Ma secrétaire est une perle

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.

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!

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 the kind of comedy in which one roots for one of the characters to expose or get the upper hand on another. In this case, it's Jane Norton finding out and exposing husband Ken who has been spending too much time at the office lately. But, her purpose is to reign him in. All of this is possible and works as a comedy because Ken and Jane have been married three years and still are madly in love. To best enjoy the comedy, one needs to pretend that a husband deeply in love with his wife would rather be out with a female office employee than at home with the love of his life.

Hollywood has made many films - comedies, murder mysteries and others - about unfaithful husbands, and boss and secretary affairs. This is a rare film with a clever plot in which there is no infidelity, but other circumstances that are the basis for many good laughs. It turns the tables on the usual types of characters, with Tyrone Power again in a straight-man role, and Linda Darnell playing wonderful comedy off of him, along with a great second comedy lead in Warren William.

Power's Ken Norton owns a roofing contracting business. Darnell is his wife, Jane. As she tells friend, Blanche, Ken stays out of her kitchen and she stays out of his office. Blanche is on her fourth husband, and she's in the plot as an acquaintance of Jane and Ken from somewhere. She intimates to Jane that there may be something more when Ken is late or out so many nights, especially when his secretary calls to give the message. Jane is not naïve, but she also is not like most women portrayed in such situations. She doesn't jump to the conclusion that Ken is having an affair. She is a woman who really knows her man very well and that he loves her as she loves him - totally. But, after this goes on so long, Jane decides to get a secretarial job on the q.t. She does this to find out what it is about a secretary who can lure a boss to dally and/or go astray.

So, Jane gets a job as Bernard Dexter's secretary. Warren William is the perfect actor to play the part of this guy with a large, architectural firm. He has a beautiful wife, but clearly has strayed in the past. His colorful character has some hilarious aspects that make up an extra clever part in the screenplay. On top of that, the Dexter and Norton firms may be doing business together - which makes it hard for Jane to remain incognito.

Well, this sets the stage for the rest of the film to play out with very funny, good, and some clever scenes and results. One other little comedic aside is how Ken's secretary, Kitty, presumes a lot and takes advantage by not showing up to work some mornings - to his dismay. Wendy Barrie is a hoot as Kitty. One long scene with hardly a spoken word had me in stitches. Jane poured a perfume she found in Ken's pocket, on their dog, Goliath. At the dinner table, the dog is close to his master and Ken smells the perfume. The expressions back and forth, from Jane and Ken are hilarious as he tries to get rid of and hide the aroma.

Power's difficulty with comedy is evident where Ken frowns, scowls and is angry at Jane's ruse and finding him out. But William knows how to play comedy. When Dexter's wife shows up, he becomes nervous and fearful like a kid who just got caught raiding the cookie jar.

Linda Darnell was a very good actress who starred in several films with Tyrone Power. Unfortunately, her personal life was not one of a happy marriage and bliss. She soon became a heavy drinker and struggled most of her adult life with alcoholism. She was married and divorced three times, and she died when she was just 41 years old. She succumbed to severe burns from a 1965 house fire when she was staying with her secretary who lived in a suburb of Chicago.

This is a very funny film, and even a lesson for some. Here are some favorite lines.

Jane Norton, "Say, are you still on speaking terms with your last husband?" Blanche, "Crawford? Oh, sure. I never let a divorce break up a friendship."

Miss (Joyce) Applegate, "You know, Mr. Dexter has a mind of his own. He's a genius. Everybody says so, including Mr. Dexter."

Bernard Dexter, interviewing Jane who is incognito as Jane Blake, "Do you play backgammon?" Jane Norton, "Huh?" Dexter, "Backgammon. Backgammon." Jane, "Oh, uh, yes. Yes." Dexter, "Everybody should play backgammon. That'll be all, Miss Blake."

Miss Applegate, "Well, are you in or out?" Jane Norton, " I... don't know." Applegate, "Did he ask you if you play backgammon?" Jane, "Yes." Applegate, slapping her hand on her desk, "You're in!"

Bernard Dexter, "Did you know that the Persian warriors always played backgammon after a hard day on the battlefield?"

Jane Norton, "Good morning! Oh, I just saw Mrs. Dexter." Bernard Dexter, "Oh, did you? Did she see you?" Jane, "No." Dexter, "You get a bonus."

Bernard Dexter, dictating to Jane with gibberish, "Gentlemen, If we want to take the compaction and stataification of the configuration in confirmation to the angiography, it would represent a super structure with splanchforgustic meltadonographicism. Consequently, I will be unable to indulge in these archolinear gradiscopics inasmuch as I am taking Miss Blake to dinner this evening. What do you say?"

Ken Norton, "Listen, if I have to stay in the doghouse much longer, I'll be barking. Well, aren't you gonna laugh?" Jane Norton, "Well, aren't you gonna bark?"

A light-as-air confection, with very dark overtones. The very young, fresh-faced Linda Darnell is stood up on their second anniversary by husband Tyrone Power. The always delightful Binnie Barnes, her poisonous often-divorced friend Blanche says he's fooling around. Darnell refuses to believe it.

But believe it she must as evidence piles up. So, under the guide of shopping all day, she takes a job as a secretary. Her goal: finding out what about their secretaries appeals to men. (It must be noted that a husband willing to accept five-day-a-week, all-day shopping expeditions goes against many conventions.) Ushered in by goofy but knowing receptionist Joan David -- THE Joan Davis, that divine comedienne here in an early, rather small role -- she interviews for a job. Her boss is Warren William, at his slimiest. He comes on to her like nobody's business, his own wife notwithstanding.

Darnell is determined to keep working rather than depend on Power's money and to pursue her plan: What makes these guys fall for these girls? William and Power are business associates and they all, secretaries and his wife included, end up at a nightclub. She is very firm with Power but in the end makes up with him.

It's an early feminist movie. And in its own gentle way it's a subversive one, too. Unlike Catherine Deneuve in "Belle de jour," she does not become a call girl. But she scandalizes her chauvinistic, narrow-minded husband by becoming a working woman -- and a very smart one at that.