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.

Clark Gable stars in this comedy as Van Stanhope, a successful magazine executive who is happily married to his wife Linda(played By Myrna Loy). When Van hires a new secretary, the beautiful Whitey(played by Jean Harlow) Linda tries not to be jealous, but even Van's mother warns her that Van may stray, just like his father did, because of temptation. Despite the fact that Whitey has a boyfriend(a young Jimmy Stewart!) Linda becomes convinced that there has been an affair, which threatens to break up the marriage, despite denials... Good actors can't overcome obvious and predictable comedy that isn't funny enough to make it work either. Notable only for the cast.

When "Wife vs Secretary" was released in 1936 for some reason my parents did not consider this appropriate for their 4 year-old boy to attend. In 1948 a few days after starting university at NYU, I finally managed to see the film at a Greenwich Village revival theater. By then I had become a huge fan of both Jean Harlow and Myrna Loy. I also had a soft spot for May Robson, who was so much like my actual grandmother.Bottom line is that I am a fan of the top six credited performers, as well as director Clarence Brown. James Stewart was just getting started as a movie actor. George Barbier made a lot of movies for Warners and was especially effective as "Dr. Bradley" in "The Man Who Came To Dinner" We first meet Van (Gable) and Linda (Loy) the morning of their 3rd anniversary in their luxury 2 story apartment. Later we meet Whitey (Harlow) personal secretary to Van, the CEO of a prestige magazine publishing firm.Van decides to expand his business and hold on to advertisers his firm needs to absorb a publisher of less expensive magazines. This must be investigated in complete secrecy, so Van depends heavily on Whitey's discretion, leaving details of the necessary accounting to her.During his anniversary party Van calls Whitey at the home she shares with her parents as they are eating dinner with Dave (Stewart) her boy friend/fiancé. He throws a tantrum because she decided her job is more important than going to a play with him.Perhaps I am prejudice, but I fail to understand why Whitey would have ever been interested in Dave. Stewart plays Dave as uneducated and non sophisticated. Harlow plays Whitey as a sensible and attractive woman who wants to be a business success while remaining ethical.At first Linda bends over backwards to have faith in Van, despite the warning from Van's mother Mimi (Robson) that men can be "naughty boys" and "Van his like his father". To keep the negotiations for the purchase of Underwood's (Barbier) magazine empire a secret, Van lies to Linda that he spent an afternoon at his club instead of admitting he had been driven to Underwood's estate accompanied by Whitey.Later, as the deal was closing, Van had to attend a convention in Havana, for private time with Underwood. He needs Whitey to fly to help type the contracts, although Van had not allowed Linda to make the trip.Whitey answered the phone in Van's Havana hotel suite when Linda called. Linda decides to separate from Van.In the closing reel Whitey confronts Linda and makes it clear that should Van ever become single, she wants him, yet she encourages Linda to reconsider.While before the fade-out Linda has returned to Van, who still had no clue Whitey had any romantic interest in him, it is far less clear what became of Dave and Whitey. I was 16 the first time I saw a revival of Wife vs Secretary in 1948, by which time I had seen Stewart in many films and had mourned to death of Harlow. My first reaction was that while Harlow should support a more mature and sophisticated Stewart, at the end of this film Whitey would be an idiot to waste another minute on a whiner like Dave.Wife vs Secretary remains one of my favorite films of 1936. I pull out my DVD and watch it ever 6 months of so and enjoy it every time!

IMDb mentions something interesting that you'll be able to see for yourself if you see the DVD for this film. Included as one of the extras is the short "The Public Pays" and if you look carefully, you'll see the same set used in both films."Wife Vs. Secretary" begins with Clark Gable's character being woken up by the butler. You'll then notice that this amazingly happily married couple sleeps in separate bedrooms--a bizarre convention that is there due to the Production Code of 1934 that would not allow a married couple in the same bed at the same time! To comply, couples either slept in separate beds or separate bedrooms! It's hard to imagine a happily married couple like this with such living arrangements, but this is Post-Code Hollywood! Considering the butler and maid, the palatial apartment and their own private elevator, it's obvious the couple (Gable and Myrna Loy) are incredibly wealthy and successful. I loved how when Gable, the big boss, came back to work after a vacation with Loy he's greeted by his staff--including one who says "Good morning, B.S.!".You soon see that Gable is ably assisted by his secretary (Jean Harlow) and she manages his busy life very well. This is a very interesting role for Harlow and is very, very different from her usual role playing a 'Dame'--an earthy and rather unsophisticated girl. Here, she is efficient and a shadow of her usual earthy self and is a bit of a stretch.Unfortunately, while Gable is a very hard-working and loyal husband and the marriage rock-solid, problems develop. There are lots of wagging tongues that keep making accusations and insinuations--many of which Loy overhears. These gossips and nosy butt-heads keep pointing out how Harlow is and how it would only be natural if Gable has an affair with her. After hearing this repeatedly, Loy unfortunately starts to listen. And, when she starts looking for evidence of an affair, little innocent things begin to look not so innocent. As a result, the marriage starts to fail. Gable's only crime was taking the idle gossip a bit too lightly and perhaps working too hard--and perhaps taking the situation too lightly when he and the secretary begins to spend too much time together. Even if he was a bit unwise, you feel sorry for the guy--especially when it gets so bad that Loy wants a divorce! And, frankly, I could see how many good marriages might be destroyed by the wagging tongues of supposedly well-meaning 'friends' as well as husbands who don't think of how their actions appear to others.Overall, an extremely well-made movie with top acting, a very good script (with one exception--see below) and of all the actors, the one who came off best was Harlow--with a different sort of performance that was a notch better than usual.This film has an interesting point to make, but at other times it seems desperately old fashioned. In particular, when May Robson supposedly gives some sage advice, she tells Loy that you can't be angry at men for having affairs--"they're all like little boys". Wow. What an idiotic thing to say.