Secrets of a Secretary (1931) User Reviews (9)

A depression era melodrama that turns into a bit of a thriller

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 31 December 2018]

Helen Blake is a rich party hearty kind of girl who gets involved with a gigolo, and even marries him on a whim when she and her gang are making the party rounds and wind up in Pennsylvania. She goes home and finds out her father has had an attack of some sort, and he dies shortly afterwards. Later she finds out her dad died broke. He had lost his money in the stock market crash and had been subsisting off of loans from a family friend, Mr. Merritt (Berton Churchill). After paying all of the bills there will be nothing left. Her gigolo husband deserts her, claiming that she married him just for the money she thought he had, and Helen goes to work as a social secretary for Mr. Merritt's family. She is treated pretty well, but the daughter in the family, Sylvia, lost the gigolo to Helen, and she does the wicked stepsister routine towards Helen as much as she can get away with it.

How does this seguey into a suspenseful thriller? The gigolo actually goes and gets a job as a real gigolo at a nightclub, lifting older ladies' jewelry and giving it to his gangster boss from which he receives a cut. But the urge to cheat the gangster is irresistible to the gigolo, the urge to cheat on her British fiance (Herbert Marshall) with the gigolo is irresistible to Sylvia, and the British fiance, who is marrying Sylvia out of gratitude to her dad for a family favor, finds Helen irresistible. Complications ensue.

Mary Boland keeps things light as Mrs. Merritt who is kind to Helen and has some great one liners as she always plays the comic high society dame with flair. Note Millard Mitchell, who is uncredited, in a small role playing a cop twenty years before he is the rather clueless studio head in "Singin in the Rain".

Pretty Dull

[boblipton · 5/10 · 29 December 2022]

Claudette Colbert is a party girl who gets married on a whim to George Metaxa. She comes home to discover her father dead, and broke, too; Berton Churchill has been carrying him since the Market Crash. Colbert asks him for a job. He gives her one as the social secretary to his wife, Mary Boland. Meantime, Metaxa, discovering Colbert is broke, abandons her and gets a job with Averell Harris' mob, and also sleeping with Betty Lawford, Churchill and Boland's daughter, who's engaged to Herbert Marshall at his most courtly. He and Miss Colbert clearly have a yen for each other, but are too good mannered to do anything about it.

At least, Miss Colbert should be in love with Marshall; in this pre-code drama, she seems dull and totally out of water. Everyone else is good or better, with Miss Boland, as is her wont, stealing every scene as a well-meaning nitwit, but director George Abbott seems unable to direct Miss Colbert to an interesting performance.

The copy I looked at was in poor shape, but I think a better copy would not have helped this movie, with Colbert utterly lackluster, it's just another mediocre programmer. Abbott would finish out his Hollywood sojourn with a couple more movies, then return to Broadway; he would direct three more movies, all from his stage hits, garnering 11 Tonies and a Pulitzer Prize. He lived to be 107, dying in 1995.

Creaky Claudette tries to boost precode soap opera.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 30 May 2017]

With a voice that could curdle milk, Mary Boland took the art of playing annoying women and made it seem like reciting Shakespeare. She had a way of making annoying society matrons interesting, and in this convoluted tale of broke society girl Claudette Colbert taking a job as social secretary and trying to straighten out their messes. When she falls in love with the noble lord (Herbert Marshall) engaged to her former best friend Betty Lawford (now her boss's daughter), she tries to keep a professional distance but finds that the selfish Lawford is unworthy of him and that her mother, Boland, is vainly unaware of her failures. Lawford's selfish ways seem destined to catch up to her, but for noble Claudette, it's in her heart to help, threatening any happiness she might have in finding love herself.

Starting off with Colbert sort of on the same path to self destruction thanks to her association with Lawford, this changes gears suddenly and without real motive. Colbert tries valiantly to rise above the maudlin script (only amusing when Boland is on in oblivious glee), this is elegant but empty. One of Broadway director George Abbott's few films, this doesn't offer ant surprises, only frustration of going in so many different directions in a short time. Whether dealing with stolen jewels at the race track, blackmail, murder and determined cross examination, it just finally becomes too absurd to believe. Yes, precode soapers could be all over the place, but this one takes the wedding cake, smashing all sense out of it with the bride and groom from the top of the cake.

