A pretty star-studded cast for 1936: Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow and a very young Jimmy Stewart. Gable is at his most charismatic and charming, with none of the rough edges that you see in, say, It Happened One Night or San Francisco, but Jean Harlow was the revelation for me, because I just thought of her as the comedy bimbo from Dinner at Eight, but she really pulls her dramatic weight here, playing a no-nonsense, super-efficient secretary. The basic plot is a bit tiresome: Myrna Loy (who gets the most thankless role, and has to do a bit of rather wet pining, but starts off basically doing her Thin Man role of sassy broad who has eyes for nobody but her amazing husband) and Gable are Van and Linda Stanhope - he some kind of industrialist and she his faithful wife of three years (they have their anniversary at the start of the film).
Harlow is "Whitey" Wilson, Van's indispensable secretary for whom Linda feels no jealousy whatever until Van's mother visits the office along with her and puts the idea into her head (because Van is "his father's son" and Whitey, scary eyebrows and all, is apparently super-gorgeous). In reality, of course, Van sees "Whitey" at most as a work pal, but basically as his right-hand woman, whom he counts on to jump at his beck and call at all hours (much to the chagrin of Stewart's Dave, who is the driver beau of Whitey's who wants her to quit her job and stay at home to start a family with him.
(To her credit, she blows him off - this is the 30s, not the 50s)) - as seen here, when she is dressed up to go out to the theater when he calls her to get some papers from the office and bring them to his house, where he's having a party.
Things are complicated because Van hatches a scheme to take over a 5-cent periodical from its canny old owner (J.D. Underwood) so that he can control its advertising budget, as that's his business, but this requires both secrecy and long hours at the office with Whitey, the only other person in on the secret. This starts to look suspicious, as Linda finds out that he's been with Whitey (in reality driving to and from the house of the owner of the periodical, where Van had to get into a steam-contraption with him while trying to sweet-talk him,
which means that his bow-tie had to be re-tied (by J.D.)) when he says he's been at the gym (to explain the tie), Linda finds out from a guest at their cards-playing party that he hasn't been there in weeks. Then there's a scene at a company skating party, where both Dave and Linda's noses are put out of joint by Whitey's and Van's (entirely innocent) skating shenanigans.
After this both couples get into spats: Whitey returns Dave's ring, and Linda demands that Van promote Whitey away from being his secretary. He refuses, because he needs her (particularly because of the periodical deal) and ends up storming off to play cards at the club. However, Linda can't keep it up and calls him to come home, which he does with great and happy alacrity. Cue reconciliation (of one couple) and Jami asking "what are they going to do for the other half of the film?" Well, Van promises Linda that very soon they'll both pack up and go to Havana. Then, to her delight, he calls her a couple of days later and says to get his bags ready for a trip to Havana, and she thinks the call has come. But in reality this is just a trip for him, to go to some advertising winding as an "observer" (his usual employee has got appendicitis) at Whitey's suggestion so that he can corner J.D. and close the deal before J.D. goes to a competitor and gets them to pay more for his magazine. So he lets Linda down easy with promises that he'll call her at seven every night. But Linda finds out from a freelance accountant that their rivals have been doing financial analyses of that very periodical, so she figures matters are urgent and calls Van in Havana. He tells her to gather up all the papers on the deal and join him there. Long story short, they close the deal over a hectic 48 hours, during which he entirely forgets to call Linda, and (horror of horrors) she is in Van's room at 2 AM (they've both got loaded to celebrate, and are on the brink of actually doing what they've been accused of doing - innuendo lies heavy in the air as she helps him off with his shoes) and answers the phone when Linda calls.
Well, that tears it. She refuses to see him, runs off to his mother (the cause of all this fuss, remember) and it looks like he's going to end up with Whitey, who has more-or-less convinced herself that this is what she wants. So what's going to happen with Jimmy Stewart? And will they be happy, or will these rich people turn Whitey's head, as Dave always said? And how can you feel sorry for Linda when she's being so stupid? But why didn't Van just tell Linda about the deal in the first place? As I said, annoying. I hate contrived misunderstandings, from Romeo and Juliet onward. But the cast is just so amazing that you can forgive it.
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