SimonJack "More Than a Secretary" is a mildly entertaining and interesting film. It's not particularly funny as a comedy, nor is there much spark in the romance. My five stars are mostly for the interesting plot. It has a subplot that was becoming old hat in Hollywood by that time – the young secretary who went to work to snare a wealthy husband. A sub-subplot of that was the ditzy blonde who couldn't type or take dictation getting a private secretary job. The initial humor of this aspect quickly fades, and we are more interested in seeing how Jean Arthur's Carol Baldwin will win over the driven Fred Gilbert. George Brent plays the efficiency and healthy living expert who publishes a men's fitness magazine. Lionel Stander does very well in the role of Ernest. The rest of the cast are OK. One other interesting thing in this film is its look at the schools that flourished for a few decades in America to train secretaries. Arthur's Baldwin and Ruth Donnelly's Helen Davis run such a school. This isn't a movie to run out and buy. Jean Arthur fans may like it, although it's one of her lesser works. For others who may come across it on TV, it's worth a watch.

vincentlynch-moonoi It's right around 1936-1938 that, in my humble view, Hollywood movies gain maturity and sophistication. This film is on the cusp, but isn't quite there. And, for Jean Arthur, her greatest successes are also just around the corner (perhaps with 1938's "You Can't Take It With You").There's a period midway through the movie where, it seems to me, things drift a bit. I'm not even quite sure why George Brent's character wants to have a fling with the floozy secretary...not well established. And then the wrap-up of the film seems a bit weak to me, as well.Jean Arthur is good here...playing a bit of a prudish secretary-type at the beginning of the film...sort of reminds me of her next to last film role in "A Foreign Affair", although she comes off much better here. I like George Brent, but I didn't find him totally convincing here; of course his best films were often those with Bette Davis. Ruth Donnelly is interesting here...sort of reminds me of a slightly more gentle Eve Arden-type role.To whom would I recommend this film? Well, I guess if you enjoy Jean Arthur films (and I myself am in that category), you should see this film. Otherwise, I could take it or leave it.

bkoganbing With Jean Arthur, Ruth Donnelly, and Lionel Stander in the cast, More Than A Secretary starts to look like a road company Mr. Deeds Goes To Town. Too bad it isn't quite up to the standard of that comedy classic.But this was more an example of the fluff that Jean Arthur was asked to carry in her career. Not every film could be a Mr. Deeds.Jean and Ruth Donnelly run a secretarial school from which they graduate women of all kinds including Dorothea Kent, a poor man's Marie Wilson. Dorothea's typing and shorthand leave much to be desired, but she does have other assets and his certainly decorative enough. Jean goes to work for health magazine editor George Brent who is maniacal on the subject of fitness, sexist in his views of women, and something of a puritan. But Jean proves pretty indispensable as his magazine circulation starts to boom.But then Reginald Denny who has a jealous wife dumps Dorothea back on George who with Jean has to put up with her incompetence. Something has to give.The whole thing was rather silly to me. Why they don't just fire this bimbo is beyond me. Maybe Denny's hormones are making the decision for him, but Brent's certainly aren't.Maybe I'm too harsh on the film though. I in fact worked for a woman who headed a state agency and she was so stupid she couldn't probably spell the word. I could have seen her like Kent, running Tina's Nail Salon on Cropsey Avenue in Brooklyn. But she also was in her job because somebody's hormones went into overdrive.George Brent was borrowed from Warner Brothers by Harry Cohn for this film. My only question is why did he use a favor from Jack Warner for this. Or was Brent being punished?

Neil Doyle GEORGE BRENT, editor of a fitness magazine dedicated to diet and exercise, takes JEAN ARTHUR as a secretary--a woman who quits her job as a typing instructor to find out if she can find romance with a handsome and very particular employer if she pretends to be his full-time secretary. Seems that he's been unimpressed with all of the less skillful applicants.RUTH DONNELLY, LIONEL STANDER and REGINALD DENNY have fun with subordinate roles in this wacky ode to screwball comedy. The fun comes in wondering just how Arthur is going to change his staid ways and overly dedicated devotion to exercise and body building. Of course what Brent needs is a fresh viewpoint on selling points for his dignified magazine and Arthur is just the gal to give it to him.It's the sort of run-of-the-mill, breezy comedy that studios churned out for Depression weary audiences--so don't look for realism here. But JEAN ARTHUR is at her perky best and GEORGE BRENT manages to unbend a little in a role with comic overtones. DOROTHEA KENT tries hard, but manages not to steal scenes in a ditsy dumb blonde role that would have been perfect for either Jean Harlow or Judy Holliday (at a later time).Trivia note: As surprising as it seems, this trifle of a comedy played at Radio City Music Hall on its original release.