Strong and Moving!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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.

While Columbia Pictures was releasing its comedy-romance, "Too Many Husbands," a crew and cast at RKO were about to start filming this movie. But the RKO writers had come up with a different approach to an age-old plot. Instead of a husband being lost at sea and presumed dead, "My Favorite Wife" begins with a wife lost at sea and presumed dead. And, instead of the husband returning just as or after the wife remarries, here the wife returns just as her husband gets married again. Either scenario makes for great comedy and entertainment. These two films were released just a couple of months apart in 1940, and both had stellar casts. They both were successful, but this film was a smash hit. All other things being equal, it seems that a much funnier story could be made out of the woman being lost and returning, than in the original version of the man lost and returning. It seems the writers could come up with much funnier dialog and scenarios with a man and two women in a love triangle. The origin of the story traces back to an 1864 poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson, "Enoch Arden." It was made into movies in 1911, 1914 and 1915. The first and last were short films. Then, W. Somerset Maugham wrote a play with a similar plot in 1919. It was called "Home and Beauty," but the name was changed to "Too Many Husbands" for the 1940 Columbia movie released two months before this one. That screenplay was revised and made into a 1955 musical, "Three for the Show," starring Betty Grable, Jack Lemmon and Gower Champion. This film also would be remade after being updated in 1963 as "Move Over Darling." It starred Doris Day, James Garner and Polly Bergan. There's a very interesting story to the background of that remake, and I discuss it in my comments on that film. The very best comedy-romances excel in all their ingredients. The plot, screenplay, direction, settings, cinematography, editing, cast and acting – all must be the very best to put a film at the top of the genre. But one intangible aspect sets a movie apart even further and raises it to the level of great films. That is the chemistry between the lead players. Both Cary Grant and Irene Dunne had wonderful chemistry over the years with a number of their co-stars. But no other pairing had the chemistry that these two had together. In all three of their films, Grant and Dunne worked perfectly off each other. The witty lines, humorous situations and hilarious scenes in their comedies were so spontaneous and flowed so smoothly that one felt they were perfectly natural. Their chemistry was just as obvious and beautiful in the drama- romance, "Penny Serenade," which was their last film together. Their first film, "The Awful Truth," ranks among the very top on all major comedy film lists. It's one of the best screwball comedies of all time. This second film, "My Favorite Wife," is wonderful fun and only misses the elite group because of its somewhat lesser script. Still, the chemistry makes this film a treat to watch and enjoy. The supporting cast all excel as well. Granville Bates is hilarious as the judge, and Donald MacBride is a riot as the hotel clerk. "My Favorite Wife" is sure to keep on entertaining over the years. Here's a hilarious exchange to end my comments. Nick (Cary Grant), "Well, it's no use. I'm out of gas." Ellen (Irene Dunne), "You seem to be out of everything … except ideas."

The film starts in a courtroom with lawyer Cary Grant (Nick) getting his 1st wife Irene Dunne (Ellen) pronounced legally dead by Judge Granville Bates. Dunne has been missing for 7 years and it's time for Grant to move on. Specifically, with Gail Patrick (Bianca). The Judge, after painfully dithering about – some people find this funny, I didn't – then agrees to marry Grant and Patrick, and they go off to their honeymoon. But what's this……first wife Irene Dunne returns home! She's not dead. She heads for the honeymoon hotel. What is everyone to do….?The cast are mainly good in this film. Cary Grant spars well with everybody, and especially with hotel clerk Donald MacBride. There are many funny scenes that include Grant's reaction in a hotel lift when he first sees Irene Dunne. He also has an amusing scene with Pedro de Cordoba (Dr Kohlmar) as he rifles through a wardrobe full of ladies clothes, explaining he is doing it for a friend, and "he's waiting outside". There is another amusing set-up with the story of Irene Dunne's male partner on the desert island – hunky Randolph Scott (Burkett). Dunne tries to pass off meek Chester Clute as the man she has innocently spent 7 years with to a knowing Cary Grant.However, whilst, the film is entertaining and is easy to watch, it peters out at the end once the action moves to the mountain home. It gets sentimental and silly, and the film could have been resolved in a far more satisfactory manner. We are left with a few questions regarding the plot, such as what has Gail Patrick done to deserve what has just happened? Is Randolph Scott a complete carrot-eating moron? And Irene Dunne is actually pretty awful considering that she is meant to love Cary Grant. The children are a bit irritating and Irene Dunne has an annoying episode where she puts on a Southern accent, but, despite all of that, this is a fun film.

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.