there's Jean Harlow. The sexpod and his secretary.

The film is a play on these relationships.

Because Harlow is hot, people assume he's having an affair with her. Her wife doesn't suspect anything until others point it out. The thing is, he isn't having a relationship with her. He's a loving husband and a hardworking businessman. It just happens his desire to buy a business from another businessman puts him into overtime. It means his secretary is working overtime. Hence the misunderstanding.

While Harlow is a sexpod, in the film, she's a diligent, hardworking secretary. She doesn't think about sex with our hero and he doesn't think about it.

She has a boyfriend played by James Stewart. He's waiting around for her to give up her job so they can get married. She wants to keep working.

It's all a case of misunderstanding.

I never really got into this film because there isn't much happening. It all seems like some polite and friendly talking and discussions. There's not much in the way of crises or problems. It's far too tame and slow.

Just because it's a B&W MGM film from the 1930s with stars doesn't mean it's a good film.

Posted 2009/05/09 at 21h12ET in Movie Commentary.

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