Ma chère secrétaire

My Dear Secretary proved one thing in the career of Kirk Douglas, comedy was not his strength.

Kirk Douglas has made a career of playing dramatic and egotistical heels, but in this case the director didn't keep him under control. I could not believe that Owen Waterbury could have anyone other than himself fall in love with him.

Plot such as it is has Laraine Day as a student becoming enthralled with writer Kirk Douglas's lecture at her night school and then going to work as his secretary. She's a budding writer also and I think you can see where the rest of this film is going.

There are some nice performances from some of the supporting players. One has to single out Keenan Wynn as Douglas's neighbor and partaker in merriment.

If My Dear Secretary was done today, Wynn's character would be openly gay instead of it just being hinted at. As it is, he camps it up to beat all the Boys in the Band.

An overlooked and underrated gem in the genre of American Screwball comedy, "My Dear Secretary" pits Kirk Douglas and Laraine Day together in a romantic battle of the sexes set against the literary world of the 1940's. The script, complex in its plot as one expects from these brilliant comedies from that era, is flawless, and the performances by Day and Douglas, who demonstrates an early knack for comedic acting sorely underused in most of his later films, are solid. It is Keenan Wynn however as Douglas' wisecracking best friend who does a great deal of scene stealing in one of his most memorable roles. A shame Kirk Douglas claimed a lack of affection for this picture in his autobiography as it is a real treat to watch him in this type of film. Made by low key United Artists at a time when screwball comedy was winding down, it is not hard to see why this picture was overlooked then and is all but forgotten now. In the shadow of the more famous Cary Grant and Roselind Russell et al comedies it is nevertheless an intricate and finely tuned piece of screwball which deserves better recognition. Look for it at the video store, you will pleasantly surprised. And while you're there check out "A Lady Takes a Chance" with Jean Arthur and John Wayne, another sadly under-appreciated comedy from the 40's.

One of my favorite comedies because of the character actors. Keenan Wynns very best droll efforts as the songwriting best friend and neighbor of Kirk Douglas; Florence Bates, a busybody as the owner of the apartment building where they live; Irene Ryan, the building maid who sings "Sniff, sniff where's your handkerchief; kerchoo, kerchoo, gazundheidt to you; Let yourself go and blow; Oh, let youself go and blow" Wynns latest song; Helen Walker, one of Kirks secretaries; Rudy Vallee, as Day's former boss; and Alan Mowbray as the dense detective Kirk hires to watch Day.

As in all screwball comedies, the story is just a framework for the characters to do and say their funny business. And they don't dissapoint. Douglas is a writer who has had a successful first novel and goes to a college to give a class and meets Day who is there as a student, and he hires her as his new secretary. When she arrives the next day, after quitting as Vallee's secretary, Walker goes up in the elevator with her to retrieve her belongings because she has just quit as the last secretary. It gets crazier as Wynn answers the door and receives a slap from the mother of one of the girls Kirk has just interviewed, which he immediately passes on to Kirk. Wynn spends most of his time at Kirks trying recipes which he is hilarious preparing, but no one ever dreams of eating.

More complications and silly goings on but it is all fun and is still one of my favorite videos, which I just watched again today. My rating: 8/10.

The plot has potential on paper, but can't quite hold up on screen, despite its fun, lighthearted feel.

The main characters are horribly mismatched. Although they do have a lot in common: both are far too stubborn for their own good, with nasty tempers and both need to grow up, especially him.

The movie's saving grace, though, is Ronnie, the sidekick. He's tremendous fun! :)

I wouldn't suggest making an evening of it, but if you have some spare time to kill and don't have too high of expectations, it'll give you a few laughs.

The hitherto under-publicised film; My Dear Secretary (1949) illustrates that lead film stars were often there as a marketing tool such as in this example of Kirk Douglas, while the real talents were the character actors, such as in the case of the multi talented Keenan Wynn - see this versatile actor in his highly adept sinister role in Kind Lady (1951). In other words Wynn is the driving force of this film as opposed to the star attraction. In this film Wynn is the comedic talent to the drab cliché straight man role of Douglas'.

Douglas here plays the role of Owen Waterbury, the egotistical writer with a misogynistic womanising streak. In this respect it could be said that Douglas was playing himself. This egotistical persona was merely exacerbated for Douglas' later heroic roles such as in Spartacus (1960). Like his role in Sparticus, in My Dear Secretary,Douglas likes to show off his masculine torso when he puts his shirt on minus vest. This is somewhat of a tribute to Clarke Glable's famous vestless scene in; It Happened One Night (1934).

Douglas' role of the writer Waterbury uses the secretarial school as a licence to his womanising ways, making passes at them and auditioning them for the role of wife, of which is eventually awarded to Stephanie Gaylord (Laraine Day) who plays his bland, docile, door mat wife. That is until she comes into her own with her own award winning novel. This culminates in the roles being reversed as Waterbury becomes the subordinate partner in their marriage. In this respect the film's denouement was ahead of its time, illustrating women as not only a success in their own right, but as the matriarchal head of the family.

Though the acting parts of Douglas and Day were stereotypically bland, the supporting cast are outstanding in their respective roles. This is especially attributed to Wynn. He alone makes the film a must see. Of course, the great Irene Ryan (Mary, the housekeeper) is adept at scene stealing in her minor role.

In sum, this is a film of talented characters with bland stars.