My Favorite Wife (1940) User Reviews (104)

Tremendous fun, if not the sharpest screwball specimen.

[HenryHextonEsq · 8/10 · 26 March 2004]

There are some lovely, touching and dryly amusing scenes in this film. Kanin and the scriptwriters manage to form a substantive, if occasionally gossamer light, whole out of the playing of fine leads and canny comic incidents. The basic story may be the oldest of chestnuts, but it is here embellished with some degree of incisiveness. Grant's scene by the pool with Dunne and Scott reaches a fine pitch of hilarity, and who can forget the impressionistic scene of Scott's diving coming into Grant's mind and being presented in miniature on-screen?

That master player of light, witty material, Grant, is of course sublime, and I was surprised by Irene Dunne - who I had never previously seen in a lead film role. She was magnificently feline, as Pauline Kael says; dispensing slinky, fluttering phrases and quips, and making it clear what a laugh the character is having; she seems rather to be getting off on the entangled situation. The speech patterns are drolly created by Dunne; wonderful Southern hamming, or archetypal screwball dame quick-talk... Her warming, gadding-about voice is charms, along with deft facial acting; look at the "Oh Bianca..." scene at the hotel early on, where she sensuously reclines on a settee and gets Grant to pretend he is entering the room and kissing his new wife. Minxish mischief of the most heartwarming kind, aye...!

Remarkable to think that Ms. Dunne was over forty when this was made. She has the bearing of many years younger and conveys an impressive vigour. One takes to her unconventional good looks; her slight awkwardness as a 'star' is amusingly alluded to, under the surface, in her son's dialogue late on; very poignant little moment, that. Like Rosalind Russell and Kate Hepburn, she is no textbook beauty, and it is her characterful playing conveys a winking, winning attractiveness. Why is it that we have so few similarly idiosyncratic actresses around today? All - or rather much - has to be homogenised; pop star product looks are apparently required, and conveyor-belted into mainstream films. Film is missing the enticing depths of real-life when it opts for the conformist teenage boy's supposed 'dream woman' - mass-media-fostered - over a greater variety of people and appearances, as one encounters in actual reality.

The actor playing the world-weary, rather Robb Wilton-esquire magistrate ought to have been involved more than he was; an enjoyable turn, that would have been effectively woven deeper into the narrative. Randolph Scott amused slightly too, in his support role; a worthy foil. Things did perhaps get rather sentimental with the involvement of the couple's children, although this is hardly the worst such offender in Hollywood history. The insidious wryness seems completely blunted by the end, when the couple are finally reconciled. One may be charmed by the actors' performances, but it all starts to seem a bit indulgent, and the feeling grows that chances were missed.

But really, one must be indulgent, critically; there is priceless stuff in this film's fibre, and while it fires not on all screwball-comedy cylinders, it is a very pleasant feature with glorious screen presences making (deceptively) light of life.

Mostly Funny

[kenjha · 8/10 · 20 July 2008]

After his shipwrecked wife is declared dead and he takes on a new wife, Grant's first wife resurfaces, rescued after seven years on an island. This reteaming of Grant and Dunne after their success with "The Awful Truth" is pretty funny for the most part, as Grant tries to solve the problem of one wife too many while dealing with jealousy after learning that Dunne had a male companion (Scott) on that island. The only complaint is that the laughs stop in the last quarter of the movie, which is rather uninteresting as the focus shifts from comedy to romance. Bates, who is hilarious as a flustered judge, died in July 1940 but managed to act in 12 films released that year!

Entertaining Screwball

[cutter-12 · 8/10 · 9 May 2005]

...albeit a little slow-paced in the first half. Leo McCarey's chaotic pace which made The Awful Truth so much fun is missed here, but Garson Kanin directs capably in his absence and the script and actors deliver enough good wit and chemistry to keep it all balanced out in the end.

Cary Grant gets himself into an unwitting romantic pickle when he's confronted by his thought to be long dead wife on his honeymoon with his new bride. Hilarity ensues, as it does in every brilliant screwball comedy Grant was the star of, and there are some priceless moments along the way.

As in The Awful Truth, Grant and Irene Dunne make a fetching and compatible screen couple. Dunne's comedic felinity and tendency to affect nutty stereotypes in order to get what she wants is better than Katharine Hepburn's imitation of her in Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story. Grant and Hepburn were terrific in their movies together too, and not taking anything away from Great Kate, but Grant and Dunne's chemistry was just that much better and it's a shame they never made more comedies together.

Hilarious in-jokey scenes between Grant and Randolph Scott, and a near scene stealing turn by Granville Bates as The Judge round out a pretty funny flick.

The Doris Day/James Garner remake "Move Over, Darling" is memorable in its own right and viewed right after this would make for a good video double-bill.

"You're Not Allowed To Have Two Wives, You Know"

[stryker-5 · 13 March 1999]

From the opening moments, when the big wooden doors part and usher us into a beautifully spare art deco courtroom with slanting shafts of sunlight enhancing the clean architectural lines, we know that this is going to be a deftly-made, elegant film. What follows does not disappoint us.

