My Favorite Wife (1940)
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| Dunne doing her best to keep Grant and Scott apart |
This is a superbly crafted screwball comedy expertly directed by Garson Kanin (who was born with a funny bone) and crisply written by Sam and Bella Spewack and Leo McCarey. The latter was originally scheduled to direct but he was in an auto accident so serious that a pall lingered over the production.
Cary Grant and Irene Dunne had made a successful marital comedy three years earlier, The Awful Truth, and everyone was looking for something for them to do again. Actually, there's long been the claim that My Favorite Wife is, in part, a sequel to The Awful Truth. I always thought Dunne was one of Grant's best screen partners... there was a sparkling chemistry. They were crazy about one another in real life, although not romantically. Their familiarity clearly shows on the screen.
Both had a certain familiarity with Randolph Scott (as the island companion). He and Dunne had also worked together before... in Roberta (1935) and High, Wide and Handsome (1937). At the time of the filming, Scott and Grant were still live-in boyfriends. Hollywood loved its inside joke... how funny Dunne is caught in between Grant and Scott. Snicker, snicker. If you see this film, imagine them all kinda winking off camera and it becomes even funnier.
Added to the mix is beautiful Gail Patrick, as the bride, Bianca (what a name! so Taming of the Shrew), again masterfully playing a stately and chilly character. By and large, the annoyance of this character is what gives the story its bite. Patrick never really ascended to Hollywood's great throne and I've always thought it was due to her resemblance to Hedy Lamarr. Good as she was, she ditched her career to dabble in several other things, among them executive producing TV's Perry Mason (1957-66).
There are plenty of laughs and nearly all seem to be about deception. Interesting how that is so unfunny in real life but becomes a whole other thing in comedy. There's a riotous court scene at the finale involving all of the principals. It's a madcap scene watching everyone giving a point of view to the irritated judge about the various relationships, predicaments and mishaps. Such scenes have populated a number of screwball comedies but seldom as well done as here.
The film was a success but then most films were that starred Grant. He and Dunne would immediately go into Penny Serenade (1941) since the public still couldn't get enough of them. I never found it a surprise that this plot was one that would be circulated again (with these laughs and two good male and female roles) but I am surprised it took so long.
Also in 1940, one could see the same plot in reverse... missing husband, wife remarries) in Jean Arthur's Too Many Husbands and its Betty Grable remake, Three for the Show (1955).
Something's Got to Give (1962)
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| Monroe, Martin and Charisse |
Are you aware that Marilyn Monroe's last (unfinished) film was a remake of My Favorite Wife? Had you recalled its title? Adults living at the time of her death would certainly recall that there was that last film, the one from which she was fired. We've seen the swimming pool scenes a gazillion times. She was lovelier and blonder than ever in her nakedness.
The other roles were filled by Dean Martin, Cyd Charisse and Tom Tryon. I adored Monroe and eagerly awaited her return to the screen after a bout of her frequent madness. Yes, she was fired from the film (only a few scenes were in the can) but Fox had rehired her and she was apparently in good spirits about continuing. At first the studio wanted to continue with Lee Remick in the role, but Martin apparently said if they did that, he would walk.
Charisse was a dream choice because Bianca needed to be stunning with that air of smug superiority. And Tryon? Well, gee, who wouldn't have wanted to spend seven years on a desert island with him?
I did admire Martin's loyalty to Monroe but I'm afraid the only time I paid much attention to him was in dramas.
This film not being finished didn't upset me more than Grace Kelly leaving movies or finding out Lassie was a male but I found it unsettling nonetheless. I could never get enough Marilyn.
Okay, now we'll all get over it.
Move Over, Darling (1963)
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| Ritter, Day and Bergen in courtroom scene |
Here the foursome is Doris Day, James Garner, Polly Bergen and Chuck Connors... and oh yes, the fabulous Thelma Ritter thrown in as Garner's mother. I was beginning to grow weary of Day's stylish but banal romantic comedies and therefore didn't much care for this film when I saw it upon its release. Why go then, you may ask? Ritter and Bergen are why.
I saw it again some 20 years later and appreciated it as one of Day's better movies in the 60's. As with the case of the studio wanting to quickly get Grant and Dunne in another film, the same could be said for Day and Garner who had just had a success with The Thrill of It All. It was known the Something's Got to Give script was gathering dust at Fox and wouldn't it be a perfect reunion piece for these two stars?
But really now, DD inheriting a part played by MM? Wouldn't that require some heavy alterations? Well, yes and no. Both were brilliant at comedy, both were gorgeous and Day would go the white-blonde look that MM had in the previous piece. The sex aspect would, however, be Day-style. She'd been having clean sex on the screen since Pillow Talk but no way was she going trashy. No siree. It was racy enough imagining Day's character being with Chuck Connors' character all those years on that island. And don't think for a minute that she considered being nude in those pool scenes.
So what actually happened is that the writers opted to stick a little closer to the original 1940 film. They changed a number of things with little notice. Funny though that they altered the time frame the couple spent apart to five years instead of seven. So what happened to that declared dead part? Oh, everyone was stoned in 1963... who cared?
Most people would likely say the funniest scene is when Day goes through a car wash with a convertible top down. It was funny but my favorite was when she, not yet known to Bergen's character, assumes a disguise as a Swedish masseuse and beats away at Bergen's toweled backside. Both actresses were hysterical and showed their gifts for comedy. Garner's job was to pull Day off Bergen and when he did so, unfortunately, he broke several of her ribs. All scenes with Ritter (who had worked with Day in Pillow Talk) were also gems. I adored her.
Bergen originally declined the part because she didn't want to play second fiddle to Day, whom she didn't know. She later said it was a wonderful working experience and she loved working with the screen's most popular actress. She also, as her predecessor had, nailed it as Bianca.
By the way...
Both of these versions, My Favorite Wife and Move Over, Darling, are on the tube all the time. If you are among those who have not seen either, treat yourself. The plot is the same and the comedy is evident. I give a nod to the former because it was more in the screwball comedy arena than the latter. Maybe the nugget that turns me toward Wife is that Dunne's character is highly amused by the entire situation. Her amusement in the face of everyone else's high drama makes one laugh along with her. Day, on the other hand, feels just as low as Garner does and later gets mad. It's just not quite the same.
Next posting:
A good 80's movie
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