I Was a Male War Bride (1949)

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

. . . proved more dangerous to film in Real Life than lensing SCHINDLER'S LIST. However, you'd never know this from a casual viewing of I WAS A MALE WAR BRIDE, the first half of which features Cary Grant's and Ann Sheridan's characters searching post-WWII Germany for a black marketeer named "Schindler," who apparently grinds rare military-grade lenses. Filmming had to break off for months mid-shoot as Cary Grant, playing the BRIDE, nearly died of hepatitis, while co-star Ann Sheridan battled life-threatening pleurisy and pneumonia. Most Americans forget or never learned that U.S. Gen. "I-Like-Ike" Eisenhower, to avenge WWII, killed several MILLION German P.O.W.s and civilians through denying them access to food and medicine from 1945 through 1948. (These facts are NOT in most history books, because War's winners write the texts, which then are censored by the Texas State School Board.) When I WAS A MALE WAR BRIDE filmed ON LOCATION, every inch of Germany was crawling with corpses and the deadliest germs known to mankind, making it one big happy Death Camp. But Hollywood's moguls had no qualms about nearly sacrificing the lives of Mr. Grant and Ms. Sheridan (plus probably ACTUAL fatalities among the lesser known cast and crew) on the altar of political expediency (as in, "Hey, Middle America, watch this movie and then book a Bavarian vacation!") while the fat cats themselves were snuggled safely in their Tinsel Town castles. If all this sounds like an apt analogy for generals and privates in War, you only need to watch I WAS A MALE WAR BRIDE with informed eyes to notice how haggard Mr. Grant and Ms. Sheridan look towards the end. You may conclude that this flick was a total travesty, parading as Art.

A postwar Germany is the setting for this delightful comedy. Capt. Henri Rochard, a French officer, had been involved in the Allies effort to stop counterfeit products that were a big problem to control. He was a good collaborator who worked closely with the American forces trying to put an end to the practice. Henri had teamed up with Catherine Gates, an American officer a no nonsense woman who got things done, as expected.It was no wonder Henri and Catherine fell in love. They saw in one another a perfect match. At the time a lot of European women had met and fell in love with G.I.s who fought in WWII. As a result, there was a massive movement to bring those newlywed brides, many with children, to America. Henri, having married Catherine, finds himself in a quandary. Being married to an American soldier, he did not stand a chance to ever come to live in America with Catherine. But laws are meant to be broken because a loophole allows a male spouse to have the same privileges as women.This was a hilarious comedy in its day. Seeing today it might not have the same effect as when it originally released. Howard Hawks, perhaps one of the most original film directors of his generation, was one of the first Americans to take his film to a devastated Germany. The screenplay was written by Leonard Spigelgass, Charles Lederer and Hagar Wilde, a distinguished triad veterans from Hollywood. Osmond Borradale and Norbert Brodine are credited as the cinematographers. Their black and white photography shows what Germany looked like after the conflict.A lively and sassy Ann Sheridan made a perfect Catherine Gates. Evidently she was having a good time in the film, and it comes across in one of her best screen appearances. Paired with a Howard Hawks favorite, Cary Grant, the combination was powerful indeed. And yet, this was not one of Mr. Grant's best screen appearances. His Henri Rochard comes across as a bit uncomfortable, perhaps due to the fact he had to dress as a woman to get on board the ship bringing the newly wed wives to America.It is a tribute to Howard Hawks enormous talent this film has survived the passing of time.

One of the reviewers above who mentioned Kafka had it right: the movie is an exercise in humiliation, and humiliation of Cary Grant, yet. Earlier Hawks movies like Bringing Up Baby are humiliating also, but are funny enough to soften an edge that here is just painful. The result has a real dramatic problem in that it's pretty hard to believe Grant and Sheridan would ever fall in love and marry--whereas his expressed desire never to see her again, on the other hand, is totally convincing. I watched pretty much without laughing, but the performances are great and the movie is grimly fascinating, like a fun-house-mirror reflection of a screwball comedy.

Captain Henri Rochard is assigned to work with Lieutenant Catherine Gates on a very serious mission. Tho initial problems between the two are rife, it's not long before the two of them fall in love and hastily arrange to get married. However a ream of bureaucratic red tape ensures the couple can not be together and with Catherine set to go back to America, there may be only one option, Henri will have to invoke a War Brides Clause in army regulations, with some rather zany results.I Was a Male War Bride is not even close to being a poor film, it has many moments of hilarity and contains a last twenty minutes to savour, it is however un-fulfilling as a comedy whole and sags on far too many occasions. How much of this is down to the chemistry of the leads and off camera illness problems is open for debate, for both Cary Grant {Rochard} and Ann Sheridan {Gates} both suffered ill health during the shoot, while director Howard Hawks himself was to succumb to being unwell at an inappropriate juncture. Tho Ava Gardner was originally wanted for the role of Gates {something i feel would have been excellent, if still wishing for a more comedic actress}, Hawks went for the more brisk acting of Sheridan, tho a fine actress, she seems wrong here, not quite coping with the comedy interplay with her leading man, almost missing the comedic beat as it were. Grant himself was said to have praised the picture quite often, but he does look weary and often appearing to be on auto pilot during the more laborious sequences.The film has many supporters, but i can't in my wildest dreams term this as a screwball comedy, perhaps i expect better from Grant and Hawks?, i mean after His Girl Friday, Bringing Up Baby and to a lesser extent, Monkey Business, my expectation for this one was always likely to be high, and of course viewing Sheridan as a great dramatic actress was meaning i viewed this one with suspicion from the off. I honestly feel the last twenty minutes saves the picture from being very average, the script perks up, and naturally a bit of gender confusion always raises a titter, tho the sight of Grant in drag looks more akin to Frankenstein's monster than the boys from Some Like It Hot!. It's more than worth a watch and it has guaranteed laughs dotted throughout, it just falls some way short of being a comedy classic in this viewers humble opinion. 6/10