Behind Office Doors

The trouble with these 'smart woman behind the scenes' movies from this era is that while they show a woman to be the brains behind a businessman, they also show the positions they're limited to, and generally happy with as long as there is a possible romantic angle. In this case it's Mary Astor in the role of a secretary helping out a salesman (Robert Ames) make big moves within his company for reasons which aren't all that obvious, since he's quite a bore, patting a woman on the butt at the water cooler and making it clear he plays around. She has a thing for him anyway though (argh!), which is all the more disappointing since she has such pluck and principles in spurning the advances of a wealthy man (Ricardo Cortez) who has lied to her about not being married, something her friends think she's crazy to do. She makes all of the key strategic decisions that get him to the top of the company, and yet like a dimwit he doesn't understand her value, and also hires other women into the company so he can have liaisons with them. Somehow (argh!) she still loves him.

Astor's a treat to watch but everything else is a rather unpleasant experience, and the film is rather creaky, both in pace and the quality of the visual print which survives. There are occasional funny moments in the banter, such as when she tells him of a big idea she has, and he comes over to her, grabs the cigarette out of her hand, smells it, and says "it isn't hashish." These are few and far between though, and the film lacks most of the old pre-Code crackle. Robert Ames died at 42 from his problems with alcohol a little less than five months after this film was released, so that's a point of interest I guess, but the only real reason to watch this would be for Astor. It's just too bad the script is so weak. I hated the ending too.