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Behind Office Doors
Mary Linden is the secretary who is the unheralded power behind successful executive James Duneen. He takes her for granted until rival Wales tries to take her away from him.
Release : | 1931 |
Rating : | 6.1 |
Studio : | RKO Radio Pictures, |
Crew : | Director of Photography, Costume Design, |
Cast : | Mary Astor Robert Ames Ricardo Cortez Catherine Dale Owen Kitty Kelly |
Genre : | Drama Romance |
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Very Cool!!!
everything you have heard about this movie is true.
This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
A good vehicle for Mary Astor, who always radiated intelligence and beauty; she's stunningly gorgeous as a secretary who's smarter than her boss, Robert Ames, and helps him to the presidency of a paper company while being utterly neglected. The sexism of the day is annoying--she should really be president--but the role allows Astor a lot of range, she gets to do both funny and poignant, and she's never less than a great camera subject. Ames, a major leading man who died not long after this, doesn't reveal any great appeal or ability, and the ending's never much in doubt. But it's one of the better early-talkie looks at the great Mary.
There's a good running bit about the price tag of a silk negligee. The bimbo in the office shows off the bargain she got for $22 (closeup of tag). Later, Mary Astor finds the tag in the boss's bedroom (proof that bimbo slept with him). Still later, Mary Astor is about to have an affair with Ricardo Cortez, looks at the price tag of HER silk negligee ($14) and is reminded of how disgusted she was about the bimbo, as well as the fact that she's spent $8 less than the "most obvious" woman she's ever met. It sounds an obvious morality turn, but it was well done. The film would be stronger if Robert Ames' character had been played by a more powerful actor (he's too low-key for a self-made salesman and he spends most of the film with his face turned away from the camera), and if Ricardo Cortez had been given more to do than smile ironically. Both male leads are bland and forgettable, and are hindered by the pancake male makeup so popular in this film's era. However, the Mary Astor character is interesting, appealing and believable. Behind Closed Doors is well worth seeing.
I tivo'd this on Turner Classic just because it was pre-code and sounded interesting. When I got around to watching, I noticed that the "critique" gave it one and a half stars on a four-star scale. I started watching with trepidation -- even old movies can be bad movies -- but I quickly got engaged in the story and Mary Astor's performance as the business brains behind a simple salesman's rise to success. Not a truly great movie -- too predictable -- but certainly better than advertised. And I would have liked to have seen more of Ricardo Cortez as the man who appreciates Mary but won't give up his wealthy wife. I'd recommend giving it a look just to appreciate Astor and what a long way we've come, baby.
This pre-code film is not quite as daring as other precode Hollywood movies, but it holds up very well today and is quite enjoyable.Mary Astor plays a receptionsit at a paper mill company. She has her eye on Robert Ames, a young salesman with the company. When the boss is forced to retire, Mary Astor pushes for Robert Ames to take the job, and when he does, Mary is promoted to being his secretary. She is secretly in love with him, only he never seems to notice. As he rises in the company Mary Astor is constantly by his side, giving good business advice as well as advice in his personal life. When Ames marries someone else, Astor is so upset he quits, and the company begins to fall apart.Mary Astor, I feel, has never quite gotten her due in film history. She is a wonderful actress, and watching her in a film role, you are assured you will get a natural performance that will hold up as well as if it had been shot yesterday.Robert Ames, a former stage actor, is quite good in the role. Ames died shortly after this film. His death was thought at first to have been caused by foul play, but it was determined he had died from too much drinking.