

Hired Wife
1940-09-13 · 95 min · ★ 6.8
Ad man Stephen Dexter asks his secretary Kendall to marry him as a loophole in order to protect his finances during an important business deal. Once the deal is completed, he asks Kendall for a divorce and is dismayed when she refuses.
Trailers are previews, not full movies.
No authorized playback source configured. Use the legal watch options below.
Production details
- Directors
- William A. Seiter
- Production companies
- Universal Pictures
- Countries
- United States of America
- Status
- Released
Top Cast
Rosalind RussellKendal Browning
Brian AherneStephen Dexter
Virginia BrucePhyllis Walden
Robert BenchleyRoger Van Horn
John CarrollJose de Briganza
Hobart CavanaughWilliam
Richard LaneMcNab
William B. DavidsonMumford (as William Davidson)
Brooks BenedictPhyllis's Friend (uncredited)
Virginia BrissacMiss Collins (uncredited)
Gino CorradoWaiter (uncredited)
Selmer JacksonHudson (uncredited)
Janet ShawLucy - the Bride (uncredited)
Pat WestOffice Worker (uncredited)
Leonard CareyPeterson - Butler
Jack ChefeNightclub Patron
Chester CluteMartin Peabody - Justice of the Peace
Paul EvertonBoard Member
Eddie HallSwan Club PatronTitle information and images are supplied by TMDb. Explore our discovery guide for advice on comparing metadata and legal viewing options.
Where to watch
Availability provided by JustWatch via TMDb. Offers can change. Provider links are listed on TMDb; full playback requires a separately authorized source.
Availability not listed for this country.
Seasons & episodes
Recommendations

A television news chief courts his anchorwoman ex-wife with an eleventh-hour story.

A Florida con man uses the recent death of the long time Congressman from his district, who he just happens to share a last name with, to get elected to his version of paradise, the U.S. Congress, where the money flows from lobbyists.

Laurel Ayres is a businesswoman trying to make it but unfortunately she works at a investment firm where she does all the work but all the senior investors like Frank Peterson grab all the credit. She then leaves and starts her own firm. While trying to find clients Laurel pretends that she has a male partner named Robert Cutty. And when she starts to do well all of her clients wants to meet Cutty which is difficult since he doesn't exist.

A modern retelling of Shakespeare's classic comedy about two pairs of lovers with different takes on romance and a way with words.

A cunning and resourceful housewife vows revenge on her husband when he begins an affair with a wealthy romance novelist.

Forced by his son's birthday wish, fast-talking attorney and habitual liar Fletcher Reede must tell the truth for the next 24 hours.

A hapless talent manager named Danny Rose, by helping a client, gets dragged into a love triangle involving the mob. His story is told in flashback, an anecdote shared amongst a group of comedians over lunch at New York's Carnegie Deli. Rose's one-man talent agency represents countless incompetent entertainers, including a one-legged tap dancer, and one slightly talented one: washed-up lounge singer Lou Canova, whose career is on the rebound.

A roving bachelor gets saddled with three children and a wealth of trouble when the youngsters stumble upon a huge gold nugget. They join forces with two bumbling outlaws to fend off the greedy townspeople and soon find themselves facing a surly gang of sharpshooters.

Billy Madison is the 27 year-old son of Bryan Madison, a very rich man who has made his living in the hotel industry. Billy stands to inherit his father's empire, but only if he can make it through all 12 grades, 2 weeks per grade, to prove that he has what it takes to run the family business.

Ruthless Chicago newspaper editor Walter Burns resorts to dubious motives in order to get top reporter Hildy Johnson to cover one more big crime story before retirement.

Angelo "Snaps" Provolone made his dying father a promise on his deathbed: he would leave the world of crime and become an honest businessman. Despite having no experience in making money in a legal fashion, Snaps sets about to keep his promise.

Two South African boys, one white, Rhino, and one black, Zulu, go their separate ways after an incident. Many years later, they meet up again as adults, when one, after living for years in the United States, is now a wanted criminal. The two end up being a part of a madcap chase involving a check for a large amount of lottery money, pursued by Gen. Diehard and Rhino's ex-wife Rowena, who was the cause of the rift between the two protagonists.

Sylvia's work increasingly takes her away from the three men who help bring up Mary, her daughter. When she decides to move to England and take Mary with her, the three men are heartbroken at losing the two most important women in their lives.

A high school slacker who's rejected by every school he applies to opts to create his own institution of higher learning, the South Harmon Institute of Technology, on a rundown piece of property near his hometown.

After years of helping their hubbies climb the ladder of success, three mid-life Manhattanites have been dumped for a newer, curvier model. But the trio is determined to turn their pain into gain. They come up with a cleverly devious plan to hit their exes where it really hurts - in the wallet!

Newlyweds Nick and Suzanne decide to move to the suburbs to provide a better life for their two kids. But their idea of a dream home is disturbed by a contractor with a bizarre approach to business.

George Banks is an ordinary, middle-class man whose 22 year-old daughter Annie has decided to marry a man from an upper-class family, but George can't think of what life would be like without his daughter. His wife tries to make him happy for Annie, but when the wedding takes place at their home and a foreign wedding planner takes over the ceremony, he becomes slightly insane.

Virgil Starkwell is intent on becoming a notorious bank robber. Unfortunately for Virgil and his not-so-budding career, he is completely incompetent.

