HIRED WIFE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 94, 10 April 1941, Page 16

HIRED WIFE

(Universal) oa

EW of the ingredients of Hired Wife are entirely new. In between playing flaxen-whiskered emperors of Mexico and Parisian house-

holders, Brian Aherne has several times before produced exactly this brand of whimsical comedy. So has Rosalind Russell (in His Girl Friday, for instance). I have also seen Virginia Bruce portray this sort of blonde menace, and Robert Benchley add the same comic effects. But stirred fairly expertly by William Seiter, these ingredients make a lively brew. Taking into account the fact that the story is just one of those Hollywood crazy plots, it goes to show, I imagine, that it is not what you say that matters; it is the way you say it. Brian Aherne is a big cement executive with a flair for tangling himself up in some feminine indiscretion every spring. This time it is a ripe blonde mannequin, but just when success seems about to crown his efforts, as they say, business reasons dictate a hasty. marriage with the nearest woman to hand, who happens to be his secretary and faithful Girl Friday, Rosalind Russell. Thereafter the picture is concerned almost entirely with Miss Russell’s efforts to stay put as Mrs. Cement Executive and Mr. Aherne’s efforts to convince his blonde mannequin that his marriage was entirely one of convenience and would be rectified just as soon as the deal could be put through. The ending is always in sight and never in question, but it says something for the intricacies of the plot that when the time comes for the fade-out, Director Seiter has some difficulty in making it smooth and convincing. Hired Wife is also notable for Mr. Benchley’s snoring. He plays the friend-cum-legal adviser of the cement executive. It is a sideline part, his job being to watch over the hectic romance of the cement executive and his secretary and

add comments, play the mandolin, and snore. Benchley is a.sly comic, and here his extremely personal brand of humour is given full rein. I found quite a lot to laugh at in Hired Wife, and little to criticise beyond a maudlin shot of Rosalind Russell crying herself to sleep to the strains of "Liebestraum" played from a_ bedside radio, and the gowns worn by the lanky Miss Russell. Though I must confess I am not exe actly an authority on either point.