Movie Monday: Wife vs. Secretary (1936)

For today’s Movie Monday we are going all the way back to 1936. The film featured in today’s review is Wife vs. Secretary starring Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, and the one and only Jean Harlow. Let’s get right into this review!

Let me preference this entire film review by simply saying this first, I have only ever seen Wife vs. Secretary one time entirely through and it was pretty early on in my classic film watching days. Therefore, I was rather confused by the whole thing.

Firstly, this movie seemed to be more about Jean Harlow’s character than anyone else. That was possibly the most confusing aspect of this film because at that time I had no idea that Harlow was such a megastar in her day.

Second, I personally don’t feel this was Myrna Loy’s best role. Even thinking back at it now and comparing this character to some of the other movies I have seen her in since watching Wife vs. Secretary *cough* The Thin Man *cough*, I just don’t think Myrna Loy shined as much as did in other films. But that’s just my opinion.

Thinking back on Wife vs. Secretary, another actor that could have been elevated a bit more was James Stewart. That’s right, he was in this film but no one ever notes it as one of his best performances. There was certainly a golden opportunity her for the film since Stewart was just getting started in his acting career.

Ultimately, I do think that the Jean Harlow’s Hollywood status overshadowed a lot of the potential of the other actors starring alongside her in this film. I won’t judge the overall plot of Wife vs. Secretary today because I have only seen it once and, like I said, it was rather early on in my classic film watching days. It wouldn’t be fair for someone who has no idea what is going on to judge the storyline, but I can say that the actors all aside from Jean Harlow had better roles in other films. It is unfortunate that these actors didn’t have the chance to shine that they could have in this movie, but that certainly didn’t stop them from reaching their potential, and for that we can all be grateful.

Much Love,

Sarah