A college freshman cures her disappointment and loneliness by allowing herself to be pulled into the wacky schemes of her future stepsister.

The East High Wildcats are gearing up for big fun as they land the coolest summer jobs imaginable. Troy, Gabriella, Chad, and Taylor have scored sweet gigs at the Lava Springs Country Club owned by Sharpay and Ryan's family. Sharpay's first rule of business: Get Troy. As Troy experiences a life of privilege he's never known, will he give up the Wildcats and Gabriella to rise to the top?
Similar titles


A Taiwanese-American man is happily settled in New York with his American boyfriend. He plans a marriage of convenience to a Chinese woman in order to keep his parents off his back and to get the woman a green card. Chaos follows when his parents arrive in New York for the wedding.

A depressed white-collar worker tries hypnotherapy, only to find himself in a perpetual state of devil-may-care bliss that prompts him to start living by his own rules, and hatch a hapless attempt to embezzle money from his soul-killing employers.

Sofía quits her job after confronting her misogynistic boss. Determined, she starts her own company to rival her former employer, igniting a David vs. Goliath showdown in the business world.

A widower refuses to let his three daughters marry in order to avoid paying settlements, so they'll just have to outsmart him.

The suicide of his expatriate uncle draws Englishman and poet Dennis Barlow into California's booming funeral industry.

A roving bachelor gets saddled with three children and a wealth of trouble when the youngsters stumble upon a huge gold nugget. They join forces with two bumbling outlaws to fend off the greedy townspeople and soon find themselves facing a surly gang of sharpshooters.

Speedee Taxis is a great success, which means its workaholic owner Charlie starts neglecting Peggy, his wife. Suddenly a fleet of rival taxis appears from nowhere and start pinching all the fares. The rivals are Glamcabs, and they have a secret weapon. All their drivers are very attractive women! Who's behind Glamcabs? It's open warfare and only one fleet can survive!

A hapless young man living in New York City rallies to save his girlfriend's grandfather's horse-drawn trolley, the last in the city, from being put out of business by a railroad company.

When the owner of a struggling used car lot is killed, it's up to the lot's hot-shot salesman to save the property from falling into the hands of the owner's ruthless brother and used-car rival.

The just-out-of-college, effete son of a no-nonsense steamboat captain comes to visit his father whom he's not seen since he was a child.

The Arbac de Neuvilles are one of the oldest families in France. They have inhabited their ancient château for fifty-two generations and are proud of their noble ancestry. But today they are stone broke. When a bailiff turns up notifying them that they owe two million euros in back taxes, these proud aristocrats are understandably shaken to the core of their ancestral seat. Just how are they to find this amount of money when none of them has any capacity for work?

Mahmoud Shuaib, a wealthy man diagnosed with Alzheimer's, begins making unusual financial decisions. Fearing for their inheritance, his two sons take legal action to gain control of his estate.

Also released as Montana Mike, Heaven Only Knows is an offbeat western with fantasy overtones. Hard-bitten gambling boss Brian Donlevy rules his frontier community with brawn and bullets. To his dismay, Donlevy discovers that he has a guardian angel (Robert Cummings), who shows up in the guise of an Eastern tenderfoot. The angel has been sent from Above to save Donlevy's soul, and to that end encourages the one-time villain to squire a minister's daughter (Jorja Curtwright) rather than his usual dance-hall girls. Donlevy is also given tips on winning against his enemies without resorting to gunplay. The gambler finally redeems himself with Heaven by rescuing the angel from a lynch mob (how can you lynch an angel?) Heaven Only Knows deserves an "E" for Effort for bringing a fresh twist to the venerable western genre.

Keiko is the new owner of a local television station, and she's determined to succeed, no matter what! But the rival TV station will stop at nothing to crush her, and one by one, Keiko's new programs are humiliatingly sabotaged. When the weather woman falls victim to an underhanded trick, Keiko decides that she's through being nice. While filling in for the stricken reporter, she flashes her underwear, making her weather forecast an instant hit! What follows is an outrageously sexy contest - which judges skimpy costumes and arm wrestling instead of beauty and talent - to determine who will be the reigning weather woman!

Paul, a former womanizer, marries the head of the medical department's "unattractive" daughter Christine because he thinks attractive women can't be trusted and make poor wives. A car accident leaves him bedridden and he begins to miss his playboy days, when Christine's bombshell sister Martine arrives and Paul decides he must have her. He begins drugging Christine at night so he can sneak out to kill of Martine's many suitors one by one.

In order to convince Raimonda, a wealthy noble woman, to finance his project for a holiday resort, Saverio gets engaged to Clotilde, her mentally-disturbed and sex-obsessed adolescent daughter. He plans to have her kidnapped and raped by an accomplice so she won't be a virgin anymore and he'll have an excuse to get out of the impending marriage. But what he doesn't plan is to fall in love with the girl...

When a massive monster buffet threatens their Alberta county, local business owners star in low-budget TV commercials that mask a dark conspiracy and unleash terrifying supernatural powers.

When a boss proposes marriage to his secretary, she discovers that the arrangement is solely for tax purposes.

To stop Pinkie's widowed, struggling mother Dottie from marrying a well-off older man they know she doesn't love, teenager Pinkie and her best friend Buzz kidnap her in the family travel trailer to live a carefree life on the open road. They then get the idea to find Dottie a financially secure husband whom both she and Pinkie would like.