The Private Secretary | |
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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 |
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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. It was made at Twickenham Studios.
A timid and dim-witted clergyman is duped into helping a playboy avoid his creditors, inherit his uncle's fortune and get the girl.
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]
Blake Edwards was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor.
Alastair George Bell Sim, CBE was a Scottish character actor who began his theatrical career at the age of thirty and quickly became established as a popular West End performer, remaining so until his death in 1976. Starting in 1935, he also appeared in more than fifty British films, including an iconic adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol, released in 1951 as Scrooge in Great Britain and as A Christmas Carol in the United States. Though an accomplished dramatic actor, he is often remembered for his comically sinister performances.
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Edward Everett Horton Jr. was an American character actor. He had a long career in film, theater, radio, television, and voice work for animated cartoons.
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