The Office Wife (1930) User Reviews

Short but well-made Pre-Code drama

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 7 June 2007]

This is a very good film for 1930, as the sound quality is excellent--something that CAN'T be said of all American films of the time. Plus, while the film generally takes place in an office, it doesn't have that "stagey" feel many early sound films have. Additionally, there's a gorgeous moonlight beach scene and so much of the camera-work was stellar--and the use of special lenses and filters made the lead look luminous. So, technically speaking, this is a very good film for the time.

The film begins with the owner of a publishing house talking with a very masculine female writer about writing a book about office romances. This very manly lady seems to be a stereotype, of sorts, for writers--sort of like a variation on Gertrude Stein. Well, this character is only used as a sort of introduction--the rest of the film revolves around the boss (Lewis Stone) and his new secretary, Dorothy Mackaill. While she is quite efficient, she also has designs on her boss--even though he recently married a lovely young lady. Over time, the workaholic boss does find himself falling for Mackaill, though her "sleep her way to the top" ideas lose out to her sense of decency--setting up a rather predictable but satisfying conclusion. Being a Pre-Code film, this adultery is all worked out to everyone's satisfaction and the film ends with everyone (or practically everyone) living happily ever after.

The film is actually pretty good apart from its technical merits. While the story was a tad predictable at times, the story was pretty adult and interesting. While titillating, it also had quite a bit of depth and is well worth a look.

By the way, in one of her earliest films, Joan Blondell plays the role of Mackaill's sister. Oddly, and true to the Pre-Code ideals, she spends almost all the film either in her underwear or naked in the tub. While they don't show anything that explicit, her scenes are quite steamy!

When wife vs. secretary, battle lines are drawn!

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 6 April 2015]

This pre-code gem is an early talkie that gives legal wives good warning that there's another woman in her business man's life-his secretary! Aging bachelor Lewis Stone becomes engaged, and his veteran secretary (Dale Fuller) has a breakdown and must immediately resign. The pretty Dorothy MacKaill is immediately promoted as a replacement, getting warning from the plump frump that a good secretary gets by on skills, not looks, all the while fixing her mistakes. It takes a minute for MacKaill to get her bearings with the sometimes demanding Stone, but after she prepares a healthy lunch and shares it with him, they are as close as bees are to honey. Soon after, they are working outside at Stone's poolside with wife Natalie Moorehead and her obvious lover practically consorting in front of Stone and MacKaill's noses. As their marriage crumbles, Stone and MacKaill find out that they can't just have a professional relationship and she becomes torn between him and her journalist boyfriend.

When MGM made a very civilized similar film with Gable, Loy and Harlow, this has the potential to be more biting and pretty much is. A brunette Joan Blondell provides cracks and wisdom as MacKaill's roommate sister, while Moorehead escapes her brittle bitchy stereotype in a scene with Stonr that is surprisingly human and allows her character to show a ton of vulnerability and understanding. A scene where Stone pretty much helps Moorehead undress is pretty shocking for its day and gives a good idea of what lead to the Hays code four years later.

What could have been a rather ordinary woman's picture sparkles because of a better script than normal. If you can get past the major age difference between Stone and MacKaill, the film will come off as a truly enjoyable story that spreads its innuendo around in massive volumes as if it was a spilled bottle of ink on MacKaill's desk. There's also a fabulous butch lesbian (Blanche Friderici) who provides humor and a brief cynical description of what an "office wife" really is.

One fantastic lesbian

[AAdaSC · 6/10 · 4 December 2010]

Larry (Lewis Stone) has a wife Linda (Natalie Moorhead) but the appointment of a new secretary Anne (Dorothy Mackaill) throws a spanner in the works. Larry and Anne fall in love with each other while Linda drifts away from him. It is up to Katherine (Joan Blondell) to let Larry know what the real deal is.

