30. Wife Vs. Secretary

I had very high hopes for Wife Vs. Secretary. I mean, just look at the cast list -- Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, and James Stewart. All celebrated stars of their era. But this film is dated, and honestly, the entire plot could be solved through more direct communication between husband and wife. But I digress...

The battling duo of the title is Linda Stanhope (Loy) and Helen "Whitey" Wilson (Harlow). Naturally Whitey is the indispensible secretary to Van "V.S." Stanhope (Gable), while Linda is the adoring wife. Van is an advertising man and extremely good at his job. Linda loves her husband (and vice versa) and neither has anything to worry about until...Van's mother says something to Linda. You see, Van's mom is concerned for Linda about Van having Whitey as his secretary. She's too pretty, you see, and Van could be like his father and have a girl on the side.

And so the thrust of the movie is put into action. Should Linda trust Van to keep his hands off of Whitey? Linda does to a point, but when Van goes to Cuba (ah, what fun those giddy pre-embargo days must have been!) with Whitey in tow to complete a last minute and very hush-hush deal, her faith is shaken. Worst of all, Whitey answers Van's room phone at a very early morning hour!

So poor Linda refuses to listen to Van's explanations and plans to dump him. But she hears from Whitey that she's an idiot -- and Whitey reminds her that she'll (Whitey) be there to help Van pick up the pieces, and this time, Whitey isn't going to say no! Linda, of course, changes her mind and all is well with the happy couple.

Wife Vs. Secretary isn't bad. It's a movie that I'm glad I saw once, but I feel as though I will never need to see it again. Not exactly high praise, but it's entertaining enough. I love James Stewart as Whitey's boyfriend though. Apparently Stewart flubbed some of his lines on purpose to keep canoodling with Harlow.

FILE UNDER: Classic Film ; 31 Films in 31 Days