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
"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