- My Favorite Wife
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My Favorite Wife 
Theatrical release posterDirected by Garson Kanin Produced by Leo McCarey Written by Leo McCarey
Samuel and Bella SpewackStarring Irene Dunne
Cary Grant
Randolph Scott
Gail PatrickMusic by Roy Webb Cinematography Rudolph Maté Editing by Robert Wise Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures Release date(s) May 17, 1940 Running time 88 minutes Language English My Favorite Wife (released in the U.K. as My Favourite Wife) is a 1940 screwball comedy produced and co-written by Leo McCarey and directed by Garson Kanin. The movie stars Irene Dunne as a woman who returns to her husband and children after being shipwrecked on a tropical island for several years, and Cary Grant as her husband. The story is an adaptation of Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "Enoch Arden"; in tribute, the main characters' last name is Arden.
Contents
Plot
After seven years, lawyer Nick Arden (Cary Grant) has his wife Ellen (Irene Dunne), missing since her ship was lost, declared legally dead so he can marry Bianca (Gail Patrick). It turns out however that Ellen was merely shipwrecked on a deserted island, and has been rescued. When she returns home, she learns that Nick has just left on his honeymoon with his second wife.
When Ellen tracks him down before his honeymoon night, he is at a loss as to how to break the news to Bianca. He keeps putting off the unpleasant business. Meanwhile, Bianca becomes frustrated by Nick's odd behavior (especially the non-consummation of their marriage) and calls in a psychiatrist, Dr. Kohlmar (Pedro de Cordoba). Further complications ensue when an insurance adjuster (Hugh O'Connell) mentions to Nick a rumor that Ellen was not alone on the island, but had the company of a Stephen Burkett (Randolph Scott) and that they called each other "Adam" and "Eve". When Nick confronts Ellen, she recruits a mousy shoe salesman (an uncredited Chester Clute) to pretend to be Stephen, but Nick has already tracked the real, appallingly virile and handsome Stephen down.
Nick tries to explain the situation to Bianca and Dr. Kohlmar, but they do not believe him ... until he is arrested on a charge of bigamy. In court, Judge Bryson (Granville Bates), the same judge who had Ellen declared legally dead and also married Nick and Bianca, annuls the second marriage. By this time, Ellen is no longer sure of Nick's feelings for her. Stephen asks her to marry him and return with him to the island, but she still loves Nick. In the end, Nick and Ellen are reconciled.
Cast
- Irene Dunne as Ellen Wagstaff Arden
- Cary Grant as Nick Arden
- Randolph Scott as Stephen Burkett
- Gail Patrick as Bianca Bates
- Ann Shoemaker as Ma, Nick's mother
- Scotty Beckett as Tim, the Ardens' son
- Mary Lou Harrington as Chinch, the Ardens' daughter
- Donald MacBride as Hotel clerk
- Hugh O'Connell as Johnson, the insurance adjuster
- Granville Bates as Judge Bryson
- Pedro de Cordoba as Dr. Kohlmar
Awards
The film was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Story, Best Score and Best Art Direction by Van Nest Polglase and Mark-Lee Kirk.[1]
Remake
20th Century Fox began filming a 1962 remake starring Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin, and Cyd Charisse under the working title of Something's Got to Give, which was to be directed by George Cukor. There were problems from the beginning, mostly due to Monroe's failure to show up on time for work. Monroe was fired and Martin backed out when the studio attempted to recast Monroe's role with Lee Remick. Following Monroe's death in August 1962, Doris Day and James Garner were cast, and the new version was released by Fox as Move Over, Darling (1963).
See also
- Too Many Husbands (1940), a film with a very similar plot (with the sexes reversed) that was released less than two months earlier.
References
- ^ "NY Times: My Favorite Wife". NY Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/34037/My-Favorite-Wife/details. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
External links
Categories:- English-language films
- 1940 films
- 1940s romantic comedy films
- American romantic comedy films
- American screwball comedy films
- Black-and-white films
- Comedy of remarriage films
- Films directed by Garson Kanin
- RKO Pictures films
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