Wife vs. Secretary: Difference between revisions
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== Plot == |
== Plot == |
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On their third anniversary, New York magazine publisher Van Stanhope and his wife Linda are still very much in love. Van's mother Mimi, however, feels that his secretary, Helen "Whitey" Wilson, is too attractive not to be a temptation to Van. Linda trusts him and refuses to give in to jealousy, even when some of her friends express the same opinion as Mimi. Van and Whitey's relationship is strictly business, but his dependence on her, and her devotion to him, is a source of displeasure for her fiancé Joe, who wants her to give notice and marry him. She refuses and becomes even more involved with work, helping Van to develop a secret deal to buy a "five cent" weekly from tycoon J. D. Underwood. Because Van is afraid that Hanson House, a rival publishing concern, will ruin his deal, he and Whitey have to be very secretive, even from Linda. At an ice skating party for Stanhope Publications, Linda's jealousy is aroused by a catty remark by one of the executive wives, and she asks Van to transfer Whitey. They quarrel over her jealousy, but make up that night. A short time later, when Van has to go to an advertising convention in Havana, he won't let Linda accompany him because he needs to corner Underwood to close the deal. He later has to summon Whitey to join him, and they work round the clock to finish the needed paperwork for the offer to Underwood. When the deal is closed, they celebrate and for a moment are strongly attracted to each other, but nothing happens. Linda calls a few moments later, however, and when Whitey answers the telephone, she assumes the worst. When Van returns to New York, Linda refuses to listen to him and begins divorce proceedings. Van tries to get her back, but gives up and invites Whitey to sail with him for Bermuda. She has fallen in love with him, but realizing that his happiness is with his wife, she goes to Linda, who is about to sail for Europe, and tells her what a fool she would be to give her husband up. Linda then goes back to Van, and as Whitey leaves the office, she is met by Joe. (Courtesy [[TCM]]) |
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Van Stanhope (Gable) is utterly dependent on his secretary Whitey Wilson (Harlow) and calls on her at all hours to run his errands. He also spends days at a time away from his wife travelling for his business, magazine publishing. Stanhope's wife Linda (Loy) doesn't suspect anything until her mother-in-law Mimi (Robson) plants the seeds of doubt. |
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==Notes== |
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This was the fifth collaboration of [[Clark Gable]] and [[Jean Harlow]] and the fourth of Gable and [[Myrna Loy]]. It was the second time that year that Loy and Harlow worked together, also working together in 1936 on [[Libeled Lady]] with [[Spencer Tracy]] and [[William Powell]]. On Harlow during the making of Wife Vs. Secretary, Loy said, "Jean was beautiful, but far from the raucous sexpot of her films. As a matter of fact, she began to shake that image in Wife vs. Secretary....She'd begged for a role that didn't require spouting slang and modeling lingerie. She even convinced them to darken her hair a shade, in hopes of toning down that brash image. It worked. She's really wonderful in the picture and her popularity wasn't diminished one bit. Actually we did kind of a reversal in that picture. Jean, supposedly the other woman, stayed very proper, while I had one foot in bed throughout. That's the sexiest wife I've ever played. In one scene, Clark stands outside my bedroom door and we banter, nothing more, but there's just no question about what they've done the night before. Clarence Brown, our director, made it all so subtle, yet, oh, so wonderfully suggestive. (In fact, the only vulgarity in the picture is in the breakfast scene, where I discover a diamond bracelet that Clark has hidden in the brook trout I'm about to eat. It didn't seem chic or funny to me - merely messy, typical of Hollywood's misguided notion of upper-class sophistication. I tried to get them to take it out, but they wouldn't. Needless to say, it's the scene everyone remembers, so what do I know?). Where sex is concerned, the double entendre, the ambiguity, it seems to me, is much more effective than being too explicit. This is something the moviemakers don't seem to understand today." |
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Jimmy Stewart, meanwhile, spoke of his scene in the car with Jean Harlow, saying, "Clarence Brown, the director, wasn't too pleased by the way I did the smooching. He made us repeat the scene about half a dozen times...I botched it up on purpose. That Jean Harlow sure was a good kisser. I realized that until then I had never been really kissed." |
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== Cast == |
== Cast == |
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Revision as of 07:54, 10 June 2008
| Wife vs. Secretary | |
|---|---|
| File:Wvs1936.jpg | |
| Directed by | Clarence Brown |
| Written by | Faith Baldwin (story) Norman Krasna John Lee Mahin and Alice Duer Miller (screenplay) |
| Produced by | Clarence Brown Hunt Stromberg |
| Starring | Clark Gable Jean Harlow Myrna Loy May Robson James Stewart |
| Cinematography | Ray June |
| Edited by | Frank E. Hull |
| Music by | Herbert Stothart Edward Ward |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release dates | February 28, 1936 |
Running time | 88 min. |
| Language | English |
Wife vs. Secretary (1936) is a comedy film directed by Clarence Brown and starring Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, and May Robson. The film was the fifth of six collaborations between Gable and Harlow and the fourth of seven collaborations between Gable and Loy. The film was also one of the first memorable roles for James Stewart, who played Harlow's boyfriend. After being unavailable for over a decade, the film was released on DVD on June 20, 2006.
