Directed by:
William A. SeiterScreenplay:
Gladys LehmanCinematography:
Milton R. KrasnerComposer:
Frank SkinnerCast:
Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, Virginia Bruce, Robert Benchley, John Carroll, Hobart Cavanaugh, Richard Lane, William B. Davidson, Rolfe Sedan, Janet Shaw (more)Plots(1)
Kendal Browning not only loves her job as secretary, she’s also in love with her boss, Stephen Dexter. So she’s not happy about his seasonal habit of pursuing blondes whenever spring fever strikes him. His latest romantic entanglement is with model Phyllis Walden. When Stephen’s concrete company is threatened with a hostile takeover, his lawyers advise getting married and putting his assets in his wife’s name. But when he sends Kendal to tender his marriage proposal to Phyllis, the secretary is prepared to use devious means to thwart the romance. Kendal presents the proposal in such a way that Phyllis can only reject it – forcing Stephen to say “I do” to his secretary. Any chance of newlywed harmony comes to an abrupt end when Kendal confesses her scheme to Stephen. Initially setting his sights on a quick divorce, he then realises that his bride owns all his assets, which she uses to hang on to the man of her dreams … In Hired Wife, Russell holds the reins firmly in hand, not only taming her boss, but leading a penniless gigolo to marital bliss, in a kind of sneak peek at the “outstanding career woman of the year” Russell would go on to play in What a Woman! (1943). (Berlinale)
(more)Cast
Selmer Jackson
USA
Best movies:
Love Crazy (1941)
It Started with Eve (1941)
Sudden Fear (1952)
Brooks Benedict
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
Edmund Mortimer
USA
Best movies:
Edison, the Man (1940)
Waterloo Bridge (1940)
It Started with Eve (1941)
Chester Clute
USA
Best movies:
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Anchors Aweigh (1945)
Broderick O'Farrell
USA
Best movies:
Love Crazy (1941)
It Started with Eve (1941)
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Suzanne Ridgway
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
Charles Judels
Netherlands
Best movies:
Ninotchka (1939)
San Francisco (1936)
Samson and Delilah (1949)
Frank McLure
USA
Best movies:
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
George Humbert
Italy
Best movies:
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
Love Is News (1937)
Hellzapoppin' (1941)
Manuel París
Spain
Best movies:
The Great Dictator (1940)
Casablanca (1942)
Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)
Alphonse Martell
German Empire
Best movies:
The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
The Song of Bernadette (1943)
Pat West
USA
Best movies:
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Ball of Fire (1941)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Eddie Hall
USA
Best movies:
Double Indemnity (1944)
Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
Shall We Dance? (1937)
Leonard Carey
UK
Best movies:
Gaslight (1944)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Rebecca (1940)
Paul Everton
USA
Best movies:
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
Union Pacific (1939)
Charles Smith
USA
Best movies:
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Strike Up the Band (1940)
The Stratton Story (1949)