Attorney Nick Arden (Cary Grant) lost his wife Ellen in a shipwreck in the Pacific seven years ago. He has now decided to have her declared officially dead, so that he will be free to marry Bianca (Gail Patrick). The irascible judge eventually accedes to both the declaration and the marriage, and the newly-weds set off for a honeymoon in Yosemite. Meanwhile, who should turn up at the Arden residence, very much alive, but the long-lost Ellen? When she hears of the recent marriage, she heads straight for the honeymooners' hotel ...

"My Favourite Wife" is a fine example of those early Cary Grant farces, the ones in which he gawps with surprise, double-takes and mutters to himself as only he can. Irene smoke-gets-in-your-eyes Dunn is great as Ellen, unveiling a hitherto unsuspected gift for witty comedy. Scotty Beckett and Mary Lou Harrington come close to stealing the show as the Ardens' cute little kids. Randolph Scott is interestingly cast as Steve Burkett, the muscle-bound Adonis who spent seven years on the desert island with Ellen.

Some of the film's highlights are worth mentioning here, like the superimposition of Burkett performing gymnastic feats alongside Nick Arden's troubled face as he muses at his desk, conveying with economy the husband's jealous preoccupation. It is unfair to give away a film's jokes, but one gag which lose nothing in the telling is Ellen's outfit at the Yosemite hotel. She has been out of circulation for seven years, and she looks comically untrendy in her 1932 polkadots and lapels, and obtrusive hat. Watch for the derisive glances from the other hotel guests.

Such a light, charming piece of entertainment is hard to fault, but the film does have some shortcomings. Its central problem, which is not resolved, is what to do with Bianca. She married Nick in good faith and has done nothing wrong, yet she is neglected by Nick. Because there is no satisfactory way of dealing with her, she is simply dropped. Ellen's return from a watery grave after all those years would be a news story of international importance, but instead she arrives home having hitched a ride in a truck. Her entry into the country seems to have gone unannounced, even to her husband. The scene in which she persuades a shoe store clerk to pose as 'Adam' in front of Nick has enormous comic potential, but is abandoned after a few seconds. Nick's sleeping-in-the-attic scene is far too long for the humour it contains.

However, the film is a pleasant and very amusing romp, and such weaknesses as it contains do not detract from its appeal.

Not quite The Awful Truth, but an entertaining film regardless

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 3 October 2010]

This is not my favourite screwball comedy of all time or anything, but I did really enjoy it. It is compared to The Awful Truth, and I will say I do prefer The Awful Truth, and while people may find this blasphemous I preferred 1963's Move Over Darling too.

Where the film doesn't quite succeed is that it felt a little too short, the film's end takes a little too long and felt misplaced and there are some moments in the middle where the film drags a bit.

However, it looks good, is well directed, is well scored, while the story is great, the screenplay a lot of fun and the performances from Irene Dunne, Gail Patrick and especially Cary Grant are fun. In terms of casting, the only weak link is Randolph Scott, not that he was terrible or anything but he is very underused seeing his role feels I agree more of a cameo than a fully-fleshed out character. So overall, good but not great, worth seeing for Grant. 6.5/10 Bethany Cox

Better than the remake

[rac-21 · 8/10 · 4 May 2005]

I agree that Move Over Darling is a very good remake of My Favorite Wife, but Doris Day and James Garner, much as I like them, cannot reach the level of sophistication of Grant/Dunne. Randolph Scott does nothing to detract from the picture. Certainly no more than Chuck Connors does in the same role in Move Over Darling. The courtroom scenes with Grant and Granville Bates as the judge are superior, and Donald McBride as the hotel clerk is exceptional. Cary Grant's facial expression on the elevator when he first sees Dunne after 7 years is so memorable that I can still remember it 35 years after first seeing it. If you are a Grant fan, you have to see this movie.

Cary Grant is a funny-man of the 20th century

[patryk-czekaj · 7/10 · 26 May 2012]

At first, I must say that this movie doesn't exceptionally stand out from the whole bunch of screwball comedies produced in the times of Great Depression in the USA. The first part of My Favorite Wife may be even called boring, due to a very slow narrative process and lack of any specific action. Of course, it's just an introduction to the plot and the viewer has to believe that in a moment something extraordinarily funny and crazy will happen. And it does, along with the entrance of, fantastic as always, Irene Dunne. The story presented in this movie is so ridiculous that it will make you laugh just reading about it.

It seemed like another regular wedding for Mr. Nick Arden (Cary Grant) and his new wife Ellen (Gail Patrick). His first wife is presumed dead after drowning somewhere far at sea seven years ago, and he wants to be form a happy relationship with a new woman. Guess what happens when Ellen Arden (Irene Dunne) suddenly shows up at their doorstep more alive than ever – all hell breaks loose and Nick becomes involved with two women at the same time. Additionally, his two wives (how grand it sounds) aren't particularly fond of each other and start to make Nick's life much harder than he imagined. And if this wasn't enough, somewhere on the road Nick meets Steve Burkett (Randolph Scott), a handsome man, with whom Ellen was stranded on a deserted island for seven long years. Level of jealousy goes through the roof, and the real 'fun' starts for all people involved in this ludicrous affair. Finally, Nick has to decide, who to choose, as it may seem that from a point of having two beautiful women at once he will ultimately be left all alone.

