If this movie were made today, you wouldn't know going in whether the wife or secretary would come out on top. However, made in 1936, in the thick of the Hays Code, it's a safe bet to say the secretary doesn't successfully wreck a home without any consequences. It's actually written into the Production Code that a villain either has to see the light and repent or be killed - to show a positive role model to the audience.
Myrna Loy and Jean Harlow play the titular characters, and it takes no guessing at all to figure out which plays which. Though happily married to Myrna, Clark Gable has an "office wife" relationship with his devoted secretary, Jean. Jean's clearly in love with him, but will he really cheat on the wife of the Thin Man? You'll have to watch this quintessential 1930s view of marital life to find out. If you do, you'll see two remarkable things: Jean Harlow without her blonde hair, and James Stewart before he was famous. Jean's publicity campaign wanted to soften her bombshell image, but she really went darker because the continued platinum was starting to cause hair breakage. Jimmy plays Jean's hapless suitor, and if you know your trivia, this is the movie he famously kept messing up the takes so he'd have to keep kissing her!
Myrna Loy and Jean Harlow play the titular characters, and it takes no guessing at all to figure out which plays which. Though happily married to Myrna, Clark Gable has an "office wife" relationship with his devoted secretary, Jean. Jean's clearly in love with him, but will he really cheat on the wife of the Thin Man? You'll have to watch this quintessential 1930s view of marital life to find out. If you do, you'll see two remarkable things: Jean Harlow without her blonde hair, and James Stewart before he was famous. Jean's publicity campaign wanted to soften her bombshell image, but she really went darker because the continued platinum was starting to cause hair breakage. Jimmy plays Jean's hapless suitor, and if you know your trivia, this is the movie he famously kept messing up the takes so he'd have to keep kissing her!