Plot
On their third anniversary, New York magazine publisher Van Stanhope and his wife Linda are still very much in love. Van's mother Mimi, however, feels that his secretary, Helen "Whitey" Wilson, is too attractive not to be a temptation to Van. Linda trusts him and refuses to give in to jealousy, even when some of her friends express the same opinion as Mimi. Van and Whitey's relationship is strictly business, but his dependence on her, and her devotion to him, is a source of displeasure for her fiancé Joe, who wants her to give notice and marry him. She refuses and becomes even more involved with work, helping Van to develop a secret deal to buy a "five cent" weekly from tycoon J. D. Underwood. Because Van is afraid that Hanson House, a rival publishing concern, will ruin his deal, he and Whitey have to be very secretive, even from Linda. At an ice skating party for Stanhope Publications, Linda's jealousy is aroused by a catty remark by one of the executive wives, and she asks Van to transfer Whitey. They quarrel over her jealousy, but make up that night. A short time later, when Van has to go to an advertising convention in Havana, he won't let Linda accompany him because he needs to corner Underwood to close the deal. He later has to summon Whitey to join him, and they work round the clock to finish the needed paperwork for the offer to Underwood. When the deal is closed, they celebrate and for a moment are strongly attracted to each other, but nothing happens. Linda calls a few moments later, however, and when Whitey answers the telephone, she assumes the worst. When Van returns to New York, Linda refuses to listen to him and begins divorce proceedings. Van tries to get her back, but gives up and invites Whitey to sail with him for Bermuda. She has fallen in love with him, but realizing that his happiness is with his wife, she goes to Linda, who is about to sail for Europe, and tells her what a fool she would be to give her husband up. Linda then goes back to Van, and as Whitey leaves the office, she is met by Joe. (Courtesy TCM)
Notes
This was the fifth collaboration of Clark Gable and Jean Harlow and the fourth of Gable and Myrna Loy. It was the second time that year that Loy and Harlow worked together, also working together in 1936 on Libeled Lady with Spencer Tracy and William Powell. On Harlow during the making of Wife Vs. Secretary, Loy said, "Jean was beautiful, but far from the raucous sexpot of her films. As a matter of fact, she began to shake that image in Wife vs. Secretary....She'd begged for a role that didn't require spouting slang and modeling lingerie. She even convinced them to darken her hair a shade, in hopes of toning down that brash image. It worked. She's really wonderful in the picture and her popularity wasn't diminished one bit. Actually we did kind of a reversal in that picture. Jean, supposedly the other woman, stayed very proper, while I had one foot in bed throughout. That's the sexiest wife I've ever played. In one scene, Clark stands outside my bedroom door and we banter, nothing more, but there's just no question about what they've done the night before. Clarence Brown, our director, made it all so subtle, yet, oh, so wonderfully suggestive. (In fact, the only vulgarity in the picture is in the breakfast scene, where I discover a diamond bracelet that Clark has hidden in the brook trout I'm about to eat. It didn't seem chic or funny to me - merely messy, typical of Hollywood's misguided notion of upper-class sophistication. I tried to get them to take it out, but they wouldn't. Needless to say, it's the scene everyone remembers, so what do I know?). Where sex is concerned, the double entendre, the ambiguity, it seems to me, is much more effective than being too explicit. This is something the moviemakers don't seem to understand today."
Jimmy Stewart, meanwhile, spoke of his scene in the car with Jean Harlow, saying, "Clarence Brown, the director, wasn't too pleased by the way I did the smooching. He made us repeat the scene about half a dozen times...I botched it up on purpose. That Jean Harlow sure was a good kisser. I realized that until then I had never been really kissed."
Cast
- Clark Gable as Van 'V.S.'/'Jake' Stanhope
- Jean Harlow as Helen 'Whitey' Wilson
- Myrna Loy as Linda Stanhope
- May Robson as Mimi Stanhope
- George Barbier as J.D. Underwood
- James Stewart as Dave
- Hobart Cavanaugh as Joe