Dunham16 This is a 60 minute low budget grade B comedy in which John Wayne plays second fiddle to Evelyn Napp. The 1933 depression sets and costumes would be considered amateur film making today. The film has never been remastered and has been public domain for so long the current Youtube print is actually clearer than the double feature DVD reissue as which it was last commercially marketed. The story is delightful romantic fantasy in which the illogical sets and costumes & poor home, work to enhance the fun. Wayne is interested in a ministers daughter and is dismissed by his wealthy tycoon dad for refusing to follow up on an unpaid outstanding loan taken by her grandfather. He sets up shop as a garage mechanic to win her then marries her without telling her he is rich. The title scene is played out as the way Napp gets Wayne's dad to accept his son marrying a woman whose family is not on the approved list. Interesting story and acting, poor quality reproduction and budget filmed project.

MartinHafer I saw this film on a DVD from Westlake Entertainment. The picture and sound quality are simply terrible and it's obvious that absolutely no restoration was done to this public domain film before they released it. My recommendation is to just download a copy yourself for free and IMDb has links to these sites (such as archive.net). After all, the free one can't be any worse in quality! In the 1930s, the vast majority of John Wayne's films were B-westerns and a small number of mainstream westerns. He had a niche and had few opportunities for other sorts of films. However, "His Private Secretary" is one of a few films in this era where his co-star was NOT a horse! This film finds Wayne a rich playboy. His father is upset at his lazy and girl-filled ways and has him come to work with him in the company business. However, the father is enraged when Wayne falls for and marries a young lady and the old man insists that the new wife is a gold-digger! So, to convince him otherwise, the wife has an odd plan--to become the old goat's secretary and convince him that she's a great lady--then he'll surely approve of the marriage. Seeing the new wife able to soon twist her father-in-law around her finger is pretty cute and makes the film worth while. Unfortately, Wayne's performance is rather bland, however.All in all, the film is a pleasant diversion though it could have been a lot better. It's clearly a B-film with a very low budget and only passable production values. One problem is that there is very little incidental music even for a film from 1933--and it seems very, very quiet--too quiet. The most serious problem, however, is that the story idea simply could have been fleshed out better and the father came off a bit too gruff and difficult to believe---very one-dimensional. Overall, the production comes off as a bit cheap--though most of Wayne's films of this time were amazingly cheap and would surprise those not familiar with his early work.

JoeytheBrit It's strange to see a youthful John Wayne receiving a ticking off from his curmudgeonly father for staying out late and gallivanting with inappropriate girls. Even the Duke seems a little ill at ease and it's easy to see why he ultimately spent so much time in the saddle in the first ten years of his movie career. He just looked right up there somehow, while dressed in a suit he looks like a school kid at a wedding.He plays Dick Wallace, the playboy son of a hard-hearted industrialist in this cheap programmer, who finds it impossible to keep his mind off women. Dad sets him to work in the office, but Big John spends his time breaking pencils so that he can ogle the legs of the secretary who re-sharpens them for him (which isn't quite the same as putting lead in it I suppose…).Sent to a tiny village to collect a debt he tricks wholesome Evelyn Knapp into accepting a ride from him. Of course it turns out that she is the granddaughter of the man who owes Dick's dad all that money. Granddad's the village vicar, a kindly old chap who wears a hearing aid the size of an ear-muff, and he gave away all the money to the poor. Keen to get back into Evelyn's good books, Dick waives the debt, getting himself sacked in the process. Then he goes and blows it with Evelyn by trying to snog her before she's ready.Evelyn Knapp's a pretty little creature with a winning smile and saucy hips, and it wouldn't bother me one little bit if I lost my job over her. Dick certainly isn't bothered – he just swaps his fancy car for the local garage so that he can stay close to her, even though she won't give him the time of day. Of course his dogged pursuit wears her down in the end, and within a minute of making up they're sharing rings. With that particular avenue closed to it, the film changes tack, and instead of Wayne pursuing Knapp, she now goes after his dad in order to get his blessing. Dad's convinced she's a gold-digger after Dick's inheritance, but she inadvertently winds up as his private secretary (although he doesn't know who she is) and he soon begins to thaw… This one's obviously made on the cheap, but at least a little care has gone into the screenplay. It's supposed to be a romantic comedy but it isn't really very funny. Despite this, like John Wayne's aimless character, it is undeniably amiable, and its short running time ensures that it doesn't outlast its welcome. By the way, if you happen to watch this film, check out that stair banister in Dick's dad's house – it's got to be one of moviedom's strangest

bkoganbing During a time when John Wayne was doing some B westerns and appearing in a few other films for Warner Brothers, he was apparently lent out to an independent outfit called Showmen's Pictures where he was the male lead in a comedy called His Private Secretary. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with this one. Granted that the film doesn't exactly have the production values that one would have associated with the major studios and it can't get a better rating from me because of that. Still the performances were not bad and the Duke did a fine job in this one.John Wayne plays the young playboy son of banker Reginald Barlow and all he has on his mind is chasing women. He's the despair of dear old dad who would like the Duke to just settle down in the family business. When he agrees to come to work, his first assignment is to get some deadbeat to cough up his loan money or foreclose. Remember this is the Great Depression and a lot of people were in similar circumstances. But in this case the deadbeat is minister Alec B. Francis who has a pretty granddaughter Evelyn Knapp and with the Duke it's always pleasure before business. Because Knapp doesn't immediately fall for his line and shows a serious side he's not seen in many women, Wayne is really taken with her. I think I need not say more because if you've seen thirties type comedies you know where this is heading.The interesting thing to speculate is if this film had been the product of one of the major studios and had been given production values and a distribution level commiserate with same, what kind of turn John Wayne's career might have taken.