The movie provides a great amount of laughs, due to many amusing one-liners and gags, especially on the part of Cary Grant's perfect sense of humorous acting abilities. Every screwball film, in which he stars abruptly becomes much more entertaining, because of his irrefutable acting manners and charisma, so important for a funny leading man. And he does it differently every time. Even though the movies may seem similar, the portrayals of characters that he presents always have other specific comedic feels to it.

And the relationship that he forms with Irene is brilliant; you can sense that deep emotional attachment coming from their characters in every scene. Maybe seven years have passed, but the flame in their hearts still burns. They can't argue that their need to be together is so strong that it will surpass anything.

All in all, I can't call it My Favorite Screwball, but I certainly might recommend it to anyone, who is need of a light-hearted American comedy that may provide a positive shock in the sense of absurdity and amount of laughs that come with it.

Who's Two Timing Who

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 23 February 2006]

Cary Grant's got a real problem on his hands. He thinks his wife was killed in a plane crash seven years ago. So he goes to court with Gail Patrick who he now intends to marry after getting the judge to declare Irene Dunne legally dead.

Wouldn't you know it, Dunne turns up the day of the honeymoon and puts Cary in an awful pickle. He's a lawyer and he's busy trying to work out all the ramifications of what's happened.

I've thought about it for a while and I came to the conclusion that it's Grant's professional training that prevents him from just confessing to one and all what's happened. Where a lot of the laughs come in is Grant trying to avoid marital consummation with Patrick until he can work it out.

Another factor comes into play when Grant learns that Dunne spent several years on the desert island with hunky Randolph Scott. Grant starts to feel a little less guilty then.

The whole mess is dumped on the judge who originally declared Dunne legally dead, Granville Bates. His role as the judge gives him some of the best lines in My Favorite Wife.

I do feel sorry for Gail Patrick though. Usually she plays a lot of bad girls and other women in movies. But she really is the wronged party here.

Dunne and Grant worked well together in another marital comedy, The Awful Truth and they were just as bright in My Favorite Wife as they were in the first film.

One interesting footnote it was a remake of this film Something's Gotta Give that Marilyn Monroe did not complete. Eventually it was made over with Doris Day and James Garner.

That one was good, but this one is great.

The Truth Is This Grant/Dunne Vehicle Is No "Awful Truth"

[evanston_dad · 6/10 · 4 December 2008]

This romantic screwball comedy tries to recapture the zany chemistry shared between Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in "The Awful Truth," but the final product falls somewhat flat.

Something's just missing this time around, and it's a shame, because the story has serious screwball potential. Dunne plays Grant's supposedly dead wife, who shows up alive just after Grant has remarried. The rest of the movie is about Grant promising to tell his new wife (Gail Patrick) about his old one and finding ways out of it, and then getting jealous when the man (Randolph Scott) who shared seven years with Dunne on a deserted island when they both were supposed to be dead reenters the picture and threatens to steal Dunne away. The premise is dynamite, but the humour feels somewhat strained and many of the jokes fall flat. It doesn't help that Grant's character is a bit of a weenie, and the new wife, who we're supposed to think is a bitch but whom the film never establishes as such, comes across as a victim, which makes Grant's and Dunne's antics feel more mean than funny.

There is a memorable conclusion though that finds Dunne in bed and Grant dressed as Santa Claus.

Grade: B-

Irene Dunne gives Katharine Hepburn her best shot . . .

[oscaralbert · 8/10 · 12 January 2018]

. . . aping each of Kate's trademark screwball comedy wry wriggles, shrugs, and grunts in a desperate effort to rope Cary Grant into pulling off another BRINGING UP BABY. Unfortunately, Randolph Scott is more of a Tarzan than a leopard, and Dunne's relationship to Grant during MY FAVORITE WIFE brings to mind one of Groucho's lines ("This morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas"). Even though it runs less than 90 minutes, MY FAVORITE WIFE seems to be packed with at least half an hour of "padding," from the shoe salesman through the insurance investigator to the final interminable squeaks-in-the-attic scene. Though as a "chick flick" MY FAVORITE WIFE may merit a rating of "8" for its ability to make men look foolish, as a script it's a "6" at best. ADAM'S RIB this is not. While Mr. Scott's approach to getting into a High Society swimming pool merits a chuckle, the tagline's promise of "A Laff a Minute" makes one wonder if WIFE's distributor--RKO movie studio--went belly-up because of this sort of false advertising.

No more carrots

[AAdaSC · 7/10 · 11 August 2014]

The film starts in a courtroom with lawyer Cary Grant (Nick) getting his 1st wife Irene Dunne (Ellen) pronounced legally dead by Judge Granville Bates. Dunne has been missing for 7 years and it's time for Grant to move on. Specifically, with Gail Patrick (Bianca). The Judge, after painfully dithering about – some people find this funny, I didn't – then agrees to marry Grant and Patrick, and they go off to their honeymoon. But what's this……first wife Irene Dunne returns home! She's not dead. She heads for the honeymoon hotel. What is everyone to do….?

The cast are mainly good in this film. Cary Grant spars well with everybody, and especially with hotel clerk Donald MacBride. There are many funny scenes that include Grant's reaction in a hotel lift when he first sees Irene Dunne. He also has an amusing scene with Pedro de Cordoba (Dr Kohlmar) as he rifles through a wardrobe full of ladies clothes, explaining he is doing it for a friend, and "he's waiting outside". There is another amusing set-up with the story of Irene Dunne's male partner on the desert island – hunky Randolph Scott (Burkett). Dunne tries to pass off meek Chester Clute as the man she has innocently spent 7 years with to a knowing Cary Grant.

