Hired Wife

The same year Myrna Loy had to invent a fake husband in order to save her professional career in Third Finger, Left Hand, Brian Aherne had to participate in a sham marriage to save his company in Hired Wife. While the two movies aren't exactly similar, there are similarities that make them both delightful. Whichever one you watch first, you won't think the other's a copycat; instead, you'll just want to make your evening a double feature!

Brian's a successful businessman who gets spring fever every year with a different blonde. His faithful and capable secretary, Rosalind Russell, is in love with him. She sees the flings come and go, and she's not above lending a hand to help them go faster. When his company is in jeopardy, his lawyer Robert Benchley suggests the only way to save it is to get married and put every asset in his wife's name. Brian wants to propose to his current sweetie-pie, Virginia Bruce, so he sends Roz while he tends to the paperwork. Roz isn't keen to see him marry another woman, so she just might louse up the proposal on purpose!

This movie is so delightful, it's bound to make a Rosalind Russell fan out of her biggest critic. I've never liked her very much, but she's very cute in this movie. It's not a screwball comedy, but it's smart and savvy with enough humor to have you laughing at every minute. Brian is handsome, clueless, forgiving, and hilarious; why else would Roz go through so much trouble to land him? For a very funny evening, or a perfect matinee day, check out Hired Wife.

Very cute comedy that stretches credibility beyond the breaking point but still is loaded with charm due to the breezy performances of all the players.

Best of all and driving the movie is Rosalind Russell in the type of role that became her signature: the fiercely competent, take care gal who also happened to be deeply romantic and fighting to get the guy she's set her sights on. Some of her machinations are outlandish but since she plays them straight she manages to put them across.

She's well matched with the debonair Brian Aherne, not only a suave leading man but because of his 6 ft 3 in height someone the statuesque Rosalind paired up well with visually. Virginia Bruce is wry and knowing as a gold digging model and Robert Benchley funny as Aherne's lawyer. The real standout in support is John Carroll, a secondary leading man for most of his career he's full of goofy charm as a former beau of Roz's character displaying a comic finesse that Hollywood didn't take advantage of.

A cute studio movie that helped its star hone her screen persona following directly after her one-two punch of The Women and His Girl Friday.

Haven't even watched the whole thing yet, but there are a few ways I know I will like it. One, it's a movie made in the Golden age of Hollywood - and even the so-called bad movies from that. Are good compared to some movies of today. There really was no such thing as a truly bad movie from that time. Two, it's a romance, and romance is always good. And three, it's Rosalind Russell! Anything starring Rosalind Russell usually hits the spot with me.

So, I'm looking forward to enjoying this - because I know I will!

Update: I was right! I really like this! It's such a simple movie, that you need to be in a simple mindset and in a lazy mood to really enjoy it. But this is a good, lazy afternoon or late night getting ready for bed movie. It just puts you in a easy going, worry free mood, because you just know that everyone is going to be okay in the end. And this is the feeling that you come away with, when watching a light movie like this. Thank God for them! This movie had a way of making me believe in love more as well. Anything that can do that is a good thing!

And Rosalind Russell does her best Mae West voice in this movie a lot of the time. She is so fun to watch on screen, and her voice is a character all in its own! No wonder she's one of my favorites - all at once sophisticated, and comical. One of the best!

This film is your average Roz Russell farce from this era, yet it's something completely different at the same time. Obviously ANY follow-up to His Girl Friday would be significantly weaker, but that isn't a fair comparison, Hired Wife to HGF, because HIS GIRL FRIDAY. COME ON.

Roz does her usual (I mean that in a good way), Brian Aherne is take him or leave him, Virginia Bruce is okay as the other (eventual, of course) woman, and the rest of the cast is okay too. For a comedy, this film doesn't have many laughs, despite starring one of the silver screen's finest deadpan comediennes, our girl Rosalind.

The plot of this one is that business executive Stephen Dexter (Aherne) asks his secretary, whose name is Kendal Browning (with just one L) to marry him, in name only, because he doesn't want to be taken over and lose his finances by a rival company...who want to take over his business and aren't afraid to be hostile about it, either. However, Kendal eventually falls for Stephen, despite the fact that he doesn't love her and is perfectly happy to carry on with another woman named Phyllis (Virginia Bruce). But Kendal, being as Rosalind Russell character, refuses to give up her man and engages in all sorts of schemes to keep him married to her. He decides that she isn't so bad after all.

Brian Aherne is sort of like a poor man's Leslie Howard meets Melvyn Douglas, and he's not making a //huge// effort to break out of that mold here. In fact, even Leslie Howard would have been better in Aherne's role. Virgina Bruce's role isn't as well-developed as I'd have liked it to be, but you can tell that this comedy was sort of thrown together in a rush.

Rosalind Russell makes almost everything better (she couldn't save She Wouldn't Say Yes, Mourning Becomes Electra, or Picnic, but that was just bad writing mostly), and she brings a sort of level-headedness to her role, even if she's given her stock part of "Right hand (wo)man to the big boss who gets enlisted to do some sort of task, and is also fiercely in love with the big boss, but we don't know that until later".

A slight recommendation, but be aware that the pacing stinks and all of the cast have done better- even together. If you liked My Sister Eileen, watch this one, but be aware that it's not as good as MSE.

Stephen Dexter (Brian Aherne) owns a big company and has never paid his very competent personal secretary, Kendal (Rosalind Russell), a moment's notice. Instead, he is suddenly interested in a blonde, Phyllis (Virginia Bruce) and Kendal is not happy. But instead of saying anything, she tries to sabotage the relationship. This SHOULD have convinced Stephen that Kendal had the hots for him when he discovers this, but despite being good in business, he is an idiot when it comes to women.

A bit later, the idiot Stephen learns that his company is vulnerable to a possible hostile takeover. So, to save his butt, he realizes he could hide many of his assets if he gets married and proposed a very business-like arrangement with Kendal--marry him but it will be in name only. Not exactly Mr. Romance, huh? Well, Kendal agrees...but also has plans of her own and they DON'T involve just getting married for his convenience...and he realizes this when she suddenly refuses to grant him a divorce! And, in those days, that meant he was in serious trouble!

While I liked this film, I did not love it and have seen similar sorts of movies from the era that worked better. What is the big problem? Well, the ending (which is a foregone conclusion) comes way too abruptly. It seemed almost like the director realized the film was running on long enough and just decided to wrap it up and call it a day! Enjoyable...but nothing more.