The acting is sometimes stilted and the basic idea of Larry and Anne getting together is utterly ludicrous. He is more like her grandfather, ie, they are 2 generations apart. Set against this there are positives such as the roles played by Joan Blondell and Blanche Friderici as "Kate". Friderici is the best lesbian I have seen and I was quite surprised to see that women could be so outwardly gay in 1930. She smokes a cigar and dresses like a man but there is absolutely no attempt to feminize the look as there was with Dietrich. This girl is all man! And it's brilliant.

The film is OK, nothing more, and it's interesting to see that the women of the time seemed to favour that short haircut which makes them look a bit severe. Joan Blondell's hair is the nicest coz it looks the most fluffy.

Entertaining Pre-Code

[Michael_Elliott · 29 May 2013]

The Office Wife (1930)

*** (out of 4)

Highly entertaining pre-code about Larry Fellowes (Lewis Stone), a publishing company owner who gets a new secretary (Dorothy Mackaill) and it doesn't take long for the two to fall for one another. THE OFFICE WIFE is certainly a naughty little film and especially when you compare it to some of the other pre-codes of this era. The film kicks off with Stone talking to a writer saying that the bond between a businessman and his secretary is stronger than the bond he has with his wife. From this point on we're given a film with several characters doing morally questionable things, which would certainly hit the editing room floor in a few years once the Hayes Office put a stop to this sort of thing. I really thought the film was incredibly entertaining because of its rather frank dialogue, which often time hinted at some sexual stuff. Mackaill, whose career was hot during this era but quickly faded, is wonderful in her role and I think she did an extremely good job at making the viewer feel sorry for her and begin to care for her. I also thought her comic timing during certain scenes were flawless and especially during one where she's "preparing" herself to flirt with the boss. Stone is always watchable and that's true here as he gives another strong performance. Walter Merrill is good in his supporting role as the wannabe boyfriend. The major scene-stealer is Joan Blondell who plays Mackaill's saucy sister. Whenever she's on the screen she's usually slipping in or out of clothes and the camera certainly loves to follow her legs around. If you're a leg man then you're going to be in heaven here as both ladies constantly have the camera highlighting their legs. Again, morality was a big issue back during this era and it's pretty shocking to see how THE OFFICE WIFE ends. I'm not going to ruin anything but it's pretty refreshing to see.

Not Much Lingerie In This Pre-Code, But There Is A Woman Smoking Cigars

[boblipton · 6/10 · 25 July 2020]

When Lewis Stone tells his secretary that he is going to Europe on his honeymoon, she collapses. Dorothy MacKaill is tapped to be his new secretary by the knowing but kindly office manager, Hobart Bosworth. It's not long before she's indispensable to Stone, and hopelessly in love with him.

It's a sweet-tempered pre-code movie, with the two leads always behaving properly, yet kindly towards each other. The spice is added by the comments of Blanche Friderici, smoking bad cigars in a man's suit, as an acid commentator on the role of the office wife; Joan Blondell as Miss McKaill's sister, a model who lets the manager pinch her once a year to keep her job, and Natalie Moorhead, as Stone's wife, who's carrying on an affair.

It was a peak year for Miss McKaill, who zoomed to the top as Warner Brothers' pre-code lady, knowing and wise. There's only one lingerie scene in this one, and that's with Miss Blondell. Miss McKail's career would crash and burn with the strict enforcement of the Production Code; she would be in only one movie after 1934. She would retire to Hawaii, and live until 1990, dying at the age of 87.

Office romance.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 6/10 · 23 September 2017]

Finishing the passable 57 minute "Adult" flick Lei'd in Hawaii,I decided to make it a double bill,and go for another movie with a run time of under an hour. Being in a Pre-Code mood recently, I decided it was time to go to the office.

The plot:

After getting author Kate Halsey to write a book about a secretary who acts like a wife to her boss, businessman Larry Fellowes finds fiction to become reality,when his secretary Andrews faints after learning Fellows is getting married to Linda. Returning from his honeymoon, Fellows meets new secretary Anne Murdock, who causes Fellows to act like a husband to his secretary.