However, whilst, the film is entertaining and is easy to watch, it peters out at the end once the action moves to the mountain home. It gets sentimental and silly, and the film could have been resolved in a far more satisfactory manner. We are left with a few questions regarding the plot, such as what has Gail Patrick done to deserve what has just happened? Is Randolph Scott a complete carrot-eating moron? And Irene Dunne is actually pretty awful considering that she is meant to love Cary Grant. The children are a bit irritating and Irene Dunne has an annoying episode where she puts on a Southern accent, but, despite all of that, this is a fun film.

"Do you take cabs, or just run alongside them...?"

[Brucey_D · 8/10 · 16 September 2017]

Lawyer Nick Arden (Cary Grant) has just remarried when his first wife Ellen (Irene Dunne) returns from presumed death by shipwreck seven years earlier. Not even her children recognise her, and in the meantime she has been declared legally dead and the life insurance has paid out.

This is a decent enough film and if you are a Cary Grant or Irene Dunne fan you will want to see it. There are not as many screwball laughs as there might have been, the character's motivations are not quite plausible and the plot is a bit lumpy but it is really quite enjoyable.

Remade as 'Move over, Darling' in 1963, whether you will prefer this version probably depends on whether you like your movies with the flavour of the 1940s or the 1960s.

I give it (in the context of the time) an 8/10.

Marital mix-up nixes slapstick for droll humor

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 19 July 2007]

After a Portugese freighter rescues her off an island in the Pacific, Irene Dunne returns to her husband and children seven years later--only to find spouse Cary Grant has only recently gotten remarried. Fans of Doris Day's 1963 screwball farce "Move Over, Darling" will find this original version of the story lacking in zesty humor. Director Garson Kanin keeps the comic confusion light on its feet, yet the results are possibly too sober (it's a dizzy farce without any fizz). Dunne and Grant are more like joshing pals than husband and wife, and their two tots are a little brash (there's a terrible interlude where the kids entertain the grown-ups, and the reaction shots of Grant look as though they were edited in from another movie). The wrap-up is over-stretched, cooling out all the fire from this scenario, and poor Randolph Scott (who shared the island with Dunne) is given the short shrift. There are some funny scenes, and merry musical cues which help pick up the slack, but this is an instance where the remake improves upon the original. **1/2 from ****

A Screwball Comedy with Dislikeable Leads?

[J-26 · 5/10 · 29 July 2009]

I'm a great fan of black-and-white 1940's screwball comedy but "My Favorite Wife" is far from being one of my own favourites. The playing is fine and there's some decent dialogue; the problem for me is that not only don't I relate to the characters, I actually feel hostility towards the leads! Both Nick and Ellen are self-centred, selfish, and manipulative – how someone can come back from a desert island thankfully saved after seven years and immediately become so devious, almost malevolent, I can't imagine. My difficulties are compounded by the treatment of Bianca - were she drawn as some sort of gorgon then she would be getting her comedy comeuppance, but she is in fact characterised as an innocent party stuck between the other two's unpleasant manoeuvring so that the treatment she suffers doesn't raise the expected smile.

Hilarious

[mermatt · 29 August 2001]

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.

He's full of carrots.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 23 April 2009]

After seven years of his wife, Ellen, presumably being lost at sea, Nick Arden marries his latest flame, Bianca. Only to get on his honeymoon to find that Ellen has in fact survived and spent the seven years on a tropical island with another man called Stephen Burkett.

My Favorite Wife is based around the Alfred Tennyson poem entitled "Enoch Arden". Numerous adaptations have been made, but few, if any, are as frothy as this Cary Grant and Irene Dunne starrer. Grant and Dunne are re-teamed here after their massive success with the quite marvellous The Awful Truth in 1937, and tho the role of Ellen was touted to Jean Arthur, it was Dunne who grasped the role and created sizzling comedy once again with the fabulous Grant. The Awful Truth director Leo McCarey was all set to direct this piece but a car accident put paid to that and the reins then passed to jobber Garson Kanin, who, aided by a firing on all cylinders cast, weaved a splendidly delightful picture.

Tho the movie's obvious charm lies with it's two main stars, it would be a big disservice to forget the contributions of Randolph Scott as Stephen Burkett and Gail Patrick as Bianca. Scott's laid back persona is perfect foil to Grant's more batty approach work, while Patrick in the tricky role of the neurotic second wife is fabulous. It remains a mystery as to why she didn't go on to better and brighter things? Although the ending is never really in doubt, and the last quarter dries up on the gags front, My Favorite Wife still stands the test of time as a screwball picture of note. So see it if you get the chance, it should brighten your day. 7.5/10

A Shakespearian masterpiece of farce.

