Save your money for something good and enjoyable

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

best movie i've ever seen.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

"My Dear Secretary" is an odd film, as the first and last portions of the film vary so much in quality. The first is brisk and funny--the second is very slow and completely different. It's too bad because if the film could have maintained its pace, it would be an excellent and enjoyable picture. Instead, it's just frustrating to watch.The film begins with Laraine Day being hired as a secretary to a successful writer. She's excited by this but her excitement soon wanes as she sees that her new employer (Kirk Douglas) is a very immature and undisciplined guy. Again and again, instead of working on his book, he takes the secretary and his friend (Keenan Wynn) out gambling and on spur of the moment vacations! Despite this portion of the film being hard to believe, it was quite funny--particularly for Wynn, who provided wonderful support. However, completely out of the blue, Day (who is rather conservative) marries Douglas--a wedding that makes absolutely no sense at all. And, as if the unlikelihood of the pairing also threw the writer, the film just languished and stopped being funny. Instead, the marriage soon begins to fizzle and Douglas' attempt to write his next great novel seems to be a bust. There's more to it than this--including Day becoming a great writer herself and a divorce--but none of it made much sense or kept my interest.Rarely have I seen such an uneven film. I wanted to like it a lot more than I did and can say it's, at best, just an amiable time-passer and nothing more.

Kirk Douglas escapes from film noir to take on a less masculine character in this late entry into the romantic screwball comedy genre. He is an egotistical charmer here, a novelist who is more interested in playing around with his secretaries than actually getting any work done. But with determined Laraine Day (the "Dr. Kildare" series) hired as his new secretary, Douglas will find that the lady doesn't take nonsense. A promising writer herself, Day hopes she will turn Douglas around, but with his fun-loving pal Keenan Wynn around (always ruining the dinners he attempts to make as well as Douglas's shirts he tries to unsuccessfully iron), that is unlikely to happen. Toss in a nosy landlady (the always funny Florence Bates), a shrill maid ("The Beverly Hillbillies" Irene Ryan), a former secretary (Helen Walker), Day's former employer (Rudy Vallee), a private investigator (Alan Mowbray) and one of Day's fellow writing students (Grady Sutton), there seems to be great potential for fun. But the laughs are few and far between, which is unfortunate. The eternally grinning Douglas seems to be trying too hard to get laughs, and after a while, Wynn starts to become obnoxious. He has a few amusing cracks at Bates' expense (when invited to a party by her to play the piano, he asks, "Is it informal, or should I bathe?"), but the cooking jokes (one involving a chicken that has liquefied itself in a pressure cooker) go on too long.There is a very funny scene involving portly secretarial candidate Jody Gilbert, a character actress I am noticing in more and more old films; a Veronica Lake look-alike (Virginia Hewitt) is also on hand, as is Gale Robbins as the "business only" beauty who takes no prisoners in her determination not to mix business with pleasure. Walker has an amusing moment taking inventory of everything in Douglas's apartment she is removing. "Queen of the Bit Players" Bess Flowers is funny in a brief scene as a society matron dancing with Wynn who excitedly asks if he is a gigolo. The film gives a look back to the work life before sexual harassment became a no-no.

One of my favorite comedies because of the character actors. Keenan Wynns very best droll efforts as the songwriting best friend and neighbor of Kirk Douglas; Florence Bates, a busybody as the owner of the apartment building where they live; Irene Ryan, the building maid who sings "Sniff, sniff where's your handkerchief; kerchoo, kerchoo, gazundheidt to you; Let yourself go and blow; Oh, let youself go and blow" Wynns latest song; Helen Walker, one of Kirks secretaries; Rudy Vallee, as Day's former boss; and Alan Mowbray as the dense detective Kirk hires to watch Day.As in all screwball comedies, the story is just a framework for the characters to do and say their funny business. And they don't dissapoint. Douglas is a writer who has had a successful first novel and goes to a college to give a class and meets Day who is there as a student, and he hires her as his new secretary. When she arrives the next day, after quitting as Vallee's secretary, Walker goes up in the elevator with her to retrieve her belongings because she has just quit as the last secretary. It gets crazier as Wynn answers the door and receives a slap from the mother of one of the girls Kirk has just interviewed, which he immediately passes on to Kirk. Wynn spends most of his time at Kirks trying recipes which he is hilarious preparing, but no one ever dreams of eating.More complications and silly goings on but it is all fun and is still one of my favorite videos, which I just watched again today. My rating: 8/10.

An overlooked and underrated gem in the genre of American Screwball comedy, "My Dear Secretary" pits Kirk Douglas and Laraine Day together in a romantic battle of the sexes set against the literary world of the 1940's. The script, complex in its plot as one expects from these brilliant comedies from that era, is flawless, and the performances by Day and Douglas, who demonstrates an early knack for comedic acting sorely underused in most of his later films, are solid. It is Keenan Wynn however as Douglas' wisecracking best friend who does a great deal of scene stealing in one of his most memorable roles. A shame Kirk Douglas claimed a lack of affection for this picture in his autobiography as it is a real treat to watch him in this type of film. Made by low key United Artists at a time when screwball comedy was winding down, it is not hard to see why this picture was overlooked then and is all but forgotten now. In the shadow of the more famous Cary Grant and Roselind Russell et al comedies it is nevertheless an intricate and finely tuned piece of screwball which deserves better recognition. Look for it at the video store, you will pleasantly surprised. And while you're there check out "A Lady Takes a Chance" with Jean Arthur and John Wayne, another sadly under-appreciated comedy from the 40's.