The Office Wife

A somewhat interesting early talkie, more for the minor cast members than the major ones. Dale Fuller (Maria Macapa in "Greed") has a stand-out bit at the beginning as a lovestruck secretary and Blance Frederici plays an extremely mannish writer (a Gertrude Stein parody?). The best bit, stealing the limelight away from the female lead, is the movie debut of Joan Blondell as the lead's sister, spending the entire movie either getting into or out of lingerie. The lead, Dorothy Mackaill, seems wooden next to her. The direction has some odd gaffes usually associated with earlier talkies (fluffed lines, cameras failing to follow action properly) that speaks of a rushed production.

The Office Wife (1930)

*** (out of 4)

Highly entertaining pre-code about Larry Fellowes (Lewis Stone), a publishing company owner who gets a new secretary (Dorothy Mackaill) and it doesn't take long for the two to fall for one another. THE OFFICE WIFE is certainly a naughty little film and especially when you compare it to some of the other pre-codes of this era. The film kicks off with Stone talking to a writer saying that the bond between a businessman and his secretary is stronger than the bond he has with his wife. From this point on we're given a film with several characters doing morally questionable things, which would certainly hit the editing room floor in a few years once the Hayes Office put a stop to this sort of thing. I really thought the film was incredibly entertaining because of its rather frank dialogue, which often time hinted at some sexual stuff. Mackaill, whose career was hot during this era but quickly faded, is wonderful in her role and I think she did an extremely good job at making the viewer feel sorry for her and begin to care for her. I also thought her comic timing during certain scenes were flawless and especially during one where she's "preparing" herself to flirt with the boss. Stone is always watchable and that's true here as he gives another strong performance. Walter Merrill is good in his supporting role as the wannabe boyfriend. The major scene-stealer is Joan Blondell who plays Mackaill's saucy sister. Whenever she's on the screen she's usually slipping in or out of clothes and the camera certainly loves to follow her legs around. If you're a leg man then you're going to be in heaven here as both ladies constantly have the camera highlighting their legs. Again, morality was a big issue back during this era and it's pretty shocking to see how THE OFFICE WIFE ends. I'm not going to ruin anything but it's pretty refreshing to see.

It's such a wonderful premise, but so incredibly dated, any feminist of today would probably vomit before the running time of The Office Wife was finished. The idea of the film is that any secretary to a powerful businessman can completely control him and become more essential to him than his wife at home. Since it's every woman's goal to bring a rich man to his knees and get him to marry her so she no longer has to work, it's no wonder every secretary in the movie is intent on seducing her boss.

Lewis Stone is the featured dapper businessman who announces to his dowdy secretary at the start of the film that he's getting married. She faints on the spot and resigns, since she's been in love with him for years. A pretty new secretary is hired, Dorothy Mackaill, and she makes it her mission to become Lew's office wife and steal him away from his beautiful, new bride. Dorothy is so calculating and insincere, but it's so much fun to watch her. She moves furniture around the office in the morning so her knees will be in the best light during dictation, memorizes his habits and orders his special lunches, and has her boyfriend pick her up from the office so Lew knows she's in demand.

"I wonder why I didn't think of this before," Lew muses as they sit down to eat together. Dorothy smiles sweetly, and the audience chuckles alongside her, knowing her elaborate plan is about to pay off. The next scene shows them "working" at the poolside. As much of a set-up as the romance is, it's actually really cute to see them falling in love. Lew didn't often get to play romantic leads, and it's really fun to see him smiling, blushing, holding hands, and acting his age-51 at the time.

This is a pre-Code romantic comedy, full of risqué jokes and dialogue that couldn't have been included four years later. You'll find two partially nude scenes, one with Lew's wife, Natalie Moorhead, and one with Joan Blondell in the bathtub; and a lesbian character who wears tuxedos and smokes cigars. In one scene, Natalie asks her husband if he has any strength left-while they're in the bedroom and she's unzipping her dress. I loved this movie, so if you think you can put on your 1930 goggles and enjoy it, give it a chance.

I think I have seen more subtle documentaries. This film has one message, repeated in every scene. A busy executive spends more time with, and will form a closer bond with, his personal secretary (office wife) than with his wife. What is unclear is whether this is meant as a warning or a justification. Despite the suggestive advertising to the contratry, the film goes to great lengths to emphasize that the bond is created by working closely together, and not by any seductive maneuvers from either side.

The executive in question is a publisher played by Lewis Stone. HIs character is upright, well-behaved and a complete workaholic. Despite working long hours every day including his holidays, two secretaries and a socialite all fall desperately in love with him. Stone is one-note as the obsessed exec., oblivious to the feelings of any of the women around him. How and when he wooed the fun-loving socialite he marries near the beginning of the film is a mystery. Lewis Stone would have been about 50 when the film was made, but he looks older, more father figure than Romeo.

The film opens with a prologue of a sort, to make sure the message of the film is understood from the start. Publisher Stone hires a writer to write a series of articles on the same subject as the movie: A busy executive spends more time with, and will form a closer bond with, his personal secretary (office wife) than with his wife. This scene is entirely unnecessary to the plot of this very short film, but it may be the most entertaining part. The female writer is dressed as a man and smokes a cigar. There may be a cultural reference or gag that I am missing, but my first thought was that the filmmakers felt the need to explain why the writer was not also desperately in love with Stone. Blanche Friderici is fun to watch but sadly plays no active part in the rest of the film. Her only other appearance has her alone, typing up her article in order to remind us once again what the film is about.

The 'office wife' of the title is played by Dorothy Mackaill. I enjoyed her performance. Her wide-eyed silent film roots show, which is not a problem for me, but some other viewers might be put off. The film also features one of the first film appearances of Joan Blondell, as Mackaill's sister. While Mackaill does show off her legs at every opportunity, her character needs to be seen as fairly pure. It is Blondell's function to provide the sex, by performing every scene she is in in various states of undress.

The Office Wife was based on a story by Faith Baldwin, originally published in Cosmopolitan. It is interesting to note that she is also credited with publishing in the same magazine the story that Sa femme et sa dactylo (1936) was based on. In many ways it is a re-telling of the same story, although in 1936 the Hays Office had a lot more control over how the characters could behave, and how the story ended. Still, Wife vs. Secretary managed to do a lot more with the same premise.

When Lewis Stone tells his secretary that he is going to Europe on his honeymoon, she collapses. Dorothy MacKaill is tapped to be his new secretary by the knowing but kindly office manager, Hobart Bosworth. It's not long before she's indispensable to Stone, and hopelessly in love with him.

It's a sweet-tempered pre-code movie, with the two leads always behaving properly, yet kindly towards each other. The spice is added by the comments of Blanche Friderici, smoking bad cigars in a man's suit, as an acid commentator on the role of the office wife; Joan Blondell as Miss McKaill's sister, a model who lets the manager pinch her once a year to keep her job, and Natalie Moorhead, as Stone's wife, who's carrying on an affair.

It was a peak year for Miss McKaill, who zoomed to the top as Warner Brothers' pre-code lady, knowing and wise. There's only one lingerie scene in this one, and that's with Miss Blondell. Miss McKail's career would crash and burn with the strict enforcement of the Production Code; she would be in only one movie after 1934. She would retire to Hawaii, and live until 1990, dying at the age of 87.