[the red duchess · 9/10 · 25 July 2001]

Garson Kanin's best films are so bright, fast and funny, and have been plundered by so many pallid, feel-good imitators, that it's easy to overlook how courageously critical they can be, of prevailing social norms, for instance, what society takes to be normal - 'natural' - about crucial concepts like family, gender, marriage etc. In 'My Favorite wife', Kanin takes the idea that a particular social order is natural, and tears it apart, by putting civilisation on one side, nature on the other, and revealing that there's nothing remotely natural about civilisation, or our places in it; that these things are man-made, and so can be questioned, negotiated, even changed by man (or, as is more usual in Kanin's world, woman).

'Wife' opens with an elaborate sequence showing the structure of civilisation at work in its most intrinsic form - the legal system. The hero is a lawyer, and is trying to declare his missing first wife dead so he can marry another. There are a few things we notice here: the judge is hilarious, a cantankerous old buffer, testy, capricious, and not at all rigorous, or even knowledgeable in his application of laws which, after all, structure people's lives, and which, we learn, are constantly overturned by the Court of Appeals, so that something that should be inviolable is shown to be provisional. there is room for manoeuvre, but there is also room for corruption.

More important for Kanin's purposes are two incidental details. The wife has been missing for seven years, a fairy-tale or mythical number in a site of legal process, undermining its claims to ultimate, 'official' reality. The hero's name is Arden, which might remind us of Shakespeare's Forest ('As you like it'), and the spirit of play that will inform the film, with people assuming and discarding roles, putting on costumes, using props, putting on 'plays' or performances to deceive, enlighten or outmanoeuvre others.

On one level, this warns us against accepting appearances in a civilised world that depends on appearances (all the talk about respectability); on another, it shows that certain roles - like being a mother, or husband - aren't God-given, but roles which have to be constantly rehearsed and refined. Play can be subversive - the way Ellen Arden dresses up as a man, breaks up a marriage, or tries to conceal a possible adultery - but it is also seen as a necessary process of socialisation: the children learn to imitate their parents, as they theatrically make their lost mother 'perform' her confession. They learn that society is fluid, not fixed; they also learn to lie. (the hero winds up in an Attic (as in Greek comedy), but that might be taking the analogy to far!)

Hitchcock once said that he often used Cary Grant because he wanted to work against his established image. But the figure of masculine immaturity and insecurity so richly realised in Roger O Thornhill ('North by Northwest') is already fully-formed here in a 'hero' who jumps at any chance to avoid making difficult decisions. Kanin, like Hitchcock later, makes brilliant, ironic use of Grant's most famous previous roles: 'Topper', another story about a professional flustered by a 'ghost'; and, especially, 'Bringing up baby', not just in the comically ghastly leopardskin bathrobe his second wife buys him, but in the animal imagery used throughout (kids going to the zoo; Steve as Tarzan etc.), contrasting with his civilised world that is making him desperately unhappy, his identity and masculine certainty fragmenting. (knowledge that Grant used to live with Randolph Scott adds further comic potency to their scenes)

This conflict between Nick's civilisation and the 'natural' order is typically complicated - Nick clearly married Bianca for her sexual prowess; Ellen and Nick are compatible because of their intellectual superiority to everyone else (which gives a streak of cruelty to their games, and makes one feel genuinely sorry for BIanca).

'Wife' is a masterpiece of farce, of shared rooms, opening and shutting doors, frustrated sexuality, mixed identities - but what makes it a true classic are the flashes of whimsy - the Steve diving sequence that results in some the most bizarre, incongruous, and sidesplittingly funny visions ever seen on film.

"There's an ordinance in this state that don't allow necking in bar rooms."

[morrison-dylan-fan · 7/10 · 13 October 2017]

Once I sorted out some movies for a friend,I decided to start catching up on films I had waiting to view. Finding Vivacious Lady a cheerful Rom-Com,I was pleased to spot another RKO creation from the genre,which led to me meeting my favourite wife!

The plot:

After his wife Ellen has been declared legally dead, Nick Arden gets married to Bianca Bates. Unknown to Nick,Ellen has actually been alive and living on an island with Stephen Burkett. Returning home,Ellen finds out that Nick has gone off on his honeymoon. Learning this,Ellen decides to give the happy couple a special honeymoon gift.

View on the film:

Taking over at the last minute when Leo McCarey got hurt in a car accident, (with McCarey's injuries making the comedy atmosphere desired on set difficult to retain) 27 year old director Garson Kanin enters the production with an impressive ease,as Kanin,editor Robert Wise (and un-credited editor McCarey) & cinematographer Rudolph Maté stylishly break the frame in two,so that the set-up and reaction to the punchlines are shown at the same time. Starting without a script in place, the writers never quite overcome the sown-together feel of the movie,but do weave a number of wonderful threads.

Holding Nick and his two wives in the same hotel,the writers lock them in with sparkling Screwball Comedy dialogue which zips along Nick's very funny attempt to keep each wife unaware of the other. Introducing Bianca and Ellen to each other causes some of the one liners to lose their sparks to dry Drama,which gradually gets pushed aside by the playful rivalry between Nick and Burkett. Flatmates off-screen, Cary Grant and Randolph Scott both give terrific performances as Nick and Burkett,with Grant giving Nick shocked,slippery reactions to the sight of his "dead" wife",whilst Scott grabs the eyes of all the ladies,as a chiselled Burkett. Returning from the dead Irene Dunne gives a wickedly dead-pan performance as Ellen,whilst Gail Patrick hits the Screwball punchlines wide as Bianca,as Nick decides who his favourite wife is.