View on the film:

Made in the very early days of the "talkies", director Lloyd Bacon (with uncredited Michael Curtiz) and cinematographer William Rees are unable to hide the marks of the era,with loud creaks from the floor as the cameraman moves,and long dialogue scenes being shot in stage- bound wide-shots. Steaming up the screen for 58 minutes, Bacon and Curtiz step into the risqué world of Pre-Code with eye- catching dissolves over Anne Murdock's sexy legs,and some of the ladies being given a suggestive "butch" short haircut and one size too small suit.Torn from the pages of Faith Baldwin's the prize Cosmopolitan magazine serial, the screenplay by Charles Kenyon makes the office sizzle with playful, double- entendre dialogue tightening the romance between Fellowes and Anne.

As the romance fizzes away, Kenyon dives into areas that would be lost in the Hays Code, as (most of) the office staff and their families are charmed by the feel-good Rom-Com infidelity of Fellowes,and the ladies are given the impressively modern sexual freedom that the men have. While they have a very noticeable age gap, Lewis Stone and Dorothy Mackaill give sparkling performances as Fellows and Anne,thanks to Stone's very funny manner of being tempted by an eyeful of Anne,smoothly blending with Mackaill making Anne a nervous flirt for an office romance.

Joan Blondell steals movie from leads

[brianina · 4/10 · 8 May 2001]

A somewhat interesting early talkie, more for the minor cast members than the major ones. Dale Fuller (Maria Macapa in "Greed") has a stand-out bit at the beginning as a lovestruck secretary and Blance Frederici plays an extremely mannish writer (a Gertrude Stein parody?). The best bit, stealing the limelight away from the female lead, is the movie debut of Joan Blondell as the lead's sister, spending the entire movie either getting into or out of lingerie. The lead, Dorothy Mackaill, seems wooden next to her. The direction has some odd gaffes usually associated with earlier talkies (fluffed lines, cameras failing to follow action properly) that speaks of a rushed production.

Ever fallen in love, in love with someone you shouldn't have fallen in love with

[1930s_Time_Machine · 4/10 · 12 May 2023]

It feels like every other film made in the early 30s are about a sweet innocent young woman falling in love with the wrong man. This is one of those - it's utterly predictable but nevertheless this is one of the better ones. It stands out from the crowd by virtue of it having a good believable and likeable cast and competent, professional direction from Lloyd Bacon. Unlike a lot of films from 1930, this one is made well and feels and sounds like a proper motion picture, not a weirdly acted stage play. It's not however something which will make you go 'wow' or even something you'll be able to remember a few weeks' time but it's entertaining enough. It does however have a proper time-machine effect on you and once you've started watching it, although you'll know how it's going to end, you'll still be hooked.

Pretty Yorkshire lass, Dorothy Mackaill (yes her from the "over-arty" SAFE IN HELL) is the star and she's so lovely that you will be desperate to find out whether everything works out for her. She engages with you straight away by making her character not just a character in a film but a real living, breathing person. This is a wonderful example of how you can get drawn into the world how it was ninety ago - even though the story itself is a bit bland! Her character, Ann is exactly as you'd expect an ordinary girl to be. She's not a gold digger, she's not loud and sassy she's not a timid wallflower - she's just normal with all the vulnerabilities and insecurities any young woman would have. As the story unfolds we see her fall for her boss - for a change, he's neither a cad, a rotter nor a gangster in fact he's extremely nice.......he is however married and also old enough to be her great- grandfather. It's strange that at the time nobody was too concerned about the massive age gap. Wealthy elderly men with young wives was nothing to be judgemental about then like we would now. The girl got security and the man got a sexy young companion - the definition of love was different then!

The other reason to watch this is because it's Joan Blondell's first film. Portentously the world's introduction to the sexiest woman this world has ever seen is in a bath tub and then in all of her subsequent scenes she's there just in her underwear. She's not however there just for decoration, indeed she looks a bit unkempt, hair is over the place and she's wearing no makeup. She literally looks like she's just got out of bed. It would have been so easy for Lloyd Bacon to have her play the sexy young sister but he does the opposite. He might not have been one of the superstar directors of Hollywood but he knew what he was doing here. Like Dorothy Mackaill, he also makes Joan Blondell comes across as a real person which is of course also down to Joan's really good acting - considering this is her first talking part, she's quite impressive.

