The Private Secretary (film)

The Private Secretary
Original British trade ad
Directed by	Henry Edwards
Produced by	Julius Hagen
Written by	George Broadhurst Arthur Macrae H. Fowler Mear
Based on	The farce by Charles Hawtrey (The Private Secretary) and the book by Von Moser (Der Bibliotheker)
Starring	Edward Everett Horton Barry MacKay Judy Gunn Oscar Asche
Music by	W. L. Trytel (uncredited)
Cinematography	Sydney Blythe William Luff
Production company	Julius Hagen Productions
Distributed by	Twickenham Film Distributors Ltd (UK)
Release dates	September 1935 (UK)
Running time	70 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Private Secretary is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Henry Edwards and starring Edward Everett Horton, Barry MacKay, Judy Gunn and Oscar Asche.^[1] It is an adaptation of the play The Private Secretary by Charles Henry Hawtrey.

Plot

Wealthy Englishman Robert Cattermole returns from a trip to India to discover that instead of achieving success, his beloved nephew Robert has got into such debt that he now disguises himself as a mild-mannered minister to evade his creditors.

Cast

Edward Everett Horton - Reverend Robert Spalding
Barry MacKay - Douglas Cattermole
Judy Gunn - Edith Marsland
Oscar Asche - Robert Cattermole
Sydney Fairbrother - Miss Ashford
Michael Shepley - Henry Marsland
Alastair Sim - Nebulae
Aubrey Dexter - Gibson
O. B. Clarence - Thomas Marsland
Davina Craig - Annie

Critical reeption

TV Guide felt the comedy of the Victorian farce "didn't translate well into later times. Horton and Sim (in a secondary role) serve as the film's saving graces with some nice comic moments" ^[2] and Sky Movies agreed, calling the film "a mostly dismal British farce stickily directed by former acting superstar Henry Edwards, but held back from disaster by the pawkily amusing performances of Edward Everett Horton, dithering delightfully in the leading role, and Alastair Sim, offering a lugubrious contribution as Mr Nebulae." ^[3]

References

↑ "The Private Secretary". BFI.
↑ "The Private Secretary". TV Guide.
↑ "The Private Secretary". Find and Watch.

External links

The Private Secretary at the Internet Movie Database

The films of Henry Edwards

1910s	Doorsteps (1916) A Welsh Singer (1916) East Is East (1916) Merely Mrs. Stubbs (1917) If Thou Wert Blind (1917) Broken Threads (1917) The Failure (1917) What's the Use of Grumbling (1918) Towards the Light (1918) The Secret (1918) The Poet's Windfall (1918) The Message (1918) The Inevitable (1918) The Hanging Judge (1918) Old Mother Hubbard (1918) Her Savings Saved (1918) Anna (1918) Against the Grain (1918) The City of Beautiful Nonsense (1919) Possession (1919) His Dearest Possession (1919) The Kinsman (1919)

1920s	The Amazing Quest of Mr. Ernest Bliss (1920) John Forrest Finds Himself (1920) Aylwin (1920) A Temporary Vagabond (1920) Tit for Tat (1921) The Lunatic at Large (1921) The Bargain (1921) Simple Simon (1922) Lily of the Alley (1923) Boden's Boy (1923) The Naked Man (1923) The World of Wonderful Reality (1924) Owd Bob (1924) King of the Castle (1925) A Girl of London (1925) The Island of Despair (1926) One Colombo Night (1926)

1930s	The Girl in the Night (1931) Stranglehold (1931) Brother Alfred (1932) The Flag Lieutenant (1932) The Barton Mystery (1932) General John Regan (1933) Discord (1933) One Precious Year (1933) Lord of the Manor (1933) Anne One Hundred (1933) Purse Strings (1933) The Lash (1934) The Man Who Changed His Name (1934) Lord Edgware Dies (1934) Are You a Mason? (1934) The Rocks of Valpre (1935) The Lad (1935) D'Ye Ken John Peel? (1935) Vintage Wine (1935) Squibs (1935) The Private Secretary (1935) Scrooge (1935) Eliza Comes to Stay (1936) In the Soup (1936) Juggernaut (1936) Beauty and the Barge (1937) Song of the Forge (1937) Vicar of Bray (1937)