Good vehicle for Rising star Claudette Colbert

[HarlowMGM · 7/10 · 1 March 2024]

SECRETS OF A SECRETARY is a pre-code starring Claudette Colbert a bit before she became a major box office star. Claudette stars as a young heiress who enjoys frivolous parties with the young moneyed set and the film opens at a costume party (where half the guests don't bother with a costume, Claudette's merely being a blonde wig). Also attending is a man half the society debs swoon over, Georges Metaxa, a rather creepy member of the group who unbeknownst to almost everyone, was disinherited by his father three years ago for his decadent and dishonest ways. He pursues Claudette, who is amused by him but keeps rejecting his frequent proposals (unaware he really just wants to marry a heiress to keep a place in society). He's also having an affair with another young socialite (Betty Lawford) who has the hots big time for him even as she is engaged to British lord Herbert Marshall, though it's little more than a business arrangement.

Claudette and George party hard with another couple and after that night of club hopping, the foursome impulsively decide to get married at the justice of the peace around 5 am. They return to Claudette's home where to her horror she finds that her ill father has taken a turn for the worse and he dies just moments after her return. Claudette is devastated and sobers up from her frivolousness but soon gets more bad news the next morning: she learns from family friend Berton Churchill (Betty's father) that her father has been living on credit and is deep in debt and there is nothing left for her to inherit after the bills get paid. New husband George is outraged to learn he has married a pauper and storms out of the house and out of her life. Claudette asks Berton to find her a job, so he hires her as a personal secretary for his wife Mary Boland as well as all-around help in their mansion. Betty is very condescending to Claudette and treats her poorly now that she is "the help." Claudette's estranged husband is hired by a gangster who knows the truth about him to work in his mob-run nightclub where he is to steal jewelry from female guests and give the goods to the boss. Despite being warned, sleazeball George can't help but keep some of the stolen goods all to himself. Meanwhile, Claudette at long last meets Betty's fiancée Herbert Marshall (who enters the picture quite late). They are clearly attracted to each other but repress their affection given his engagement though Betty has no such scruples and is still having an affair with George. It all leads to murder on the wedding day.

This movie takes a bit of time before it becomes interesting but once it does, it's a pretty good melodrama. The print I viewed didn't help matters with an occasionally muffled soundtrack making a few lines difficult to understand. It's easy to tell though this was directed by a stage director (the legendary George Abbott), some of the early shots are seem flat and stage-bound and a few actors, particularly Betty Lawford, occasionally deliver their lines in that severe, artificial manner one frequently finds in (bad) stage acting. This is one of those early talkies where you find rather obscure actors (Lawford and Metexa) in key roles, their mediocre performances here making it easy to understand why they didn't work more in Hollywood.

Claudette Colbert gives a typically expert performance. One of film's greatest actresses, she's believable in both frivolous and virtuous moments, unlike many of her famous contemporaries. I've never been much of a Herbert Marshall fan but he's surprisingly appealing here as the modest and kind hero of the film. This was one of the great Mary Boland's first appearances under her Paramount contract; given it's a melodrama, the film doesn't really make use of her superb comedic talent but she's very good in a fairly straight role.

The movie is loaded with improbable moments and has one of those absurdly quick resolutions where an innocent woman is accused of murder, the press is alerted, everyone in the building knows, the police track down the real killer, and the case is resolved and the woman reunited with her true love all before she can even change out of her blood-stained dress but the acting is generally very good and the star couple so sympathetic you can't help but enjoy it.

Pre-Code melodrama

[HotToastyRag · 4/10 · 9 June 2021]

Want to see Claudette Colbert as a blonde? You'll have to see the beginning of Secrets of a Secretary; in the beginning she's at a costume party with a platinum wig on. She's also wearing a gorgeous black dress that shows off her lovely figure - ah, the pre-Code days. Everyone goes to costume parties, and everyone gets to show cleavage. It's no wonder she played Cleopatra!

In case you're curious of the plot of this movie, it's a riches-to-rags story. Claudette starts on top of the world, but then when her father dies, she learns she's inherited nothing more than a string of debts. The toast of society is forced to get a job - a humiliating prospect in that time period. She works as a social secretary to a frivolous woman, Mary Boland. Her husband Georges Metaxa also works, but it's hardly reputable. He's a gigolo at a nightclub. Mary's daughter is engaged to dapper gentleman Herbert Marshall, but Herbie's eye wanders over to the secretary. It's not the most admirable quality, but we'll forgive him because she's Cleopatra with a notepad and pencil.

