i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

While "Beauty and the Boss" isn't a total loss - no movie with Warren William and Charles Butterworth could be - it's darn close, and the fault, dear Brutus, lies with its leading lady, Marion Marsh.I'm a connoisseur of bad performances, and always held Wheeler Oakman's wooden acting in "Lights of New York" as the gold standard, but Marsh has taken the title in a first-round knockout.Either director Roy Del Ruth was too busy to direct Marsh or was deliberately trying to end her contract, but the decision to let her speak all her lines as rapidly and with as little inflection as possible was fatal. Every time she's on screen, she kills the picture with her lack of ability to act.Mary Doran, who plays the "other woman" is so far superior to her in terms of personality and intelligence that it's baffling how William's character throws her over for such a dimwit.I blame Del Ruth, ultimately. Any director who let Marsh get away with that performance -and- cuts away from Butterworth doing the tango is clearly having a bad time of it.

The idea for this film isn't bad, but the writing was just awful. With just a few changes here and there and decent directing, it could have been a nice little film.The film begins with a big-time executive (Warren William) firing his very competent secretary. Why? Well, she's too good looking and William doesn't want to be distracted. He's a guy who is either a workaholic or a lecher--and nothing in between. Later, he hires a seemingly sexless lady (Mae Marsh) who is more machine-like than feminine. The working relationship works out great--and William is more productive than ever. Marsh seems happy but when she observes how other women have an intoxicating effect on William, she, too, wants to be this sort of a woman and win his heart.This film could never be made today--simply because it is so incredibly sexist. Such a boss would have a bazillion lawsuits for sexual harassment and gender discrimination!! But, if you can look past this the film still abounds with problems. The biggest is that William and Marsh are badly written characters--caricatures instead of believable people. It comes off, at times, as a very silly film when it shouldn't be. A few other problems are that the actors talk WAY too fast--so fast that I think Jimmy Cagney couldn't have kept up!! The director needed to tell them to slow significantly in their delivery. The only interesting thing about this bad film is the sexual undercurrent--which never would have been allowed in the Code films (starting in mid-1934). LOTS of innuendo and double-entendres abound. But the overall effort is limp and silly.SLOW DOWN! very sexist and dated strong sexual undercurrent Marsh's performance WAY too one-dimensional and silly BAD painting of Paris off balcony William is either a machine or a sex-machine

One of the very first boss falls for secretary films, but fresh, original, and wonderfully acted and scripted. Warren William is young but just as dapper and sophisticated as in later roles. I have never seen the female lead -- secretary -- before, but she is very pretty and a good comedic actress. One of the best parts is the way she keeps turning the tables on WW as the boss, first with super efficiency and later by doing what he commands, literally. It is set in Europe at the height of the worldwide depression, and it shows how well some of the rich -- those who were lucky enough not to be heavily invested in the preceding stock market mania -- were living, while others struggled. Seeing how people lived then, some 70 years ago, is always interesting.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS GENERAL SPOILERSA wonderful pre-Code comedy, this is the kind of movie you can't help but watch with a delighted smile the whole way through. The under-known Warren William as usual plays the head of a large corporation, this time in Vienna. Also as usual, he is demanding, domineering, aggressive, and chauvanistic. He's an operator, and his success in charming women would make James Bond envious! The problem is, his secretary is so attractive he is unable to concentrate on his work. So he fires her and hires a plain-Jane to be his secretary instead (Marian Marsh). But the ploy backfires when Marsh blossoms into a beautiful, desirable woman.Her transformation and William's softening make up the bulk of the picture, and it is just a delight to behold. At one point the action shifts to Paris, and even though we stay in studio sets, the idea of Paris -- its feel, its magic, its charm -- has a palpable emotional effect on Marian Marsh, and on us. It's amazing how much you can feel Paris in this movie even though we never really see it! It comes through in the performances -- the way they talk about being there, the expressions of their faces in their reaction shots.BEAUTY AND THE BOSS (one of the great movie titles!) is based on a play yet feels cinematic and flowing. The story is very much an old-world story yet it hasn't really dated because the actors are so genuine. All in all, it's an excellent romantic comedy that will make you laugh out loud.