WIFE vs SECRETARY
US, 1936, 88 minutes, Black and white.
Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, May Robson, James Stewart.
Directed by Clarence Brown.
A typical screwball comedy of the thirties style. This means it is not quite as brittle as some of the types, eg
Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant in Bringing Up Baby, or such films as Universal's William Powell/CaroleLombard in My Man Godfrey.
However, this glossy production has bounce and style. It gets it mainly from the playing of the main characters - Clark Gable just after It Happened One Night and his Oscar - teamed with Jean Harlow with whom he appeared in Red Dust, Saratoga. Myrna Loy, in so many films at this time with such stars as William Powell - The Thin Man
series - and Spencer Tracy, is attractive as the wife.
Direction is by Clarence Brown - Greta Garbo's favourite director who made a number of society dramas and comedies in the thirties and in the forties was to make such serious films as Edison The Man, National Velvet, The Yearling.
1. An entertaining thirties' comedy? The battle of the sexes? The thirties' wisecracking screwball comedy style? The perennial themes of work, man-woman relationships, marriage, secretaries?
2. The production - black and white photography, score, style and gloss? The stars?
3. The humour of the situations - love, ambiguities, possibilities, honesty and. deception? The good-humoured, simple sophisticated style of the times? work themes, magazine publishing, wealth, deals? High society and no echoes of the Depression? International touches? American entertainment of the times - entertaining and escapist?
4. Clark Gable as Van: waking up, the anniversary, his love for Linda, his gift to her, going to work, friendship with Whitey, the rapport with her, seeing him at work, skills? His mother's visit and her low opinion of him and men? Busyness, parties and entertainment, ambiguity? Clark Gable's picture of the American hero of the time?
5. Whitey and her devotion leading to misinterpretation? missing out on phone calls? Trips? The roller skating sequence? Coping, not wanting to hurt Linda, eager for reconciliation?
6. Myrna Loy and her style as Linda - romantic, believing her husband, the visit to the office, suspicions of Whitey, friendship with her, the roller skating sequence and her waiting in the car, the party and man and Whitey working, her upset, the Havana visit and the mistimed phone calls? Her decision to leave? Whitey confronting her? The happy ending? Whitey and her wisecracking loyalty, practical hard-working, her home life, her fiance and James Stewart as Lanky Dunne hero? Her warningly Linda and accepting, defeat at the end?
7. The gallery of minor characters and their contribution to mood and comedy: Van's mother, Whitey's fiance, the people at work? Humorous background?
8. The title - the perennial battle of the sexes?