Dunne steals the show as a cuckoo wife who reappears after seven years AWOL.

[BrandoOnTheWaterfront · 8/10 · 1 August 2020]

Watch this movie the next time you need a laugh. "My Favorite Wife" is the perfect recipe for a good screwball comedy - a stellar pairing, perfect comedic timing, a simple yet funny plot, and mishap after mishap that'll leave you not knowing whether you're coming or going.

The movie stars Dunne as Grant's wife who resurfaces after a seven-year disappearing act following a shipwreck - random, right? Inconveniently for Grant's character, Dunne's homecoming just so happens to coincide with the first day of her husband's honeymoon with new wife Bianca (Patrick). Dunne tracks Grant and his new missus down and, for the next 90 minutes, we witness his inability to tell Bianca the news where he'll inevitably have to choose between the two.

It's a funny movie, and Grant constantly putting off telling his new wife and getting himself into a pickle, makes for an easy watch. When the cat's finally let out of the bag Grant, Dunne, and their kids head to the family's mountain house retreat until the gossip dies down. The scenes towards the end where the audience is left guessing will they or won't they reconcile are equally warm and smirk-inducing.

Dunne's Kentucky roots are evident as her thick Southern accent creeps in every now and then - and at the perfect time. Especially when she first meets Grant's new wife and quickly hatches up a plan to pass herself off as an old friend from the South.

Scott's supporting performance as the man who was stranded on the desert island with Dunne during her hiatus is average. However, he does his bit to play the charmer who wants to rekindle whatever romance may have developed between them on the island. Patrick's part as the other woman is neither memorable nor entertaining, but the simple obstacle needed to keep Dunne and Grant from reconciling too early. Bates's performance as the judge who's just as flummoxed by the plot as the rest of us is alright but on the cusp of being annoying.

Funny if flawed comedy starring one of Hollywood's best screen teams

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 28 February 2006]

Cary Grant and Irene Dunne were great together, and though "My Favorite Wife" is not as funny as "The Awful Truth," it's still pretty good. Ellen, lost at sea and presumed dead, returns after 7 years to find her husband Nick has remarried. She goes to his honeymoon hotel, which is a setup for one of Grant's best bits - he sees her as the elevator is closing and his head follows the door until it closes. However, he can't seem to tell his bride Bianca (Gail Patrick). Then he finds out that Ellen wasn't alone on the island but spent the 7 years with one Stephen Burkett. In another funny scene, Ellen gets a sheepish, short, bald shoe salesman to pose as Burkett. Nick has tracked the real Burkett down, and Stephen looks a lot more like Randolph Scott than the shoe salesman. In fact, he's played by Randolph Scott.

Grant is his usual riot and extremely handsome. He spends a lot of time talking to himself as he acts out what he's going to say to Bianca. Also, as in "Bringing Up Baby" and "I Was a Male War Bride," he gets to do something with women's clothing - this time standing in front a mirror and trying to figure out what to bring Ellen to wear. Dunne is very funny, posing as a southern friend when she meets Bianca, and also is quite touching when she first sees her children.

The only problem is that it all gets a little tired, particularly at the end with a prolonged scene having to do with Grant in the attic. As others have pointed out, the script has some holes, particularly the fact that a woman returning after 7 years gets no publicity. And poor Bianca comes off like a villain when she's a victim. Go figure. As amusing as "My Favorite Wife" is, it could have been better.

Nevertheless, with these stars, it's a delightful film, and some of the funniest scenes take place in the courtroom. The Judge, played by Granville Bates, is hilarious and a good example of "no small parts." He sure makes the most of his role.

Too many wives can spoil the marital soup.

[mark.waltz · 8/10 · 21 May 2014]

Or, as Irene Dunne says, "the Mulligan stew", which gets a laugh in court as she reveals she is the wife who came back to life after being declared legally dead when her husband (Cary Grant) went off and married another woman (Gail Patrick). In the same year as the sexually reversed "Too Many Husbands" (which is about just what the title indicates), "My Favorite Wife" is the more remembered of the two, probably because it has a fast moving and funny screenplay where everything comes together perfectly.

Those who have seen this film's Doris Day/James Garner remake ("Move Over Darling") first will have little trouble recognizing the same structure which only changes at the end. The story opens with Grant in court going through the legal procedure of having the long-missing Dunne declared dead just so he can immediately marry the somewhat temperamental Patrick. Dunne shows up immediately afterwards, encountering her two children and mother-in-law, then heading off to the hotel where she and Grant initially spent their first honeymoon to create a bundle of confusion. It continues when Grant and Patrick arrive home and Dunne is there, posing as the daughter of an old friend of Grant's mother (Anne Shoemaker). Grant discovers that his missing wife wasn't quite so alone on her island stay, with the handsome Randolph Scott present as a man whom she nicknamed "Adam" to her "Eve".

This is both combination of family and screwball romantic comedy as the desire to reunite the family torn apart by no fault of their own, and it is brilliantly written and acted. You can tell when Patrick breaks down crying that those are indeed crocodile tears as she is way too tough (both in her character and in our memory of her previous screen performances) to be willing to break down so easily. Character performances by Donald MacBride as a befuddled hotel clerk and Granville Bates as a befuddled judge add to the delight of this story. Dunne and Grant are an easy-going romantic team who in three films had the sophistication and wit of Powell and Loy, Tracy and Hepburn, and Lombard and Gable. How I wish they had done more!

