As others have said, this was Norma Shearer's last film. I have no idea if she intended it to be, at the time, but it was, and she retired. Norma was, I think, 39 in this movie.
Shearer didn't appear in many comedies. The Women (1939), also directed by George Cukor, was fantastic, and a big hit. She was the lead, but her part was more serious, and she wasn't required to do the comedic heavy lifting (that was left mostly to co-star Rosalind Russell and the supporting cast).
I guess what I'm trying to say is that Norma didn't particularly have the light touch necessary for this type of sophisticated comedy. It's the sort of thing Claudette Colbert could have done in her sleep - and she would have made it seem better than it actually was.
It's a trifle about a woman hiring a good-looking man (Robert Taylor) as a secretary - but really it's to give the impression of being her lover, in order to make her boyfriend (George Sanders) jealous. Taylor's character already has a crush on her when he's hired.
Shearer is good enough, but the role seems to expose not only some of her acting weaknesses but also some of the qualities that made her a little hard to take as a personality. She was always able to rise to the occasion in difficult material - having triumphed in Romeo And Juliet (1936) (another occasion where she was directed by Cukor), and Strange Interlude (1932), as Eugene O'Neill's complex heroine, Nina Leeds. But as a film personality required to just "play herself" in this piece of fluff, she tends to come off as both strained, and, at times, strange.
Robert Taylor wasn't known for his comedic abilities, either, but the times he was cast in comedies he actually did very well. He's funny, here - but there's not a lot of chemistry between him Miss Shearer. And unfortunately he was almost a decade younger- and looks it. (George Sanders was also younger than Norma by a few years.)
Shearer and Taylor had been paired previously in the drama, Escape. They weren't a totally effective screen couple, but then Taylor seemed do do better opposite actresses who could display more vulnerability - such as Margaret Sullavan, Katharine Hepburn, and maybe especially, Vivien Leigh. (Strangely enough, Shearer's final acting role was in a 1951 radio adaptation of Waterloo Bridge - Taylor's one film with Leigh.)
Finally, director George Cukor is simply off his game, in this one. It didn't happen very often, but it was obvious when it did. Not that the script is up to the level of The Philadelphia Story, Holiday, or anything remotely that good. The story is really extremely light and a little dumb, and probably required some very expert, elegant, comedy stars to make you forget that fact. Which Shearer, Taylor, and Sanders were not, unfortunately.
Bosley Crowther of the New York Times put it on his 10 Worst list for the year, and it was a box office bomb. Norma Shearer turned down Mrs. Miniver to make it - paving the way for Greer Garson to take her place as First Lady of MGM.
Shearer didn't appear in many comedies. The Women (1939), also directed by George Cukor, was fantastic, and a big hit. She was the lead, but her part was more serious, and she wasn't required to do the comedic heavy lifting (that was left mostly to co-star Rosalind Russell and the supporting cast).
I guess what I'm trying to say is that Norma didn't particularly have the light touch necessary for this type of sophisticated comedy. It's the sort of thing Claudette Colbert could have done in her sleep - and she would have made it seem better than it actually was.
It's a trifle about a woman hiring a good-looking man (Robert Taylor) as a secretary - but really it's to give the impression of being her lover, in order to make her boyfriend (George Sanders) jealous. Taylor's character already has a crush on her when he's hired.
Shearer is good enough, but the role seems to expose not only some of her acting weaknesses but also some of the qualities that made her a little hard to take as a personality. She was always able to rise to the occasion in difficult material - having triumphed in Romeo And Juliet (1936) (another occasion where she was directed by Cukor), and Strange Interlude (1932), as Eugene O'Neill's complex heroine, Nina Leeds. But as a film personality required to just "play herself" in this piece of fluff, she tends to come off as both strained, and, at times, strange.
Robert Taylor wasn't known for his comedic abilities, either, but the times he was cast in comedies he actually did very well. He's funny, here - but there's not a lot of chemistry between him Miss Shearer. And unfortunately he was almost a decade younger- and looks it. (George Sanders was also younger than Norma by a few years.)
Shearer and Taylor had been paired previously in the drama, Escape. They weren't a totally effective screen couple, but then Taylor seemed do do better opposite actresses who could display more vulnerability - such as Margaret Sullavan, Katharine Hepburn, and maybe especially, Vivien Leigh. (Strangely enough, Shearer's final acting role was in a 1951 radio adaptation of Waterloo Bridge - Taylor's one film with Leigh.)
Finally, director George Cukor is simply off his game, in this one. It didn't happen very often, but it was obvious when it did. Not that the script is up to the level of The Philadelphia Story, Holiday, or anything remotely that good. The story is really extremely light and a little dumb, and probably required some very expert, elegant, comedy stars to make you forget that fact. Which Shearer, Taylor, and Sanders were not, unfortunately.
Bosley Crowther of the New York Times put it on his 10 Worst list for the year, and it was a box office bomb. Norma Shearer turned down Mrs. Miniver to make it - paving the way for Greer Garson to take her place as First Lady of MGM.