“My Favorite Wife” is a screwball comedy about a woman who returns home after seven years of being shipwrecked on a remote Pacific island, only to find that her husband has declared her legally dead and remarried to another woman. Cary Grant and Irene Dunne have excellent comedy timing throughout the 88 minute running time, an RKO Radio Pictures production that was a box office success.
The highly refined screenplay was penned by Bella Spewack and Samuel Spewack, from a story by producer Leo McCarey. Director Garson Kanin (“Bachelor Mother” 1939) was running on all cylinders in putting together this excellent comedy. Co-stars include Gail Patrick, Randolph Scott, Chester Clute, Ann Shoemaker, Scotty Beckett, Mary Lou Harrington, Donald MacBride, Hugh O’Connell, Pedro de Cordoba, and Granville Bates as Judge Bryson. This was one of Bates’ final roles in a career that started in silent pictures in 1917.
The watchable “My Favorite Wife” was nominated for three Oscars (zero wins), including Best Story, Best Musical Score, and Best Art Direction. A remake was attempted in 1962 with Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin, and Cyd Charisse. It fell apart when Monroe was fired, and Martin pulled out of the project. In 1963, 20th Century Fox tried again with “Move Over, Darling” featuring Doris Day, James Garner, and Polly Bergen, this time with success.
My Favorite Wife (1940)
cinema
My Review
“My Favorite Wife” is a screwball comedy about a woman who returns home after seven years of being shipwrecked on a remote Pacific island, only to find that her husband has declared her legally dead and remarried to another woman. Cary Grant and Irene Dunne have excellent comedy timing throughout the 88 minute running time, an RKO Radio Pictures production that was a box office success.
The highly refined screenplay was penned by Bella Spewack and Samuel Spewack, from a story by producer Leo McCarey. Director Garson Kanin (“Bachelor Mother” 1939) was running on all cylinders in putting together this excellent comedy. Co-stars include Gail Patrick, Randolph Scott, Chester Clute, Ann Shoemaker, Scotty Beckett, Mary Lou Harrington, Donald MacBride, Hugh O’Connell, Pedro de Cordoba, and Granville Bates as Judge Bryson. This was one of Bates’ final roles in a career that started in silent pictures in 1917.
The watchable “My Favorite Wife” was nominated for three Oscars (zero wins), including Best Story, Best Musical Score, and Best Art Direction. A remake was attempted in 1962 with Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin, and Cyd Charisse. It fell apart when Monroe was fired, and Martin pulled out of the project. In 1963, 20th Century Fox tried again with “Move Over, Darling” featuring Doris Day, James Garner, and Polly Bergen, this time with success.