My Favorite Wife (1940)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Garson Kanin

Writers:

Bella Spewack (original story) &
Sam Spewack (original story) ...

Release Date:

17 May 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

The funniest, fastest honeymoon ever screened!

Plot:

Ellen Arden arrives 7 years after being given up for dead in a shipwreck, to find her husband Nick just remarried to Bianca...

Plot Keywords:

Jealousy | Shipwreck | Island | Trial | Psychiatrist

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars.

Cast

Irene Dunne	...	Ellen Arden
Cary Grant	...	Nick Arden
Randolph Scott	...	Steve Burkett
Gail Patrick	...	Bianca Bates
Ann Shoemaker	...	Ellen's mother
Scotty Beckett	...	Little Tim Arden
Mary Lou Harrington	...	Little Chinch Arden
Donald MacBride	...	Hotel Clerk
Hugh O'Connell	...	Johnson - insurance investigator
Granville Bates	...	Judge Bryson
Pedro de Cordoba	...	Dr. Kohlmar - psychiatrist
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Joseph E. Bernard	...	Reporter (scenes deleted)
Frank Ellis	...	(scenes deleted)
Edward Emerson	...	Reporter (scenes deleted)
Bruce MacFarlane	...	Reporter (scenes deleted)
Frank Marlowe	...	Photographer (scenes deleted)
Cyril Ring	...	Contestant (scenes deleted)
Brandon Tynan	...	Dr. Manning (scenes deleted)

Runtime:

88 min | Germany:75 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

Canada:G (video rating) | Finland:S | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:Approved (PCA #5974)

Filming Locations:

Ahwanee Hotel, Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, California, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Leo McCarey was supposed to direct the film, but shortly before the filming began he was injured in an automobile accident, and had to hand over the direction to Garson Kanin.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The judge mentioned that Ellen was shipwrecked off the coast of Indochina. Nick mentioned that he went to Bangkok to interview survivors which makes sense if the shipwreck happened near Indochina. However, Ellen mentioned that she was located at Latitude 12, Longitude 128 which is 200 miles east of the Philippines and more than 1000 miles away from the closest part of the Indochina peninsula (which would be Vietnam). The nearest large city to that location would be Manila and not Bangkok.

Quotes:

[Dr. Kohlmar walks in on Nick holding a dress in front of himself with a lady's hat on his head]
Nick Arden: Do you think this goes together? Blue ought to go with blue, right?
Dr. Kohlmar: Yes, I suppose.
Nick Arden: It's for a friend.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Move Over, Darling (1963)

Soundtrack:

Jingle Bells

Hilarious

Cary Grant makes this the best of the numerous versions of the script -- later attempted as SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE (Marilyn Monroe's last film) and remade as MOVE OVER, DARLING.

Just the expressions Grant has on his face make this worth watching. It's a delightful look at him in a classic comic predicament -- a man who thinks his first wife is dead discovers on his honeymoon night with his second wife that wife #1 is still amongst the living. The next complication: she has spent 7 years with another man -- and Grant gets to do his best as the jealous husband.

This is just plain funny.