A worthy precode about office romance

[daneldorado · 8/10 · 6 September 2006]

"The Office Wife" (1930) puts the beautiful silent screen actress Dorothy Mackaill into sound pictures and introduces Joan Blondell to the screen. For those laudable achievements alone, this film deserves kudos.

But it really earns its welcome by presenting a charming story about wealthy businessman Larry Fellowes (Lewis Stone) who, though married, finds himself falling for his private secretary, Anne Murdock -- the "office wife" of the title -- in the person of Ms. Mackaill.

Anne likes him too, and we are treated to an exquisite tension between them, as they go about the firm's business, each of them falling more and more in love with the other, yet having to remain very businesslike in their relationship.

Finally Larry gets up the nerve to give Anne a kiss... but before you holler "employee harassment!", take a good look at Anne's posture just before the kiss. She is totally asking for it. She puts her face close to his, and her body language practically DARES him to kiss her. He does. What to do now? Joan Blondell, as Anne's sister, learns that Fellowes' wife is planning to divorce him -- for reasons unconnected to Anne -- so Joan gives her sister's boss a phone call, letting him know that Anne has "fallen for her boss," without explicitly naming him. Our gal Joan knows how to set up a situation.

I didn't signal "spoilers" at the start of this commentary, because I think that's unnecessary. We know from Anne and Larry's first meeting that these two are going to wind up together. One may say that Lewis Stone is "too old" for Dorothy Mackaill, and in truth he was her senior by 24 years. But they are very "simpatico" together, and are a winning couple. Sort of like Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones in the modern day.

Dale Fuller, who played a tragic female in "Souls for Sale" (1923) and "Greed" (1924), plays another one here, as a secretary who secretly yearns for Larry's love. Maybe Ms. Fuller was typecast, but she certainly did play that sort of role well.

In this precode, we get to see Joan Blondell put on her stockings, slowly, one leg at a time... a scenario that she would duplicate in several other films of the era. The act became so familiar, in "Foothill Parade" (1933), she threw the folks a switcheroo, putting both stockings on the same leg. "Accidentally," of course.

"The Office Wife" clocks in at just under one hour in length, making it one of the shortest and most enjoyable precodes ever.

Dan Navarro ([e-mail])

Rich Old Executive's Wet Dream

[view_and_review · 1/10 · 4 February 2024]

Some crusty old rich executive had a wet dream and this was it. Where else could a beautiful young secretary genuinely fall in love with her older boss? And just to make the dream even more heavenly there was not one but two secretaries that fell in love with him, except the first was a little older and a lot plainer than the second.

The principal player in this dream was Lawrence Fellowes (Lewis Stone born 1879) who looked like he was closer to sixty than fifty. He was a workaholic and worked his secretaries just as hard. His first secretary, Ms. Andrews (Dale Fuller born 1885), was dismissed because he found out she was in love with him. This woman quite literally fainted (a common occurrence back then) when she heard that Larry was getting married to Linda (Natalie Moorhead born 1901). As a result she was replaced with Anne Murdock (Dorothy Mackaill born 1903).

Anne was effective and Anne also fell in love with Larry. Her sister Katherine (Joan Blondell (I wish she had a bigger role)) was encouraging the relationship, if for any reason, because Larry was rich. Anne wasn't after his money though, she was truly in love. I guess his workman attitude made women swoon. He didn't even have to say anything complimentary, just the sound of his voice as he dictated was enough. He in turn fell in love with her which caused quite the conundrum. He was married after all, so was he the typical high society husband who saw a mistress as a right he should enjoy, or was he a more decent fellow that wanted to remain faithful?

The decision was made for him. Linda was so tired of being neglected by her husband she found a side piece herself. She graciously told him that she was no longer in love with him and that he could now pursue his secretary. That's a good dream right there. The only way it could've been better is if his wife stayed faithful to him while knowing he wanted his secretary.

