There was another, ten years back, His Double Life - that of course had a bit more talented lead, in Roland Young and incomparable Lil Gish. Here naturally Gracie was miscast - since it required a dramatic presence, of course not that Gracie was as eyesore as her over-acting male counterpart.
But the major shortcoming of it wasn't much in acting department as - and ironically the one in which it won Academy ! - the conceptualisation. That's where the first one reduces it to pygmy level. I haven't gone through the story from which both were made, so I can't comment on which had been better adapted, but being unbiased on that aspect, naturally all my first as well as optional votes go to the 1933 version. And of course it once again makes one wonder, why are the remakes, even when almost copy, are always inferior ? Only the actors ? Which of course had been on the decline from the golden age, but here it had been much more.
In 1933, the hero was Enochlophobic, whereas in the 1943, he was more of unsocial. The behaviour that were much better explained by the phobia, were not explainable by the just being unsocial. And if the director wanted him to have the phobia, they missed it by large margin. The mix-up which changed the bodies (and identities) were similarly much more plausible - the bed, the dressing gown, and realisation while both alive and deciding to go along, and the logic were much more plausible.
Even quite a bit of story sequences had been changed - later one earlier and earlier one later - and not for good. For example, the first wife arrival - in the 1933, there was alerady a suspicion in Lilain's mind, due to Oxford's visit, and also claim by Lilian that she knew that the husband had been 'virgin' or whatever equivalent, before they married, but here it was a clear proved case of bigamy, and hence protection was not simply understood, nor was the refusal to show moles on very flimsy stand. The Phobia was definitely a much stronger ground.
And the second irony (along with the Academy Award) is the IMDb scores - that was is about a point less than this ! I agree that Young's character was - well one could call sissy - but he was supposed to be like that, and should be a merit than demerit. Even thouh he too kmight have gone a bit overboard, but Lilian was a counterfoil.
As usual - recomemndation, skip it and go for "His Double Life" of 1933.
Review of Holy Matrimony
