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Nonureva Really Surprised!

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Byrdz Don't get me wrong. This is a sort of fun slap sticky screwball comedy from and of the 40's. It is Kirk Douglas's sixth film and he is billed second after the lovely Laraine Day. It is just two films and two years before his Academy Award winning turn in Champion in 1950. BUT Kirk is best at those scene chewing, somewhat over-dramatic, tooth baring roles. Comedy, not so much ! Keenan Wynn is fun to watch in another of his frequent appearances as best pal to the star. He has the most clever wise cracks in the film but they aren't all that funny, really. The whole deal with him using the kitchen and burning everything is just sort of annoying and goes on way too long. Grady Sutton and Alan Mowbray are their usual competent selves. As the housekeeper there was a "Oh, wow.. looky here that's Irene Ryan, Granny from the Beverly Hillbiliiies !" Rudy Valle is sticklike as always.The story is silly and rather garbled and total nonsense but it's a chance to see the 32 year old, on the threshold of stardom, Kirk Douglas.

sddavis63 The stars of this movie are supposed to be Kirk Douglas and Laraine Day, but it's worth saying right off the top that the movie is worth watching primarily for Keenan Wynn's hilarious performance as Ronnie Hastings. He really is the one who makes this movie.Ronnie is a neighbour of and assistant to author Owen Waterbury (Douglas.) After writing a best-seller, Waterbury gives a lecture to a writing class and meets Stephanie Gaylord (Day.) Waterbury offers Gaylord a job as his secretary, and she accepts, but what she didn't know is that Waterbury's secretaries don't last very long. He's a bit of a playboy type, and he and Hastings always insist on a certain "type" of secretary (ie, extremely cute) and most of them don't take very kindly to being hit on as soon as they walk through the door.Basically, this movie deals with the evolution of the relationship between Waterbury and Day. Both play their parts very well, but, as I said, the show is stolen by Wynn right from the beginning, and it all leads up to an ending (again with Wynn as the comedic centrepiece) that I didn't see coming, particularly given what seemed to be Ronnie's taste in women.All in all, it's good, clean entertaining comedy, with a plot that admittedly gets a little bit tired by the end, but still there's quite a few laughs here. 7/10

coffeemeetup It's hard to miss with a script this witty and a cast including Kirk Douglas, Laraine Day, Keenan Wynn, Irene Ryan and other familiar faces in this high camp screwball comedy from 1949.The story takes a back seat to the bitingly funny dialogue through most of the film, including this artful exchange between Mrs. Reese the Landlady, Felicia the gold digging Veronica Lake lookalike and Ronnie Hastings, Kirk Douglas's freeloading neighbor. They're discussing a movie to be based on Mr. Waterbury's (Kirk Douglas) new novel, and the possibility of Felicia starring in it.Mrs. Reese: What's the heroine like?Ronnie: It's a girl from the South.Felicia: Why ah'm from the South! Mrs. Reese: How perfectly coincidental! Ronnie: She's trying to hook a rich man, she's insincere, and a moron. (to Felicia) Well what's worrying you? Felicia: Well I'm not so worried about being insincere, but as for being a moron...Ronnie: Now, don't worry about that.Mrs. Reese: You could act like a moron, couldn't you, dear? Felicia:I could trah. Oh! I'm going to dramatic school. Maybe they can teach me to be a moron!

Snow Leopard Reasonable light entertainment in itself, "My Dear Secretary" gets a boost from Keenan Wynn, who in his supporting role makes a habit of stealing his scenes from the stars. The story is not especially new, but it's good enough to hold your attention. Co-stars Michael Douglas and Laraine Day do a solid job and work well together, although some of the material does not quite suit Douglas's style.Douglas plays an eccentric and rather wayward writer, whose approach to things leads to the frequent need for a new secretary. The story starts with him and Day, as his latest employee, getting involved in a turbulent relationship with numerous ups and downs. Wynn, as the writer's friend and assistant, and Irene Ryan ('Granny' from "The Beverly Hillbillies"), as the maid, have the enjoyable task of observing and commenting upon the writer's troubled professional life and love life. The two of them, and especially Wynn, get many of the movie's best moments. Wynn shows his knack here for making a character outrageous yet still believable.The story works all right for the most part, and it fortunately stops before the whole premise runs out of steam. The more madcap parts are the sequences that work the best. Several of the actresses who play the writer's other secretaries give very efficient characterizations in smaller roles, and these help some of those scenes to work especially well. Helen Walker gets some good opportunities, appearing in several scenes as a previous secretary.All the comings and goings create an overall effect of upbeat chaos that sets a good mood for the movie as a whole. Overall, it's not particularly memorable, but it's an entertaining way to spend and hour and a half.