Day-Time Wife

Day-Time Wife starred Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell together for the first time, they went on to do two more films and much better ones, The Mark Of Zorro and Blood And Sand. Look very closely at Darnell she was only 16 at the time playing a relatively new bride with only two years of marriage under her belt. Back then Darnell's mother added a couple of years to her resume so she would be hired and it worked. In fact this was only Linda Darnell's second feature film all together.

The story involves the age old gambit of the spouse starting to suspect the husband is cheating on her. In this case Darnell has a candidate with the flirtatious Wendy Barrie who is Ty's secretary and would love to have him nail her. Darnell also has a confidante in the older much married Binnie Barnes who is functioning as Eve Arden here. She feeds Darnell's suspicions with a good wisecrack or three.

So Linda goes out in the working world and becomes a secretary to another man with a roving eye, Warren William. Of course that Power and William are business associates she doesn't know and finds out after she's taken the job. That's when the film gets interesting.

Joan Davis is in Day-Time Wife as the receptionist at William's office and she's somewhat subdued and a bit wasted here. Her zaniness was not all that in evidence.

Day-Time Wife will never make the list of best screwball comedies of the era nor of the top ten films of Tyrone Power or Linda Darnell. Still it's a pleasant and none too taxing diversion for the viewer.

Sixteen-year-old Linda Darnell has been married to Tyrone Power Jr. For two years and reports are that some of those business dinners he's been stuck on have been tete-a-tetes with his secretary. Wondering what this strange fascination secretaries hold on men is, Miss Darnell goes out and applies for a job as secretary to Warren William. When she admits to playing backgammon, he hires her and tries dating her as a relief from his wife. Of course, Power is trying to get a contract with William, and....

I have speculated that Preston Sturges had blackmail photographs of people high up in the Hays Office. This movie, although not as overt as the scripts Sturges typically got approved, doesn't hide its consideration of subject under as many as seven veils. It plays nicely off Williams' predatory boss characters in Warner Pre-Codes, and has nice small roles for Binnie Barnes, Wendy Barrie and Joan Davis. Power was said to hate roles like this, and I can't blame him. Playing whiny second banana to Miss Darnell can't have done much to satisfy his yearning to be an actor.

Day-Time Wife is an absolute gem of a film that is easily enjoyable for its own sake, not merely as a vintage curiosity.

Linda Darnell is sparkling as the young, neglected wife and Tyrone Power very watchable as the handsome but wandering husband.

The scene in which the two secretaries and their bosses end up at the same restaurant, where Darnell more than gets her revenge on her excruciated husband, is exquisite.

The ending also manages to be truly sweet and happy in a plausible way. He's been a fool, but not a total fool.

The only implausibility, perhaps, is the notion of a man neglecting a young wife as beautiful and vivacious as Darnell for his significantly older, less pretty and less amusing secretary. Not that Wendy Barrie isn't a beauty in her own right, but she's eclipsed from every angle by Darnell.

Definitely give this one a watch: it's hugely funny, with a plot that's strong enough to merit a modern remake. This would also be excellent as a play.

When Linda Darnell was a teenager, she had a picture of Tyrone Power in her bedroom. Little did she know that she'd play his wife in only her second film when she was the ripe old age of sixteen, and wind up acting alongside him in four more movies! Isn't that an adorable story, and doesn't it make you want to rent the cute marital comedy Day-Time Wife? If it does, you'll be in for a treat.

Linda wasn't remembered for playing anyone sweet, but after watching this romantic comedy, I wonder why. She's totally adorable! She and Ty make a very sweet newlywed couple, and after worshipping him the year before, I'm sure she was thrilled by all the smooches they got to share. The plot of the movie sounds pretty silly, but the screenplay is cute enough to make it entertaining. Linda suspects Ty is cheating on her with his secretary, so to understand the appeal, she works as a secretary to one of his business associates, Warren William. Warren oozes suave experience, so you can tell it's only a matter of time before he hits on Linda. Sure enough, it only takes him a week before taking her out to lunch and giving her a silver fox cape. "Your mouth is very pretty when you say 'no.' Have you heard that before?" he says, in a smart and clever come-on.

While Linda juggles her secret job during the day and trying to get proof of Ty's affair during the evening, the audience waits for the inevitable: a confrontation. When it finally happens, it's hilarious. Don't even think about pressing pause for a bathroom break. Linda, Ty, and Warren spar so beautifully off each other, you almost hope nothing gets resolved so they can continue. However, this is a romantic comedy, so you can make a safe bet that the ending doesn't leave too much up in the air. And in case you have any doubt as to the meaning of the title, you'll have to wait until the last line is spoken for an explanation. But it's fun while you're waiting!

1939 may have been the shiniest of Hollywood's Golden Years, but this gilded stinker should certainly keep us from getting too gassy about the whole thing.

Yes, the principals are pretty, and given that (if you can believe the biographical info) Darnell had barely entered puberty by the time she was outfitted in this ermine-lined straitjacket, she acquits herself fairly well (altho her girlish piping seems bizarre vis a vis the later, memorable alto of "Letter to Three Wives").

But if you ever needed proof that Tyrone Power was no Cary Grant, brother, stop here. His double-takes and eye-rolling are appalling and his comic timing non-existent. Power looks heroic in a dinner jacket, but otherwise he's just plain rotten here.

So is most of the dialogue. And the direction.

I suppose "Day-Time Wife" merits some historical attention as one more '30's "comedy of remarriage," but its essential feature is its mind-boggling stupidity.