Watch His Private Secretary For Free

Overrated

Let's be realistic.

As Good As It Gets

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

This is a 60 minute low budget grade B comedy in which John Wayne plays second fiddle to Evelyn Napp. The 1933 depression sets and costumes would be considered amateur film making today. The film has never been remastered and has been public domain for so long the current Youtube print is actually clearer than the double feature DVD reissue as which it was last commercially marketed. The story is delightful romantic fantasy in which the illogical sets and costumes & poor home, work to enhance the fun. Wayne is interested in a ministers daughter and is dismissed by his wealthy tycoon dad for refusing to follow up on an unpaid outstanding loan taken by her grandfather. He sets up shop as a garage mechanic to win her then marries her without telling her he is rich. The title scene is played out as the way Napp gets Wayne's dad to accept his son marrying a woman whose family is not on the approved list. Interesting story and acting, poor quality reproduction and budget filmed project.

I saw this film on a DVD from Westlake Entertainment. The picture and sound quality are simply terrible and it's obvious that absolutely no restoration was done to this public domain film before they released it. My recommendation is to just download a copy yourself for free and IMDb has links to these sites (such as archive.net). After all, the free one can't be any worse in quality! In the 1930s, the vast majority of John Wayne's films were B-westerns and a small number of mainstream westerns. He had a niche and had few opportunities for other sorts of films. However, "His Private Secretary" is one of a few films in this era where his co-star was NOT a horse! This film finds Wayne a rich playboy. His father is upset at his lazy and girl-filled ways and has him come to work with him in the company business. However, the father is enraged when Wayne falls for and marries a young lady and the old man insists that the new wife is a gold-digger! So, to convince him otherwise, the wife has an odd plan--to become the old goat's secretary and convince him that she's a great lady--then he'll surely approve of the marriage. Seeing the new wife able to soon twist her father-in-law around her finger is pretty cute and makes the film worth while. Unfortately, Wayne's performance is rather bland, however.All in all, the film is a pleasant diversion though it could have been a lot better. It's clearly a B-film with a very low budget and only passable production values. One problem is that there is very little incidental music even for a film from 1933--and it seems very, very quiet--too quiet. The most serious problem, however, is that the story idea simply could have been fleshed out better and the father came off a bit too gruff and difficult to believe---very one-dimensional. Overall, the production comes off as a bit cheap--though most of Wayne's films of this time were amazingly cheap and would surprise those not familiar with his early work.

Nice old movie tho it feels a bit short. My only complaint was not with the movie but the DVD I rented via Netflix. Westlake Enterainment's 2007 DVD shows little if any care was taken for improving the quality of movie during transfer to DVD. The transfer was horrible even considering the age of the film it should have been handled much better and cleaned up both visually and sonically. At times the faces seem almost like glaring white ghosts on screen. Scratches and obvious film damage abound as well.John Wayne out of his boots and six gun was nice to see and he did well here playing the male romantic lead. Seems odd to see the Duke in a movie without gunfights and horse chases. If you want to see Wayne in a better romantic comedy tho I still suggest you watch "The Quiet Man" instead.

Yes, John Wayne is actually in a Romantic Comedy, and this is it! Evalyn Knapp (top billed!!!) is his love interest who tries to prove herself by getting a job in John's dad's company without papa knowing who she is. It's pretty well done, and certainly worth viewing just for the curiosity of seeing the Duke out of his element. He actually does pretty well! A SOLID 8!