Movies like this make me vomit. Stop trying to convince us that office romances between bosses and their underlings happen like this when the more realistic occurrence is that a woman feels compelled to consent to her boss's advances in order to keep her job. "Beauty and the Boss" (1932) did this same movie except with more charm and more comedy. There was nothing cute or endearing about this movie at all, but I'm sure the Warner Bros. Execs adored this movie. They probably all left the screening believing that their attractive secretaries and assistant loved them too.

Free on Odnoklassniki.

Beautiful Dorothy Mackaill

[kidboots · 8/10 · 12 August 2010]

This is a lovely romance, surprisingly coming from Warner Brothers who were more renowned for hard hitting social dramas. On the strength of "The Office Wife" beautiful Dorothy Mackaill was given a Warners contract but the studio did little to keep her at the top. She had been a top player all through the twenties and moved with ease into the talkies. Apparently, the story goes, the only time she ever got angry with Warners was after "The Office Wife" - she knew it was a good movie but Warners then gave her a second rate assignment. She went on suspension but had scarcely arrived in England when the cables started arriving. The movie was a big hit and Warners wanted to give her a new contract - she was then kept busy over the next few years co-starring with up and coming actors like Joel McCrea, Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable.

Editor Laurence Fellows (Lewis Stone) and his top selling contributor Kate Halsey discuss the pros and cons of a perfect secretary - the office wife - he wants her to write a serial about it. This idea peters out but Blanche Frederici creates a sensational first impression in her "mannish" attire. When love sick secretary (Dale Fuller) finds out her boss Laurence Fellows is getting married, she resigns, paving the way for efficient Ann Murdock's (Dorothy Mackaill) promotion. Ann has her own ideas about life - she wants to work hard and get ahead and not finish up like Miss Andrews. She wants to make a favourable impression but gets off to a rocky start - personal calls on the boss's line, broken pencils and a lighter that doesn't light. As time goes on she becomes indispensable to him and, unknown to her, his marriage to Linda begins to crack. Because Linda is played by Natalie Moorehead, you just know there is another man or three waiting in the background, but they are both civil about it. Fellows knows he has been neglectful and wants to make another go of it but Linda wants to begin again on her own. Ann's boyfriend is no prize either and when his conversation about fresh air and woollen underwear ends you wonder how she could go out with him, let alone consent to marry him. All's well that ends well and it is up to fast talking Catherine to bring Fellows and Ann together.

I thought the movie was excellent, although I didn't find the chemistry between Lewis Stone and Mackaill particularly over powering. The scene stealer in the movie was definitely Joan Blondell, as Ann's sister Catherine, and her wisecracks were a real highlight. "I hope I stay dumb - one sap in the Murdock family is enough". "Ted wants a parking space for a couple of babies and free laundry". "It's one o'clock - what's this fellow Fellows think he's doing - I don't know, but I bet he's good at it" - are just a couple. Lloyd Bacon got his big break with "The Office Wife" as well. Before this his claim to fame had been directing Al Jolson's "The Singing Fool" but his future held "42nd Street" (1932), "Footlight Parade" (1933), "Brother Orchid" (1940) and many others.

Highly Recommended.

A good example of a pre-code film

[AlsExGal · 10/10 · 9 July 2007]

It's interesting how Lewis Stone looks the same in every film I've seen him in from 1925 to 1945. In this very short little drama, a secretary decides to go after her new boss, the owner of a publishing company, for the purpose of moving up in life. He has just gotten married, but this is no impediment to the girl. Her little scheme works, but unfortunately for her, she falls in love with him. There are two kinds of pre-codes 1. Those in which the players start bad and stay bad or get worse. 2. Those in which the players start bad and reform by the end of the film. This picture is in the latter category.

The main attraction in this film is Joan Blondell. Her opening scene of getting up and going through her morning routine pretty much steals the picture from anything the actual female lead winds up doing from that point on. Then there is the mannish female author that is writing a book for the publishing company that pretty much mirrors what is going on in the film. I'm not sure what the reason is for her presence in the film, but it is certainly an example of what you couldn't find at the movies after 1934. Not a bad way to spend an hour.

