Hired Wife (1940)
Hired Wife is a 1940 American romantic comedy directed by William A. Seiter and released by Universal Pictures. Built around Rosalind Russell’s sharp comedic persona, the film blends corporate intrigue with screwball‑style romantic complications, using a marriage‑of‑convenience plot to drive both business maneuvering and emotional reversal.
Plot Summary
Stephen Dexter (Brian Aherne), head of Dexter Cement, faces a hostile business takeover. To prevent his rivals from freezing his assets with an injunction, he devises a legal loophole: he will marry his secretary, Kendal Browning (Rosalind Russell), in name only, ensuring that his holdings cannot be seized.
Kendal, secretly in love with him, agrees—though the arrangement quickly becomes more complicated than Stephen anticipates. Once the corporate threat is neutralized, Stephen asks for a divorce so he can pursue glamorous model Phyllis Walden (Virginia Bruce). Kendal refuses, asserting her new legal position and forcing Stephen to confront the emotional consequences of his own scheme.
The story unfolds through a mix of boardroom maneuvering, romantic rivalry, and Russell’s trademark verbal agility, culminating in Stephen’s realization that his “temporary” wife is the one he truly wants.
Cast
- Rosalind Russell as Kendal Browning
- Brian Aherne as Stephen Dexter
- Virginia Bruce as Phyllis Walden
- Robert Benchley as Roger Van Horn
- John Carroll as José O’Rourke
- Hobart Cavanaugh, Edward LeSaint, and others in supporting roles
Production Notes & Context
- Directed by William A. Seiter, a specialist in polished studio comedies and musicals, whose light touch shapes the film’s pacing and tone.
- Written by Richard Connell and Gladys Lehman, from a story by George Beck, blending screwball rhythms with corporate melodrama.
- Produced by Universal Pictures during a period when the studio was expanding its slate of sophisticated comedies to compete with MGM and Columbia.
- Rosalind Russell, already established as a fast‑talking comedic lead, uses the role to bridge her 1930s screwball persona with the more polished romantic comedies she would make in the 1940s.
- The film’s marriage‑of‑convenience premise echoes earlier screwball conventions but is framed within a corporate setting, reflecting contemporary anxieties about mergers, monopolies, and business ethics.
