My Favorite Wife (1940)

Good concept, poorly executed.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The first must-see film of the year.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

This classic screwball comedy was directed by Garson Kanin and co- written by Leo McCarey, who shared an Academy Award nomination for this Original Story with (husband and wife) Bella and Sam Spewack (their only nomination); the film's B&W Art Direction and Roy Webb's Score were also Oscar nominated.Cary Grant stars as a man who has just convinced a judge (Granville Bates) that his first wife is dead, lost at sea in a shipwreck, so that he can marry another woman (Gail Patrick). However, once they are, he finds out that his original wife (Irene Dunne) is alive when she returns after spending 7 years on an island with another man (Randolph Scott), a fact which obviously upsets him.This above average comedy has Grant's character then having to decide which is his "favorite" wife. Ann Shoemaker plays Grant's mother; Donald MacBride plays a hotel clerk. Interesting side note is that actors Grant and Scott were (or had been) roommates, sharing an eligible bachelor flat at the beach.

Handsome widower Cary Grant (as Nick Arden) has his spouse, shipwrecked off the coast of Indochina seven years ago, declared legally dead so he can marry an attractive brunette he met while helping with the search. The newlyweds are honeymooning when Mr. Grant's wife, still beautiful Irene Dunne (as Ellen Wagstaff), returns home. It turns out Ms. Dunne had survived on a deserted island. She expects to pick up where she left off with Grant and their two cute kids. Grant's new wife, pretty Gail Patrick (as Bianca Bates) is anxious to put their marriage to bed. Things get more complicated when hunky Randolph Scott (as Stephen Burkett) arrives on the scene. He was stranded with Dunne for seven years on the island...The castaways called themselves "Adam and Eve"...This was one of two attempts to turn the melodramatic Alfred Lord Tennyson poem "Enoch Arden" into a 1940 comedy movie. More successful than "Too Many Husbands" (1940), "My Favorite Wife" reverses the gender of the original characters and leaves viewers with the possibility that no extra-marital sex occurred. The formula was repeated for Doris Day in "Move Over, Darling" (1963). Which wife fits the "My Favorite Wife" title is never in doubt. Note, for example how the women are introduced – Dunne is sweet and motherly while Ms. Patrick is primping and self-absorbed. Safe and obvious, the story engages with performances and innuendo. Leo McCarey and the RKO studio crew make it a smooth, classy production.******* My Favorite Wife (5/2/40) Garson Kanin ~ Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Gail Patrick, Randolph Scott

The romantic comedy "My Favorite Wife" is a consistently entertaining sex romp that carefully skirts vulgar material. Cary Grant bounces back and forth between two women. One of them used to be his wife while the other is his new wife. "Adam's Rib" director Garson Kanin and scenarists Bella & Sam Spewack with Leo McCarey had to tread carefully on their subject matter because the Production Code Administration condemned any movie that didn't treat marriage with respect. The amusing premise is that our protagonist, Nicholas Arden (Cary Grant), has just had his first wife declared legally dead in court. Arden's first wife, Ellen Wagstaff Arden (Irene Dunne) vanished somewhere in Indochina when her ship sank. She had just given birth to two children, a boy and a girl, and had gone off on an anthropological expedition when her ship went down. Nicholas traveled to Bangkok to interview everybody who had anything to do with the shipwreck, but he wasn't able to find his wife. Seven years have elapsed, and Nicholas is planning to remarry to Bianca (Gail Patrick) after the court declares that Ellen is legally dead. Unbeknownst to Nicholas, Ellen survived the shipwreck and spent those seven years on an island. No sooner has Nicholas married Bianca than Ellen comes home. It seems that a Portuguese freighter wandered off course by 200 miles and found Ellen. When she arrives at her old home, she finds the two children that she had only known as infants when she left them. Little Timmy and Chinch tell their mother that their mother drown at sea. When she tries to get more details out of them, they inform her that they aren't allowed to speak to strangers. Ellen slips into the house and surprises her mother. Ellen's mom explains that Nicholas and Bianca have left to celebrate their honeymoon. Morever, they are celebrating it at the same hotel that Nicholas and Ellen celebrated their honeymoon. Ellen hops on a plane and arrives ahead of them at the hotel. When Nicholas and Bianca show up, Nicholas refuses to take Suite A because Ellen and he spent the night there on their honeymoon. They have just gotten aboard the elevator when Nicholas spots Ellen in the lobby. At this point, our hero is not allowed to consummate his marriage to Bianca. Naturally, he is shocked by Ellen's appearance and she explains that she survived and has come home. She realizes the predicament that Nicholas is in and prompts him to tell Bianca about her. Poor Nicholas is caught between a rock and a hard place. Although he is an attorney, Nicholas finds himself tongue-tied by his situation. Clearly, since Ellen is not really dead, Nicholas cannot climb into bed with his second wife. Meanwhile, Bianca is considerably upset because Nicholas keeps running out on her. Adding to their woes is a suspicious hotel clerk (Donald McBride) who watches as Nicholas picks out Suite A for them. Immediately, the clerk suspects that Nicholas is determined to destroy the sterling reputation for honesty and decency that the hotel has maintained for 33 years. After the first forty minutes, "My Favorite Wife" takes a dramatic turn when Nicholas discovers that Ellen spent those seven years on that island with another man, Stephen Burkett (Randolph Scott), who happens to be a physical specimen of muscular perfection. Indeed, one of the women at pool side at the hotel where Burkett is staying asks Nicholas if Stephen is Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller.

Irene Dunne was gloriously beautiful and funny beyond measure in this great RKO film where Irene was Queen of the Lot over such equally grand ladies such as Ginger Rogers, Katharine Hepburn, and Lucille Ball. What women!Irene Dunne is ultimate screwball comedienne and I am just amazed, shocked and baffled why the Academy never honored Irene Dunne with an Honorary Oscar. Doesn't a career that comprises of Show Boat, Love Affair, The Awful Truth, I Remember Mama, A Guy Named Joe, et al and this splendid film entitle a Star to an Oscar???I loved this movie slyly directed by Garson Kanin ( who wrote that tell all book about Tracy and Hepburn that ruined the friendship of Kate Hepburn and Garson and Ruth Kanin as Kate felt he betrayed confidences). The look in Cary Grant's eye when Cary sees Randy Scott perform acrobats off the Diving Board!! Sly,Sly Kanin. Wasn't he hinting more to the point re Grant and Scott??Great old fashioned movie with fantastic photography in black and white and the set decoration. If only we could all live that well!I rate this movie a 9 and salute Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Randy Scott, Gail Patrick, Leo McCarey, and Garson Kanin for a great adult film.