The Office Wife (1930)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Lloyd Bacon

Writers:

Faith Baldwin (novel)
Charles Kenyon (screenplay)

Release Date:

23 August 1930 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Larry Fellowes of Fellowes Publishing wants Kate to write her next book about the 'Office Wife'. The...

Plot Keywords:

Secretary | Publishing | Beach | Florida | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Dorothy Mackaill	...	Anne Murdock
Lewis Stone	...	Lawrence 'Larry' Fellowes, also spelled Fellows
Natalie Moorhead	...	Mrs. Linda Fellowes
Hobart Bosworth	...	Mr. J.P. McGowan
Joan Blondell	...	Katherine Murdock
Blanche Friderici	...	Kate Halsey
Brooks Benedict	...	Jameson
Dale Fuller	...	Secretary Andrews
Walter Merrill	...	Theodore 'Ted' O'Hara

Runtime:

59 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Vitaphone

Certification:

USA:Passed

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Goofs:

Continuity: Although credits, a telegram, and a resignation letter show the name of the main character as spelled Fellowes (note second 'e'), the entrance doors to the firm read "Fellows Publishing Co."

Soundtrack:

Dawn Brought Me Love and You

Joan Blondell steals movie from leads

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.