Wednesday, April 6, 2011

She Married Her Boss(1935).


She Married Her Boss(1935). Directed by Gregory La Cava. Cast: Claudette Colbert and Melvyn Douglas.

The story begins when, secretary Julia Scott, who is in love with her boss, Richard Barclay, the owner of Barclay's Department Store, who unfortunately only thinks of her as his right "hand man." Julia, is offered her dream job working in Paris, but she, turns it down because of her love for Richard. Julia, decides it is time to tell Richard about her feelings. While working late at his home, Julia finds Richard's hysterical sister Gertrude, his brat of a daughter Annabel. Richard, tells Julia to take charge of the house and she fires the servants and gives Annabel, a much needed spanking.

The next day, Julia finds out that her friend Martha, has gone to Richard and told him that Julia, has taken the job in Paris. When Richard asks Julia about it, she says she wants to go to Paris, to find a husband.

Later that same day, everyone, is in an uproar over the sudden, marriage of Richard and Julia. Heartbroken, Julia learns that Richard, sees her more as a business partner than a wife. The next morning, Julia decides not to go into the office so she can settle into her new home. Without her, there is trouble in the office and Julia has her own troubles at home. Martha, comes to visit Julia with Leonard Rogers, a womanizer who has just sold his department store to Richard. When Richard arrives home, he finds Julia, Leonard and Annabel singing together and tells Julia, that he doesn't think their marriage is working out. Julia tells him that she will return to the office the next day. Instead of returning to the office, Julia heads to Philadelphia to manage the Rogers store. After two weeks, Julia has the Philadelphia store in shape and her feelings are hurt, when Richard tells her to take her time in returning home. That night, Julia agrees to go out with Leonard and the two end up drunk in a display window of the department store. Two newspaper photographers, take pictures of the couple and the next day their picture is front page news. Will Richard travel to Philadelphia, to bring Julia back to New York?

Although, the story maybe a little unbelievable, it is still a cute film. One of my favorite scenes is when, Colbert and Bartlett host a cocktail party in the shop window of a department store, with shop mannequins as the guests.

Melvyn Hesselberg (April 5, 1901 – August 4, 1981). Douglas shared top billing with Boris Karloff and Charles Laughton in the films, The Old Dark House (1932), The Vampire Bat(1932), She Married Her Boss(1935). He played opposite Joan Crawford in several films, although.. best known for, A Woman's Face (1941). He also performed with Greta Garbo in three films, As You Desire Me (1932), Ninotchka (1939) and Garbo's final film, Two-Faced Woman (1941).

During World War II, Douglas served in the United States Army and when he returned home he performed  in the films, The Sea of Grass and Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House.

As Douglas grew older, he took father type roles, The Americanization of Emily (1964), Hud (1963), for which he won his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, The Candidate (1972) and I Never Sang for My Father (1970), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He won his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the dark comedy, Being There (1979). Douglas' final screen performancewas in the film, Ghost Story (1981). He did not finish his role in the film The Hot Touch (1982) before his death.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing about this film. TCM aired it a couple weeks ago, and since I like Claudette Colbert, I decided to record it. Haven't watched it yet, though. But after your review, I really want to. Sounds cute!!

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  2. Patti, I saw the film, She Married Her Boss, for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I think that you will really enjoy seeing Claudette Colbert, in this film.

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  3. I don't know why I love this film so much, but I do! I think it's mostly because of Melvyn Douglas (I'm a huge fan) and particularly that haunting love song that Michael Bartlett (as Lenny Rogers) sings at the piano to crabby little Annabel. Does anyone know the name of that song?

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