His Private Secretary

Foreshadowing a career playing characters with great names, John Wayne plays a wealthy socialite named Dick Wallace.

After chewing him out for being a drunken womanizer, Wallace’s father puts him to work collecting a debt owed by a minister. Wallace falls for the minister’s daughter, Marion, played by top-billed Evelyn Knapp.

The film’s first half sees Wallace pursue Marion. The two marry, which causes a rift between Wallace and his father, who views Marion as a gold digger despite never meeting her.

Marion goes to the elder Wallace to smooth things over, but a mix-up lands her hired as his secretary.

The early scenes with John Wayne as a drunken playboy checking out women’s ankles in his rear-view mirror had me laughing. They’re almost enough to recommend the film. But the lack of chemistry between Wayne and Knapp, and the awkward third-act plotting, reserve His Private Secretary for Wayne die-hards only.