Rescued stranded Adam and Eve much complicate Cary's life

[weezeralfalfa · 6/10 · 13 November 2016]

A typical, but not especially good, Cary Grant screwball romantic comedy. Costars Grant and Irene Dunne had costarred in the previous rather similar comedy "The Awful Truth", which generally gets better reviews, but definitely not by me. The next year, they costarred in their final film together: "Penny Serenade", which I have seen, and is quite different in tone from the present film, being a sentimental tear jerker.

We have an unbelievable coincidence to begin the film. Grant(as Nick) and Gale Patrick(as Bianca)are before a judge, to be married, then spend their honeymoon in the mountains. Meanwhile, Grant's first wife , missing for 7 years, and presumed drowned, after her ship sank, shows up at her home, unannounced . She greets her children, playing in the yard, but doesn't tell them who she is. However, her mother-in-law, inside, does recognize her, but doesn't tell the children, who don't find out until near the end of the film. She is told about Nick's just completed marriage ceremony (no guests, apparently), and takes a plane to the mountain hotel.

Incidentally, 7 years is a common length of time until a missing person is declared legally dead. Thus, it's not clear whether Ellen has been declared legally dead. If not, Nick would have to go through a formal divorce before he could remarry. In either case, he should not still be legally married to his first wife. He just has to make up his mind whether he wants the new marriage annulled, and remarry his first wife. Apparently, this is what he wants, but is afraid to tell Bianca. This forms the basis of most of the comedy.

There are many gaping plausibility holes in the screenplay. But that's not unusual for this type of comedy, if you are willing to forget about this. For example, why wasn't Ellen's rescue communicated to Nick by telegraph or telephone long before she arrived, unannounced at her home. Why did she arrive, after 7 years, exactly on his wedding day. The behavior of Nick and Ellen is mostly strange throughout most of the film. Why did they put off telling significant others about the situation as long as possible, which gives rise to most of the comedy.

Poor Randolph Scott, as Burkett) is also caught up in this marital mess. He was on the deserted island with Ellen for the full 7 years, as he was also on that ship that sank. Nick finds out about him from a life insurance agent. Nick is very upset, and goes looking for him. He finds him at a swimming pool. As Nick feared, he is tall,, ruggedly handsome and is showing off his diving prowess to the ladies present. Nick doesn't confront him, but probably wonders if he didn't save Ellen from drowning, hence helping to cement a relationship during those 7 years? Meanwhile Ellen has found a short balding man to pose as Burkett, hoping to reduce Nick's fear that they had a sexual relationship. Later, the real Burkett appears and skirts around the question of whether he and Ellen were lovers. Nick obviously can't believe they weren't. But the film censorship board presumably demanded that they didn't. Surely, their clothes would have soon fallen apart, and they would have had to improvise, or go naked. The fact that they called each other Adam and Eve would prejudice us toward assuming the latter possibility. Several times, Burkett says he would like to marry Ellen and return to that island, where they could live in peace. But Ellen disagrees. After all, she has 2 children at home. In the last part, Bianca storms out of the courtroom and disappears. Ellen is cool toward both Nick and Burkett. Nick drives away from their home, but soon returns and tries to plead with Ellen to make up. He has to sleep in the attic, but instead comes down in a Santa costume. Ellen gives in.

Unlike some reviewers, I didn't feel there was a gap in humor. I thought it was spread around pretty uniformly. I would guess this film would be most appreciated by women and older children.

Top-notch romantic comedy

[robb_772 · 9/10 · 20 April 2006]

Two attempted remakes and dozens of rip offs have failed to diminish the hilarious complications and romantic musings of this often-imitated, never duplicated screwball farce. Loosely based on the Alfred Lord Tennyson poem "Enoch Arden" (Tennyson does not receive a screen credit in the finished film), MY FAVORITE WIFE piles on the fast-paced, snappy dialogue and outrageous, comedic misunderstandings at a frantic rate. Director Garson Kanin skillfully maintains the perfect serio-comedic tone throughout the film's runtime, and the picture is easily respected screenwriter's best film as a director. Interestingly enough, Kanin took over the directing duties from Leo McCarey (an Oscar winner as Best Director for 1937's THE AWFUL TRUTH, which also starred Grant and Dunne) after McCarey was injured in an automobile accident (McCarey also co-wrote the screenplay with Kanin and Sam and Bella Spewack).

The cast is marvelous, topped by yet another Oscar-worthy performance by Irene Dunne, who offers a multi-dimensional portrayal in a genre where one-note characterizations typically run rampant. Dunne was indeed a rare actress who could peerlessly balance madcap humor and genuine pathos, without ever appearing forced or contrived. Cary Grant is every bit Dunne's match as the befuddled husband who finds himself with one wife too many. Although his role doesn't permit him to display the jaw-dropping physical prowess that was showcased so remarkably in THE AWFUL TRUTH, Grant's mastery of internal comedy is given ample screen time here - especially in the final two-third when he discovers he may have a romantic rival.

