"Day-Time Wife" Review

 

by Daniel White

In a town full of hard-luck stories, Linda Darnell's ranks as one of the hardest. Pushed relentlessly by her mother to achieve stardom, she moved from Dallas to Hollywood while still in her teens, landing a contract with 20th Century-Fox (an earlier visit had been cut short when it was discovered the young starlet was only14).

A stunning beauty, she made her film debut in Hotel for Women (1939), and found herself being hailed as Hollywood's newest "It" girl.

Day-Time Wife was her second movie, a light as a feather comedy co-starring the equally beautiful Tyrone Power. The two heartthrobs play a young couple, Jane and Ken Norton, whose marriage begins to unravel when the wife suspects her husband of having an affair with his secretary.

Released in November of 1939, Darnell had just turned 16, yet the studio manufactured her into a sexy, attractive leading lady.

The movie is innocuous fun, a contrived piece of confection about the lengths a woman will go to when she tries save her marriage ("If a woman can't hold her man, then it's her own fault." Ouch).

Darnell is charming as the young wife who secretly gets a job in an office, to find out "just what secretaries have that wives haven't" when she suspects her husband is having an affair with his secretary. An extended sitcom with two of Hollywood's most gorgeous faces, Day-Time Wife is the surest proof of why Darnell and Power are movie stars and you and I are not. Though Tyrone Power was the bigger star, this is Linda Darnell's movie and it's a testament to her talent and poise that she is able to to pull it off at such a young age.

Day-Time Wife (a misnomer, Darnell is actually a day time secretary and a night time wife) looks exquisite, opening with the silhouettes of our two leads dancing behind the credits. Dressed by the costume designer Royer, Miss Darnell looks smashing and the movie's Art Deco set designs are nothing less than sumptuous.

Dated in its take on marriage, the film's message, that women are always at fault when a husband goes "whistling under other people's balconies", is a tad misogynistic. But in some ways the flick is unusually modern. Power and his secretary (Wendy Barrie) actually ARE involved in a flirtation. However, instead of rebuking the "other" woman, Jane befriends her, inviting her home for the evening so she can fully understand the true nature of the relationship between her and her husband.

20th Century-Fox made Linda Darnell a movie star but she never became a super star, reaching the iconic status of a Rita Hayworth or an Ava Gardner. Frequent clashes with studio head Darryl Zanuck and an ongoing battle with the bottle prevented Darnell from reaching the pinnacle of success she seemed destined to at the beginning of her career.

A teenaged Linda Darnell was being molded into a sex kitten before she was of legal age to have sex! Darnell was a sensitive soul, pushed into stardom by an aggressive stage mother realizing her dreams through her more talented offspring. She had to grow up fast and failed to successfully navigate her way in Hollywood, leading to failed marriages, substance abuse issues, and early, tragic deaths. She also had an affair with Joseph L. Mankiewicz.

Day-Time Wife is not Linda Darnell's best film but it does let us see her at the onset of her career when she is young, beautiful, and vibrant. Before the sadness set in, before the troubles took over. Before she became another one of the Women of Many Woes that Hollywood seems to have in abundance.

Co-starring Warren William as Jane's wolf of a boss, Joan Davis as Miss Applegate, Jane's fellow secretary ("An apple a day keeps the Applegate away"), Binnie Barnes as Jane's cynical friend Blanche, and Mildred Gover as the family maid, who is forced to cover up for Jane's duplicity ("All of this lying sure is gonna get me in bad with Father Divine").

Let's wrap this review up with a few pieces of trivia for the film buff who cares about such things:

The movie opens with a Western Union operator delivering a singing telegram over the phone. Uncredited, I didn't recognize her face but the voice seemed familiar. After a few viewings I realized who it was: Blossom Rock of Addams Family fame!

Then in a nice plug for Tyrone Power and 20th Century-Fox, Linda Darnell is seen holding the book, The Rains Came, the film version of which had just been released, starring her handsome co-star.

Finally, Binnie Barnes and Wendy Barrie, who both appear here, also co-starred in another film, The Private Life of Henry the VIII, where Barnes played Katherine Howard and Barrie played Jane Seymour to Charles Laughton's Henry.

Available on YouTube.