This is a typical early '30s flick: problems we can't relate to anymore, lots of glitz and glamour, some melodrama thrown in, and acting styles we don't value nowadays. But if you like the cast you can check it out.

excellent vehicle for Colbert's acting talents

[mrbinkley · 8/10 · 14 August 2005]

This pre-code film showcases Claudette Colbert's acting at its finest. The plot is somewhat complex, beginning with her marriage to a gigolo, sudden loss of fortune and subsequent maltreatment by a woman who "sins" (right on screen--oh for those adult pre-code days of yore!). The minor disappointment caused by Herbert Marshall's dull performance in a dull role does not detract from the film overall; Colbert's versatility grabs the viewer from the start and carries you throughout. Compared to her other early performances, her work here may be her best. This film is a must-see for Colbert fans. Due to the plot and supporting performances (excepting poor Herbert's), however, even people who don't particularly like Colbert will enjoy it, too.

Claudette is Sensational as a Blonde!!!

[kidboots · 8/10 · 15 September 2011]

....for the first 15 minutes anyway, not that she isn't fabulous as a brunette too!! Before Claudette Colbert became a superstar, able to play dizzy heiresses, dedicated doctors and self sacrificing mothers with ease, she spent a few years playing to the best of her ability any roles that Paramount happened to throw her way.

Now here's a plot you don't see every day.. when gadabout socialite Helen Blake (Colbert) marries fortune hunter Frank (George Metaxa) on a whim, she arrives home to find her father dead and a bankrupt!! Just joking, I think it's plot line number 1172!! Anyway Frank walks out, not before he shows what a low creep he is. Helen finds a job as a social secretary to eccentric Mrs. Merritt (Mary Boland) whose daughter Sylvia (Betty Lawford) has been giving Helen grief since the film started. You see, Sylvia was madly in love with Frank, who was madly in love with Helen's money, now Sylvia is back with Frank and giving her fiancé Lord Paul Tarnwell (Herbert Marshall) the runaround. Paul doesn't care, he is renewing acquaintance with Helen, who he met years before.

Just when you start to think this is one of those goofy tea-cup dramas - it explodes with action!! Frank has become a gigolo- the kind who steals women's jewelry when they are dancing with him. He is found dead with a hysterical Sylvia in his room in a blood spattered dress!! But noble Helen stands up to "take the rap" because she has promised Mrs. Merritt that she will look after Sylvia while the parents are away and if it is not for the quick thinking of Paul....

The movie is not as dreadful as it starts out to be, Claudette made Helen down to earth and likable, even as a dizzy dame. George Metaxa (Frank) was more at home in front of a dance band, being a popular singer of the day. I can remember him in "Swingtime" encouraging Fred and Ginger to take a turn on the dance floor. Betty Lawford was an English actress who came to attention in "Gentlemen of the Press" (1929) but with Kay Francis in the cast no wonder Betty just faded away.

Enjoyable pre-code drama

[cbryce59 · 8/10 · 6 July 2012]

An enjoyable, well-acted pre-code, not very risqué except in theme. Claudette C is wonderful and so is Mary Boland, the upscale Marie Dressler.

I found this movie posted in full on youtube, a pleasant surprise, as I've never heard of it. A good way to spend an hour and fifteen minutes.

Claudette's character has to take a job as a social secretary upon her father's death, as she finds out he was broke. Just before he died, she had married a good-for-nothing on a whim, a wild night out. He leaves her when he finds out she is poor and starts working as a gigolo at a local club. When she meets an aristocrat after her heart, he is due to marry her former friend, the uppity daughter of her new boss, who is secretly see Claudette's sleazy husband. Complications arise...

A pre-code classic!

[JohnHowardReid · 9/10 · 15 December 2017]

Although less known, yet another of the best movies produced in Hollywood's early sound period is "Secrets of a Secretary" (1931), brilliantly directed by George Abbott from an explosive script by Charles Brackett and Abbott himself.

With the exceptions of Herbert Marshall who plays a dull minor character in an appropriately dull manner and Mary Boland who essays an irritatingly vapid major character in an equally irritating, mike-hogging style, the players led by put-upon Claudette Colbert, self-indulgent Betty Lawford and the greasily villainous Georges Metaxa are absolutely superb.

Golden-voiced Metaxa, making his movie debut here, had just starred on Broadway in The Cat and the Fiddle. (A shame he wasn't retained for the M-G-M movie in which he was replaced by Ramon Novarro).

Character spotters will also notice a number of familiar faces in the uncredited support cast, including Porter Hall as a diner and Millard Mitchell as a captain of detectives.

The filmed-on-location action climax rates as one of the most thrillingly directed and presented of all the early talkies. Director George Abbott who did such a poor job with 1930's "The Sea God" really redeems himself with this pre-code classic.