Day-time Wife (1939)

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Day-Time Wife starred Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell together for the first time, they went on to do two more films and much better ones, The Mark Of Zorro and Blood And Sand. Look very closely at Darnell she was only 16 at the time playing a relatively new bride with only two years of marriage under her belt. Back then Darnell's mother added a couple of years to her resume so she would be hired and it worked. In fact this was only Linda Darnell's second feature film all together.The story involves the age old gambit of the spouse starting to suspect the husband is cheating on her. In this case Darnell has a candidate with the flirtatious Wendy Barrie who is Ty's secretary and would love to have him nail her. Darnell also has a confidante in the older much married Binnie Barnes who is functioning as Eve Arden here. She feeds Darnell's suspicions with a good wisecrack or three.So Linda goes out in the working world and becomes a secretary to another man with a roving eye, Warren William. Of course that Power and William are business associates she doesn't know and finds out after she's taken the job. That's when the film gets interesting.Joan Davis is in Day-Time Wife as the receptionist at William's office and she's somewhat subdued and a bit wasted here. Her zaniness was not all that in evidence.Day-Time Wife will never make the list of best screwball comedies of the era nor of the top ten films of Tyrone Power or Linda Darnell. Still it's a pleasant and none too taxing diversion for the viewer.

Linda Darnell is at home alone waiting on hubby Tyrone Power to come home. But why, in the roofing business, does he keep such hours away from her? She planned a surprise anniversary party that he couldn't come home to, so they went to him at the office and HE WASN"T THERE! She convinces herself, along with help from good friend Binnie Barnes, that he's out with his secretary, not having an affair, just having a gay old time. After all, secretaries get some of the husband's attention lavished on them. Binnie should know, she says, with her three divorces. To see the advantage of being a secretary, Linda proceeds to get a job at an architect's office, played wonderfully by Warren William. But, it's kept a secret from Ty, of course. Unfortunately, not only does he know Tyrone, but he does business with him, causing Linda to dash out of the office, whenever Ty shows up. One thing leads to another and the last 30 minutes are a total hoot. I didn't expect such an hilarious escapade from Ty and company, but it sure is a crowd pleaser. You feel so upbeat and good after watching this.(And, Tyrone, already a great looking man, looks so cute acting so sheepish, when shown up.) This unknown film can be found on a Tyrone Power DVD collection and should be seen more than it is. Despite Warren William being at the peak of his form, he does seem to be older than his costars. Not that he looks bad, but their glowing youth and good looks make him appear to be somewhat out of place. Nonetheless at 74 minutes, this should be enjoyed by all who love screwball comedies. Discover "Day Time Wife" today!

This comedy is a watchable time-passer and nothing more. It's really amazing, as Tyrone Power was a hugely popular actor at the time and 1939 is known to cinema historians as probably the best year for Hollywood films ever. Well, to every rule, there must be exceptions. Now I am not saying this is a bad film, but it certainly isn't particularly good thanks to a rather poor script. Also, while I think one of the reviewers was a tad too harsh on Power, I do agree that Cary Grant could have probably made this film work a bit better--Tyrone just isn't a great actor in this style of film.DAY-TIME WIFE begins with Linda Darnell and Power as husband and wife. By the way their apartment looks, Power's job must make him a ton of money and you'd think they would be wildly happy (I know I would have if I was married to Darnell!). However, Power is not a particularly good husband and appears to be cheating on her. Now here's where it gets weird. Darnell is positive that he's lying about working late nights and there is every reason to assume that he's cheating. So what does she do? She gets a job as a secretary and investigates what lecherous bosses want from their comely employees. In other words, after getting a job with a real heel (Warren William in a role rather typical for him), she'll learn the tricks secretaries know to attract men. Why secretaries are suddenly experts, why Darnell is so forgiving of Power and why she goes to so much trouble just doesn't make sense. She is a lousy role model for women, that's for sure!! Later in the film, it turns out that Darnell's boss and Power have a working relationship and this is bad because she doesn't want her husband to know that she's working. So, there are a few kooky times they almost meet in the work place and ultimately they do meet--when she goes out with William for a night on the town as well as some hanky-panky....and Power and his secretary come along for the fun.Overall, a silly and rather sleazy plot that makes little sense but somehow works due to the usual 20th Century-Fox polish and decent acting from Darnell and William. As for Power, this is a sad episode and was fortunately soon forgotten. He was just so much better in dramas or swashbucklers than in this sort of silly fluff. His next film, JOHNNY APOLLO, was a dandy film and thankfully he was soon back to form.

Despite the bad reviews on this site, I enjoyed "Daytime Wife." It's a little comedy, very much of its time, but I enjoyed seeing the supporting actors - Warren William, Joan Davis, and Binnie Barnes - in their roles as well as the stars, Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell. Personally, I didn't find anything wrong with Power's comedy. I thought he was quite funny. There was a comment about Darnell's high-pitched voice, and it is interesting - in Fallen Angel, six years later, her voice had dropped an octave. She must have been a smoker. She's very pretty and very young in this film - she actually grew into her great beauty a little bit later.Darnell and Power are married, and she suspects, against her will, that he's cheating on her with his secretary. At the risk of coming off as a cynic, if I were married to someone who looked like Tyrone Power, I wouldn't let him out of my sight. Anyway, she takes a job as a secretary to find out why a man is drawn to a woman other than his wife. She's able to deftly turn the tables on Power when he's involved in a business deal with her boss (Warren William) and they all wind up at a nightclub - William, Darnell, Power, and his secretary, played by Wendy Barrie.It's a cute movie, though inconsequential, certainly given the mammoth films that were produced in 1939. This film was Zanuck's punishment film to Tyrone Power for getting married to Annabella, whom Zanuck had tried to force back to Europe. Power was 25 when this film was made. He is absolutely glorious looking and for the drool factor alone, Daytime Wife is worth it.