Until Bette Davis makes a play for George Brent, this film drags badly. Even then, there's little zip in the screenplay although it does become more interesting. Davis had a crush on Brent in high school but left for New York once he married Ann Dvorak, and now is hired as the chief advertising copywriter at the unheard of salary of $25,000 per year by the advertising firm where Brent works. (Brent earns $2,100 a year as office manager.) When Brent quits at the urging of Dvorak and starts his own firm, Davis is lured back to work for him and the trouble starts. This was the type of role Davis could eat up if it were in the hands of more capable screenwriters and the mores of the 30's permitted it. Then it might have been called "Homewrecker," with the emphasis on Davis rather than Dvorak. Still, it's fun to watch the stars and is a good example of an early Bette Davis film.

especially from Ann Dvorak (Nan Reynolds),who is in the title role as the housewife. It's basically a story that's been told time and time again, but with a few twists - a man (Bill Reynolds) rises up from obscurity to riches largely due to not only hard work, but the inspiration and ingenuity of a good woman, and then that man loses his head when he gets to the top. Brent plays the man forgetting where he came from and how he got there, and he does a more sympathetic job of it than actors in similar films, mainly because George Brent usually plays his roles with such sensitivity. Thus is the case here, and he therefore looks somewhat conscience-stricken even when he's behaving unconscionably.

John Halliday plays Paul Duprey, a major client in Bill's advertising firm as well as a man who sees the value in what Bill is tossing aside in the person of Bill's wife, Nan. Finally there is Bette Davis as Pat Berkeley, a creative genius in the advertising world and an old friend of Bill and supposedly of Nan too, although that doesn't prevent her from going after Bill. Warner Brothers has Ms. Davis' acting abilities packed in cotton here, as her sharp delivery and style of the late 30's and onward is on Valium in this particular film. She isn't given much more to do here than wander around looking fabulous in what seems to be a copy of Kay Francis' wardrobe. No wonder she fled to England in 1936.

There are a few touches that are pure Warners. Particularly humorous is a radio show - "The Duprey Hour" - designed by Bill's office manager rather than by Bill when Bill begins chasing after the charms of Pat and allows his business to be neglected. The show is supposed to build up Duprey Cosmetics. The final result is a disaster and consists of all kinds of bad humor that is so tasteless it's funny. It's topped off by a crooner singing lines like "...if the circles under your eyes look like apple pies...". You get the idea.

I'd recommend this one for the fine acting of Ann Dvorak and George Brent, for the unbelievable underutilization of Bette Davis, and the little touches and comic turns here and there that only seemed to pop up at Warner Brothers, especially in the 1930's. Do note that I think this might have been a better and meatier film if it had been made a year earlier and not just as the production code was coming into full effect. The director and writers just might have been afraid, under the circumstances, to take this film some of the places that could have made it more interesting.

GEORGE BRENT has a hard time making a living in HOUSEWIFE, married to ANN DVORAK and falling in love with a working girl he knew years ago--BETTE DAVIS in this flimsy soaper from Warner Bros.

Nothing much happens of much consequence except that for awhile Brent thinks he's in love with Davis, a hard-working office gal who takes his mind off his marriage to Dvorak, but doesn't stand a chance by the time the script gets to the tacked on happy ending after a brief courtroom scene.

The main acting chores go to Ann Dvorak and she does a good job of playing the loyal wife who helps her hubby up the ladder of success and sees him turning to a new love before things get patched up rather hastily.

George Brent does his usual good-natured job as the leading man who is caught between his loyal wife and "the new kid in the office" who has her own plans for their future. The courtroom ending seems tacked on and things are resolved in rather hurried fashion for a happy ending.

Nothing much, just a programmer for three dependable Warner workers early in their respective careers.