Dorothy Mackaill puts her best foot forward!

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 7 August 2015]

"The Office Wife" (1930) is one of my favorite movies. True, I thought Lewis Stone was a bit stodgy, but this mannerism certainly suited his role. Fortunately, Dorothy Mackaill, still at her ravishingly beautiful zenith here, makes a delightful contrast, and there are some excellent support performances from Blanche Frederici (that is the way she preferred to spell her name) as the writer, Dale Fuller as the head- over-heels initial secretary, Hobart Bosworth as the office manager, Joan Blondell as our heroine's sister and Walter Merrill as the loser of the dime. Director Lloyd Bacon, although no doubt exhausted from his experiences with John Barrymore on "Moby Dick", handles his chores here with both admirable competence and celerity. Available on an excellent Warner Archive DVD coupled with another excellent Dorothy MacKaill vehicle, "Party Husband".

Such a cute pre-Code romance

[HotToastyRag · 9/10 · 10 January 2020]

It's such a wonderful premise, but so incredibly dated, any feminist of today would probably vomit before the running time of The Office Wife was finished. The idea of the film is that any secretary to a powerful businessman can completely control him and become more essential to him than his wife at home. Since it's every woman's goal to bring a rich man to his knees and get him to marry her so she no longer has to work, it's no wonder every secretary in the movie is intent on seducing her boss.

Lewis Stone is the featured dapper businessman who announces to his dowdy secretary at the start of the film that he's getting married. She faints on the spot and resigns, since she's been in love with him for years. A pretty new secretary is hired, Dorothy Mackaill, and she makes it her mission to become Lew's office wife and steal him away from his beautiful, new bride. Dorothy is so calculating and insincere, but it's so much fun to watch her. She moves furniture around the office in the morning so her knees will be in the best light during dictation, memorizes his habits and orders his special lunches, and has her boyfriend pick her up from the office so Lew knows she's in demand.

"I wonder why I didn't think of this before," Lew muses as they sit down to eat together. Dorothy smiles sweetly, and the audience chuckles alongside her, knowing her elaborate plan is about to pay off. The next scene shows them "working" at the poolside. As much of a set-up as the romance is, it's actually really cute to see them falling in love. Lew didn't often get to play romantic leads, and it's really fun to see him smiling, blushing, holding hands, and acting his age-51 at the time.

This is a pre-Code romantic comedy, full of risqué jokes and dialogue that couldn't have been included four years later. You'll find two partially nude scenes, one with Lew's wife, Natalie Moorhead, and one with Joan Blondell in the bathtub; and a lesbian character who wears tuxedos and smokes cigars. In one scene, Natalie asks her husband if he has any strength left-while they're in the bedroom and she's unzipping her dress. I loved this movie, so if you think you can put on your 1930 goggles and enjoy it, give it a chance.

Have a Cigar?

[drednm · 20 September 2022]

The Office Wife is one of those early talkies that seems to be missing something. This one runs only 59 minutes and was directed by Lloyd Bacon with Michael Curtiz hired to re-shoot some scenes. My guess is that Natalie Moorhead's affair with Brooks Benedict was mostly axed.

Anyway, ambitious secretary Dorothy Mackaill is brought in as a replacement secretary to the boss (Lewis Stone) of a publishing house after his old secretary (Dale Fuller) keels over when he says he's getting married (to Moorhead). The running gag is that a mannish cigar-smoking writer (Blanche Friderici) is writing a book abut how secretaries are really office wives and spend more times with the husband than the real wife does.

Mackaill has a dud of a boyfriend (Walter Merrill) and a peppy sister (Joan Blondell in her first film) and of course falls for old Stone but he seems oblivious. Of course he really is oblivious since Moorhead is openly carrying on with Benedict in her few scenes.

Mackaill is always easy to watch and Moorhead finally gets a scene when she tells Stone she's filing for divorce. He doesn't care. Blondell's next film, Sinner's Holiday, was released before this one was.

This one has the usual pre-Code interest in women's lingerie and legs with Mackaill and Blondell in various poses.