Wife vs. Secretary (1936)

This is not a torrid affair of romance or of adultery. It's just circumstances that bring about a couple's marriage ready to crumble.There is really no other woman here to talk about. Jean Harlow is Gable's reliable secretary and due to her position and circumstance, she is with Gable at shall I say inopportune moments. Myrna Loy is the loving wife and in a memorable turn, May Robson is Gable's mother-suspicious because of the antics of Gable's dad.It's a film where the wife has to be brought along to ease any tensions.A very young James Stewart is Harlow's love interest, usually being caught out of the loop due to Harlow's work schedule.

The cast for this 1936 MGM movies is first rate. The leads are top names of the day. Clark Gabe is Van, Jean Harlow is his secretary, Whitey, and Myrna Loy is his wife, Linda. The supporting cast is tops as well. May Robson is Mimi, George Barbier is Underwood, and Tom Dugan is Finney. And, James Stewart has a supporting role in only his second year and fourth feature film. He already had one film as the male lead, and he would have two more before this year (1936) was over. The plot of "Wife versus Secretary" is a female love triangle (two females in love with the same man, whereas the usual is two mien competing of h same woman). Only, in this case, one of the women doesn't make a move for the man. Harlow plays straight, not wanting to break up a marriage in which her boss clearly loves his wife. But Loy's Linda begins to become jealous and suspicious. Van has to work late many nights. This is an age-old scenario in appearance. Even in the day this film was made, marriages went on the rocks over such situations. Most often they actually happened – a boss with his secretary or another woman. But in this story, Linda knows that Van loves her. His affection toward his wife is obvious always. But her suspicion lies with Whitey. She doesn't doubt the working times they have to spend together, but she begins to think that Whitey may be using those as a way slowly to pry her husband away for herself. This is a different twist on a common story, including one for the movies. And the ending is different and very good. The performance all are very good and the direction and technical work are very good. While it's interesting, and somewhat novel, there also isn't much excitement in the story to earn it more even stars. Most adults should enjoy it for the cast, but younger audiences today will likely find it dull.

O.K., is it even thinkable that wealthy business man Clark Gable would think of having an affair with secretary Jean Harlow when he's married to none other than Myrna Loy? Well, he'd probably think about it, but other than checking her out now and then, the odds are he'd remain faithful. But thanks to his mother (May Robson), Loy thinks hanky panky is possible, and everybody in her social group views Harlow with suspicion, albeit gleefully as if they want to see something happen to break up this happy home. James Stewart is around as Harlow's brooding man who spends more time waiting for her in a car than doing anything really to keep the home fires burning. Sound a bit like "The Women" with a few men around? Harlow is as far from Joan Crawford's Crystal Allen as can be, and other than the dark hair, Loy has nothing in common with the oh-so-sweet butter wouldn't melt in her mouth Norma Shearer. With the exception of the well-meaning but buttinsky mother-in-law, the major leads are all nice people. Snobbish socialites played by Cora Witherspoon and Gloria Holden(back from the dead after playing the lead in the same year's "Dracula's Daughter") add to Robson's paranoiac demand that Loy have Harlow fired. There's never anything to indicate a possible interest other than mutual admiration, that is until one drunken evening in Cuba, and then, it's a major misunderstanding.If there is a real point to this movie, it is the warning of suspicion and gossip, and as a result, there's no real tension. If it wasn't for the three major stars and the typical MGM gloss, this would rank lesser in my ratings.

When "Wife vs Secretary" was released in 1936 for some reason my parents did not consider this appropriate for their 4 year-old boy to attend. In 1948 a few days after starting university at NYU, I finally managed to see the film at a Greenwich Village revival theater. By then I had become a huge fan of both Jean Harlow and Myrna Loy. I also had a soft spot for May Robson, who was so much like my actual grandmother.Bottom line is that I am a fan of the top six credited performers, as well as director Clarence Brown. James Stewart was just getting started as a movie actor. George Barbier made a lot of movies for Warners and was especially effective as "Dr. Bradley" in "The Man Who Came To Dinner" We first meet Van (Gable) and Linda (Loy) the morning of their 3rd anniversary in their luxury 2 story apartment. Later we meet Whitey (Harlow) personal secretary to Van, the CEO of a prestige magazine publishing firm.Van decides to expand his business and hold on to advertisers his firm needs to absorb a publisher of less expensive magazines. This must be investigated in complete secrecy, so Van depends heavily on Whitey's discretion, leaving details of the necessary accounting to her.During his anniversary party Van calls Whitey at the home she shares with her parents as they are eating dinner with Dave (Stewart) her boy friend/fiancé. He throws a tantrum because she decided her job is more important than going to a play with him.Perhaps I am prejudice, but I fail to understand why Whitey would have ever been interested in Dave. Stewart plays Dave as uneducated and non sophisticated. Harlow plays Whitey as a sensible and attractive woman who wants to be a business success while remaining ethical.At first Linda bends over backwards to have faith in Van, despite the warning from Van's mother Mimi (Robson) that men can be "naughty boys" and "Van his like his father". To keep the negotiations for the purchase of Underwood's (Barbier) magazine empire a secret, Van lies to Linda that he spent an afternoon at his club instead of admitting he had been driven to Underwood's estate accompanied by Whitey.Later, as the deal was closing, Van had to attend a convention in Havana, for private time with Underwood. He needs Whitey to fly to help type the contracts, although Van had not allowed Linda to make the trip.Whitey answered the phone in Van's Havana hotel suite when Linda called. Linda decides to separate from Van.In the closing reel Whitey confronts Linda and makes it clear that should Van ever become single, she wants him, yet she encourages Linda to reconsider.While before the fade-out Linda has returned to Van, who still had no clue Whitey had any romantic interest in him, it is far less clear what became of Dave and Whitey. I was 16 the first time I saw a revival of Wife vs Secretary in 1948, by which time I had seen Stewart in many films and had mourned to death of Harlow. My first reaction was that while Harlow should support a more mature and sophisticated Stewart, at the end of this film Whitey would be an idiot to waste another minute on a whiner like Dave.Wife vs Secretary remains one of my favorite films of 1936. I pull out my DVD and watch it ever 6 months of so and enjoy it every time!