Sa femme et sa dactylo

This is a perfect little film, absolutely well-rounded and exquisite. Beautifully scripted, intelligently directed, ebulliently acted.

Clark Gable is the successful publisher, newly married to society lady Myrna Loy who, although very modern and not jealously disposed, begins to suspect that he is carrying on an affair with his bleach-blonde secretary, Jean Harlow. As Gable's mother states, laconically of her son, "You wouldn't blame a boy for stealing a piece of candy".

All fluff, right? Light as air, unsubstantial? Of course it is, it takes masters of their craft to make this plot stick, to make the movie plain unforgettable. Gable was never better, he seems to relish every second he is on screen, and there is none of the masculine stiffness about him that his worst performances have. He is a joy to watch with the always delightful Loy, their scenes together bristle and self-combust, and they are a really sweet, engaging couple. Loy has to be the most sophisticated creature ever to be filmed, she is SO cool and contemporary ("I'm the best, aren't I?", she says with just the slightest sardonic hint.) Harlow isn't given as much to work with, and she has to downplay her sassy sexiness in order not to tip the scales. But she is still almost all Harlow, and they go as far as they possibly could under the Production Code. The scene with Harlow and Gable in the Havana hotel room is all about sex, as we are left in no doubt.

So, watch it and love it. It is as perfect a piece of 30's film-making as you are likely to see.

A lot of this is typical 1930s melodrama. The story continues because various of the characters fail to have the obvious conversations, which would have cleared things up in a jiffy.

The scene I found particularly interesting and innovative was the penultimate one. In the third from the end scene, Harlow shows up in Loy's stateroom aboard the French Liner ship she is planning to take to Europe to forget about her husband (Gable), whom she imagines, incorrectly, to have had a fling with his secretary Harlow during a business trip to Havana. Harlow tells Loy that if she leaves Gable now, he will turn to Harlow out of loneliness and Loy will never get him back. (Yes, that sounds like the mother's speech to Norma Shearer in The Women.) Loy believes, incorrectly, that she has already lost Gable, so she says she won't go back to him. Harlow tells her that that would make her (Harlow) happy.

The next scene takes place in Gable's office. He is talking with Harlow. We hear footsteps coming down the hall outside. Footsteps that take a long time. It turns out that they belong to the cleaning lady. Then, when she leaves, we hear footsteps again, very assertive footsteps, for a long time. Harlow gets up - she suspects it is Loy, come to return to her husband. And this time it is. Harlow then walks through the next, large office - more long footsteps - and leaves. The use of the footsteps is really very impressive.

Jean Harlow is the secretary no wife wants her husband to have in "Wife vs. Secretary" starring Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, and Harlow, with an early appearance by James Stewart.

It's hard to believe, looking at this film, that Jean Harlow would be dead a year later. Less blonde than in some earlier films, and far more subdued, she plays the indispensable, smart, and efficient secretary of Clark Gable.

Gable is a high-pressured businessman happily married to Myrna Loy. All is well until her mother-in-law advises her to make Gable get rid of that good-looking assistant. Slowly, Loy begins to realize that everyone in their circle is assuming an affair, which up to that point hadn't crossed her mind. It does now.

Harlow is involved with James Stewart, and he doesn't want her to work after they get married. Her job, he feels, is too exciting and important and will threaten their marriage.

Harlow is half in love with Gable and refuses to quit. Stewart is adorable and gives a hint of what will be truly be one of the great screen personas.

The cast is splendid. Gable is his usual charming self; Loy and Harlow are perfect casting as unique women who are complete opposites.

Their final scene together consists of only a long look. It's very effective, as is the acting of both women throughout. Loy's scene with her mother-in-law is heartbreaking.

This is a dated film but very satisfying. Although it's wonderful to see these stars together, it's sad to realize they're all gone now, and that young Harlow has been gone for 68 years. Quite a loss.

It sounds like some sort of cheap sex farce, but this wonderful gem from MGM is actually a very sophisticated work. At its heart are the brilliant performances of five shining stars. Myrna Loy, her miraculously beautiful face subtlely registering her consumption by the green eyed monster. Clark Gable, exhaustingly energetic and effortlessly charming. May Robson, worldly wise and utterly compassionate. James Stewart, in an early supporting role displays the sincere simplicity that was to become his trademark. And Jean Harlow, luminous and intelligent - with a practical notion of love - but playing temptation better than any actor I've ever seen. Watch that scene where she takes off Gable's shoes. So sad that she died only a year after this film was made.

At the helm of this under-rated film is the great Clarence Brown, one of the great stylists of the cinema, who was able to take a simple story and give it depth - watch the gossip and the prejudice of the observers that slowly manipulate Loy, Gable and Harlow into distrusting themselves. Magnificent production and costume designs and great music flesh out the film, and make it a memorable experience. And it's very sexy for its time too! If it weren't for the slightly forced happy ending this film would be perfection itself.

I treasure this film for Jean Harlow's performance, capped by a magnificent, simple line reading: "You are a fool. For which I am grateful."

She had amazing range for an actress who died at 26. Howard Hughes presented her in "Hell's Angels" (1930) as an amoral menace to civilization. (When she slips into "something comfortable" she actually puts on clothes.) It would be charitable to call her appearance in that picture acting. Yet within a couple of years she could dominate the screen by the force of genuine talent.

Her starring career blazed briefly, but with almost no wasted roles. Here she gets to behave like a normal working class woman--not a débutante, nor a tenement dweller, nor a criminal's moll, nor a voracious mantrap, nor a comic banshee, nor an adventuress working the China Seas or Malay docksides.

Clark Gable and Myrna Loy have more customary roles. A part this quiet remains a rarity for the winsome, brilliant, and doomed Harlow.