While "Beauty and the Boss" isn't a total loss - no movie with Warren William and Charles Butterworth could be - it's darn close, and the fault, dear Brutus, lies with its leading lady, Marion Marsh.I'm a connoisseur of bad performances, and always held Wheeler Oakman's wooden acting in "Lights of New York" as the gold standard, but Marsh has taken the title in a first-round knockout.Either director Roy Del Ruth was too busy to direct Marsh or was deliberately trying to end her contract, but the decision to let her speak all her lines as rapidly and with as little inflection as possible was fatal. Every time she's on screen, she kills the picture with her lack of ability to act.Mary Doran, who plays the "other woman" is so far superior to her in terms of personality and intelligence that it's baffling how William's character throws her over for such a dimwit.I blame Del Ruth, ultimately. Any director who let Marsh get away with that performance -and- cuts away from Butterworth doing the tango is clearly having a bad time of it.

The idea for this film isn't bad, but the writing was just awful. With just a few changes here and there and decent directing, it could have been a nice little film.The film begins with a big-time executive (Warren William) firing his very competent secretary. Why? Well, she's too good looking and William doesn't want to be distracted. He's a guy who is either a workaholic or a lecher--and nothing in between. Later, he hires a seemingly sexless lady (Mae Marsh) who is more machine-like than feminine. The working relationship works out great--and William is more productive than ever. Marsh seems happy but when she observes how other women have an intoxicating effect on William, she, too, wants to be this sort of a woman and win his heart.This film could never be made today--simply because it is so incredibly sexist. Such a boss would have a bazillion lawsuits for sexual harassment and gender discrimination!! But, if you can look past this the film still abounds with problems. The biggest is that William and Marsh are badly written characters--caricatures instead of believable people. It comes off, at times, as a very silly film when it shouldn't be. A few other problems are that the actors talk WAY too fast--so fast that I think Jimmy Cagney couldn't have kept up!! The director needed to tell them to slow significantly in their delivery. The only interesting thing about this bad film is the sexual undercurrent--which never would have been allowed in the Code films (starting in mid-1934). LOTS of innuendo and double-entendres abound. But the overall effort is limp and silly.SLOW DOWN! very sexist and dated strong sexual undercurrent Marsh's performance WAY too one-dimensional and silly BAD painting of Paris off balcony William is either a machine or a sex-machine

About a bank president who talks about putting a new rule into the company: "all females must wear long sleeves and high necks". Seems he is easily distracted by women, particularly his attractive and flirtatious secretary who he thinks is a "playgirl" rather than working girl, good for after hours only. He actually fires her - and she doesn't mind, 'cause she apparently agrees with this after hours concept, and becomes one of his new girlfriends (there seem to be many others too, judging by the office visits and phone calls from bathtubs he keeps getting). Soon a young waif arrives - hungry and oddly dressed in an outfit that includes black umbrella and flat black hat with a big white feather in it (why do these poor waif girls in old movies always seem to wear an odd feathered hat?). Well, seems she's an out-of-work stenographer looking to get hired - and turns out she's a whiz who loves work too, spending her free time toning her secretarial skills rather than dating men, she takes shorthand at 150 words a minute! He hires her on the spot since she's "plain" - seems even though she is clearly very pretty, he for some reason (like often seen in movies) can't see her beauty through the odd outfit. Well, she falls for him and soon blooms!This is a thoroughly entertaining, fast paced, fun-to-watch film with lots of amusing pre-code banter and top-notch performances adding to the mix - I loved it. Warren William, one of my favorite actors from this time period, is just perfect as the rather handsome but stiff "girl crazy" boss, and Marian Marsh as the waif (who I thought looked like Reese Witherspoon in the earlier scenes) is just SO cute and charming - I really enjoyed her performance. Cute scene where she gets "taught" by the previous secretary how to seduce a man via accidentally-on-purpose leaning against him, and she tries it out on the boss. Really excellent film.

Warren William and Marian Marsh sparkle in this delicious Vitaphone production. Ms. Marsh handles the role of a dowdy but wise secretary with great aplomb, she's delightful! William (the star with two first names) is charming as the playboy baron with an amorous secretary on every phone line. Charles Butterworth adds to the fun with his usual hijinks. This one's a keeper!