The Private Secretary (1935 film)

The Private Secretary
The Private Secretary
	Original British trade ad
Directed by	Henry Edwards
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)
Produced by	Julius Hagen
Starring	Edward Everett Horton ; Barry MacKay ; Judy Gunn ; Oscar Asche
Cinematography	Sydney Blythe ; William Luff
Music by	W.L. Trytel (uncredited)
Production; company	Julius Hagen Productions
Distributed by	Twickenham Film Distributors Ltd (UK)
Release date	September 1935(UK);
Running time	70 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Last updated October 18, 2025

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. It was made at Twickenham Studios.

Premise

A timid and dim-witted clergyman is duped into helping a playboy avoid his creditors, inherit his uncle's fortune and get the girl.

Cast

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

Critical reception

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 (1936)". BFI. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016.
↑ "The Private Secretary". TV Guide.
↑ "The Private Secretary". Find and Watch.

External links

The Private Secretary at IMDb

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[1] "The Private Secretary (1936)". BFI. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016.

[2] "The Private Secretary". TV Guide.

[3] "The Private Secretary". Find and Watch.

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