Day-Time Wife

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.

Just 7 reviews on this one by the time I'm writing this, with a couple of them being very very negative.

Bla, bla, bla... 1939 was the best year in Hollywood history (since when? who said that?) ... bla, bla, bla...Tyrone Power is terrible... bla, bla, bla... they should have casted Cary Grant.

NONSENSE. The script is fairly good (as long as someone has seen a couple of 1930's films more than just "Holiday" and "Bringing Up Baby") and Tyrone Power is quite descent and very funny.

Furthermore, someone who has watched just a few of the dozens of romantic - screwball comedies of that era, would have known that there were MANY other male leads besides Cary Grant, actors who gave as wonderful performances as C.G. gave in some of his films. They would also know that even though Cary Grant was magnificent, he also had done some VERY BAD movies through the 30's.

Finally, a request for the IMDb stuff. It's terribly unfair for a movie to have on it's main page a 100 word review with the title "Simply awful!". Especially when this review gives absolutely no reasons on why the movie is "awful". The fact that 22/26 people who have read the review, DISAPPROVED it, speaks for itself.

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.

We could even say sixteen going on twenty-six, but the ever gorgeous Linda Darnell, does look achingly sweet and innocent in minor 20th Century Fox comedy Day-Time Wife. Nevertheless she convincingly plays the sophisticated wife of well-off businessman Tyrone Power, married long enough for the cad to be already fooling around with his no-class floozy of a secretary (Wendy Barrie). Only the second picture for the teenage actress, young Linda gives a remarkable performance, especially since she has to more or less carry the movie, being on screen in practically every scene. She holds her own with great poise and verve in the presence of veteran actresses Barrie, Binnie Barns, Joan Davis, and Joan Valerie. Nor does she seem the least bit overawed by the formidable screen presences of dashing leading man Power and old smoothie Warren William. William, always fun to watch, has a field day as a lecherous architect whose secretary Linda becomes in hope of learning what makes men so attracted to their curvaceous dictation takers. But once you have seen Day-Time Wife, you will not be likely to remember any of the cast better than pretty, perky Miss Darnell.

This picture is not a screwball comedy, as some others have labeled it. Just isn't screwy enough, and lacks most of the typical elements of that type. See my review of Go West, Young Man (1936) for a definition of screwball comedy. Day Time-Wife is a species of a genre known as bedroom farce. Hopefully this term will not lead crude types out there to expect naked men and women chasing each other around beds. Bedroom farce is simply the Hollywood trade name for a comedy which involves married people having problems staying married. Day-Time Wife also falls into a category known in the trade as "white telephone movies". Back in those days only the most affluent had a telephones any color or style other than utilitarian black. Thus a white telephone movie is about rich guys and rich dolls hanging out in their plush apartments or palatial mansions, going out to swanky night clubs, sailing on their swell yachts, and gabbing on their white telephones.

Day-Time Wife is ably directed by Gregory Ratoff, who also directed Miss Darnell in her first picture Hotel For Women (1939), with the glossy black and white cinematography, plush sets, and swank costumes for which 20th Century Fox was famous during the halcyon days of the big studios. Editing is silky smooth, as in any big studio picture form this era. The story offers little in the way of originality, but no matter, there hasn't been a new story since 33 A. D. The script by Art Arthur and Robert Harari is reasonably subtle and intelligent for one of this genre, the dialog crisp, engaging, and witty. Day-Time Wife is an amusing little comedy, very funny, especially in the climatic segment. It is a pleasure to watch if only for the knockout production values and the charming cast, led by the very young, very beautiful and very talented Miss Linda Darnell.

A load of slick, smooth entertainment from Old Hollywood's Golden Era packed into an hour and twelve minutes.

"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?"