ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

JohnHowardReid "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".

mark.waltz 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.

Alex da Silva 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.

MartinHafer 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!