The supporting cast is also diligently cast, although there's no animal scene-stealer, a la canine performer Asta's memorable turn as Mr. Smith in THE AWFUL TRUTH. Platinum-haired beefcake Randolph Scott is fun as Grant's rival for Dunne's affections, and the fact that Grant and Scott were lifelong friends and roommates only makes their scenes together even funnier (there's also a hilarious sight gag involving the two of them that will have even the most reserved viewer rolling on the floor with laughter). The appropriately rigid Gail Patrick plays the role of the stereotypical shrew as well as anyone could, and director Kanin also pulls natural performances from the two children in the cast. A comedy with a large dosage of wit and an ample amount of intelligence is quite rare, and MY FAVORITE WIFE has all of that and more in abundance - it's simply a picture where everything works.

A delightful diversion on a rainy day

[lwetzel · 6/10 · 29 March 2005]

Cary Grant and Irene Dunne star in this nice little romantic comedy. They are both good in the film and Grant has a few nice moments. He was a great comedic actor and not afraid to make fun of himself or put himself in some pretty silly situations in this film and others. Randolph Scott (Grant's real-life room mate when they were getting started in the business) is pretty good too as a vegetarian Tarzan who has spent 7 years on a deserted island with Grant's wife Dunne. She shows up the day Grant has her declared legally dead and marries the tempting but vapid Bianca (Gail Patrick). The funniest moments are provided in the courtroom with Granville Bates as the bewildered judge who tries to make sense of the comic situation, and in a hotel with Donald MacBride as the hotel clerk, dismayed and in awe of Grant at the same time, trying to juggle his new bride and his wife in two different suites. Ordinary people would not resolve the situations in this movie the way it plays out, but then it wouldn't have been much of a movie or as much fun if they had.

Too Long in the Bottle

[JamesHitchcock · 5/10 · 12 October 2005]

It has sometimes occurred to me that screen comedy may have a shorter shelf-life than serious drama, largely because our ideas about what is comic change more quickly than do our ideas about what is tragic, poignant, dramatic or exciting. Certainly, many comedies from the thirties and forties, including some that were highly regarded when first made, come across today as stale and dated. There are, of course, exceptions. Throughout his career Cary Grant was a fine exponent of romantic comedy, and two of his others from around this period, "The Philadelphia Story", made in the same year as "My Favorite Wife", and "Bringing up Baby" from two years earlier, are among those exceptions, fine vintage comedies which still keep their flavour more than sixty years later.

"My Favorite Wife", despite having the same star, is not in the same class. The film starts with Grant's character, Nick Arden, about to get married for the second time. The problem is that he is still married to his first wife Ellen, a photographer who disappeared seven years earlier while on an expedition and has never been seen since. The problem seems to have been solved when Nick persuades a Judge to declare Ellen legally dead, leaving him free to marry his new fiancée, Bianca. Ellen, however, is not dead at all, and has spent the last seven years marooned on a desert island. Rescued by a passing ship, she arrives back in America on the very day of Nick and Bianca's wedding. The film then explores the complications arising from this situation.

One reason why the film has not lasted well is its sentimentality, something that typically ages very quickly. (Oscar Wilde's famous remark that a man must have a heart of stone to be able to read of the death of Little Nell without laughing was made within thirty years of Dickens's death). Grant's co-star in the two other films mentioned above was, of course, Katharine Hepburn, an actress who was always able to bring a touch of astringency to her comedies, preventing them from sliding into treacly sentiment. Irene Dunne was probably regarded in her own day as an actress of similar stature to Hepburn, but her performance in this film comes across as rather syrupy, particularly in the scenes with her children.

It might be interesting to consider how a film on this theme might be made today. (I have not seen the 1960s remake "Move Over Darling"). It would, of course, be more sexually explicit; in the actual film we never actually learn whether Nick's brief "marriage" to Bianca is ever consummated. One assumes that it is not, but the strict moral codes of the forties prevented the film-makers from being explicit on this point. We learn that Ellen was not alone on the desert island but had a companion, a young man named Stephen. This causes Nick some temporary jealousy, but Stephen hastens to assure everyone that nothing improper occurred between Ellen and himself during the seven years they were together. It is hard to imagine a modern film being quite so innocent.

More importantly, a modern remake would probably correct one of the film's weaknesses, the imbalance between Nick's two wives. It is clear almost from the beginning that Ellen is his real love and that he will end up with her; Bianca is a minor figure, who can quite ruthlessly be pushed aside without anyone worrying. It would have been more interesting if the two had had equivalent status, with the question of who would eventually win the battle to be Nick's "favorite wife" left in the balance until the very end. (A modern film might even have had Bianca winning). There are amusing moments in this film, but these generally do not arise from the interactions between the main characters Nick, Ellen, Stephen and Bianca. They rather involve minor characters, such as the crusty and cantankerous old judge, who declares Ellen dead and is then persuaded to declare her alive again, or the creepy manager of the hotel where Nick and Bianca spend their "honeymoon", a man who continually invades his guests' privacy in his obsession with defending the respectability of his establishment. On the whole, however, the film does not hold up well today. If "Bringing up Baby" and "The Philadelphia Story" are fine vintage wines which have kept their flavour, "My Favorite Wife" is a wine of similar age but from a lesser vineyard which has been kept for too long in the bottle. 5/10