The film is very funny in spots, even if formulaic and somewhat predictable. The trials and tribulations faced by a navy commander (Robert Walker) and his wife (Joan Leslie) are played mostly for laughs, but there is a serious undercurrent related to women's rights-- as well as women and men both knowing their places inside and outside the home.
While no doubt pleasing to conservative-minded audiences then and now, the script has a few naughty bits of adult humor sprinkled in...one of the commander's sea colleagues has three girlfriends at the same time, and the commander's boss, a crusty admiral (Edward Arnold) insists he sleeps in a double bed with his long-suffering wife (Spring Byington). This latter reference is in humorous defiance of the production code, since most married couples were shown using twin beds, which is what Walker and Leslie have in the bedroom of their suburban home.
Also in the cast we have a neighbor couple (Jan Sterling & Anthony Ross) where the wife seems to be openly lusting after Walker, and the husband seems to treat his trophy wife as a piece of property. But they are relatively harmless. Easier to take, in a sitcom-type way are the main couple's precocious sons (Tommy Myers & Rudy Lee) as well as Muscles, the family dog (played by Finnegan Weatherwax) who adds to the domestic chaos and overall merriment of the picture.
What I like about this film is how well the leads work together, as well as the attention to detail in even the most basic scenes. After Walker's character is inspired by something Arnold's character says, that a home can and should be run like a ship, we see immediate changes to their domestic environment. The cupboards in the kitchen are suddenly labeled with signs that say 'Chow Locker,' the boys' eating area is designated a 'Mess' area, and when the boys have finished taking orders they are allowed some 'Liberty' or playtime in an enclosed play area out in the yard that Leslie thinks resembles a brig. Amusing stuff.
The comic highlight is a luncheon at the local women's auxiliary where Walker mentions facts related to running a household efficiently. He says things about housewives typically taking more than nine hours per day to complete their tasks which he believes can be done in half the time. He goes over charts on how to use meat purchased at the butcher shop and displays a schedule where specific tasks are to be completed from Monday through Saturday. Oh, and he tells the women they can get all their shopping done in 30 minutes, which of course causes a collective gasp amongst the attendees. To say that he's facing a mutiny is an understatement.
There is some expected drama when Leslie has decided enough is enough and leaves with the boys to go stay with mother. In some regards, this is reminiscent of Maureen O'Hara's character leaving after an argument with Robert Young in 20th Century Fox's much more acerbic romp SITTING PRETTY (1948). But I think THE SKIPPER SURPRISED HIS WIFE is just as much fun. Although the old order is restored by the time the closing credits come up on the screen, we get to enjoy a few raucous moments and begin some sort of introspection about what it means to live like an average American postwar family.
