She Married Her Boss (1935)

This movie is one of oh-so-many early screwball comedies now more or less forgotten, but what a pleasure has been lost.  Directed by Gregory La Cava (also not much remembered nowadays, but the source of all sorts of alcoholic mayhem), it stars Claudette Colbert and Melvyn Douglas as the ever-so-efficient secretary and the boss.  Like the title says, she marries him, having been secretly in love with him for yonks; he marries her, rather than risk losing an essential member of his business life.  She immediately reorganises his disfunctional home with its cheating servants, aloof sister who hasn't a sensible bone in her body (her reaction to just about everything is to faint), and his spoiled and bratty daughter -- a brilliant turn by young Edith Fellows, who also was eclipsed by better-looking child stars of the period.

This film has so much going for it, but perhaps it is not better-known because of the cast, which is not as shiny and starry as some of the period.  Colbert is an adept light comedienne, who never quite received her due; I must admit that I find her head ever so slightly too big for her body, but what's that got to do with anything?  Douglas, who had an incredibly long career, plays his usual debonair role with the requisite stuffiness here.  The third lead was one Michael Barrett who was absolutely charming as the rival for Colbert's affections, but he only made two films after this one, although he lived to 1978; I would love to know why he left the screen and cinema just that little bit poorer.  Raymond Walburn has a splendid turn as the new butler, especially when he and teetotal Douglas go on a bender, but again his film roles were usually less showy.  At least there is a very small part for Franklin Pangborn (one of those faces that are immediately recognizable) without whom screwball would never have bounced so merrily.  

Tags: Claudette Colbert, Screwball comedy