The picture stars Irene Dunne as a woman who, after being shipwrecked on a tropical island for several years and declared legally dead, returns to her [former] husband (Cary Grant) and children.
The story is an adaptation of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's 1864 poem, "Enoch Arden". In tribute, the main characters' last name is Arden.
The supporting cast features Gail Patrick as the woman Arden has just married when his first wife returns, and Randolph Scott as the man with whom his wife was marooned. My Favorite Wife was RKO's second-biggest hit of 1940.
Plot
After seven years, lawyer Nick Arden has his wife Ellen, missing since her ship was lost, declared legally deadso he can marry Bianca. He has the same judge first make the declaration then perform the marriage ceremony.
However, Ellen was actually shipwrecked on a deserted island and has just been rescued. When she returns home, she sees her son and daughter for the first time since they were very small. The boy speaks very matter-of-factly about their mother dying at sea. The children don't recognize her, but their dog does. Going inside, Ellen learns from her mother-in-law that Nick has just left on his honeymoon with his second wife, whom he'd met when he was on a journey in search of her.
Photo from My Favorite Wife
Ellen tracks Nick down before his honeymoon night, flying to Yosemite and arriving before they do. She gets his attention in the lobby before they can get to honeymoon suite C. Using the excuse that he needs a shave, Nick sneaks down to the lobby.
Nick and Ellen reunite in the lobby and he books her into suite A so they can talk privately. Promising to tell Bianca, he leaves. As Nick is at a loss as to how to break the news, he continually puts off the unpleasant task. He calls Bianca from the lobby phone but she catches him in the lie.
Everyone heads back to the Arden home. Ellen arrives by plane so is able to spend the day with the kids before Nick and Bianca arrive by car. Ellen claims to be a friend from the south, and Nick’s apparent closeness with her upsets Bianca.
Further complications ensue when an insurance adjuster mentions to Nick a rumor that Ellen was not alone on the island, but had the company of Stephen Burkett, and that they called each other "Adam" and "Eve". When Nick confronts Ellen, she recruits a mousy shoe salesman to pretend to be Stephen, but Nick has already tracked down the real Stephen, who is athletic and handsome. Upon finding out that Nick has remarried, Stephen declares his love for Ellen, and the two men argue over her, but she rebuffs them both.
Meanwhile, Bianca becomes frustrated by Nick's odd behavior (especially the nonconsummation of their marriage) and calls in a psychiatrist, Dr. Kohlmar. Nick awkwardly tries to explain the situation, but they do not believe him, until he is arrested on a charge of bigamy. In court, Judge Bryson, the same judge who had Ellen declared legally dead and married Nick and Bianca, annuls the second marriage. By this time, Ellen is no longer sure of Nick's feelings for her. Stephen asks her to marry him and return with him to the island, but she still loves Nick.
Nick suggests that Ellen and the kids go to their mountain home for a bit. Since her license has expired, he convinces her to let him drive them. She tries to tell the children that she's their mother, but they've already figured that out. After Ellen gives Nick a hard time over his reluctance to admit what he feels, he tosses Bianca aside, and he and Ellen are reconciled.
After the great success of The Awful Truth (1937), McCarey signed Cary Grant and Irene Dunne for the film without a script.[2]:419–420 He was to have directed My Favorite Wife, as well, but after his near-fatal car accident, Garson Kanin was assigned as director.[3]:148 "On My Favorite Wife," recalled Gail Patrick, "we were desperately trying to be funny as our producer, Leo McCarey, lay at death's door from an automobile crash. He recovered, but I never thought we entered into the spirit of that one. We couldn't—we were waiting for bulletins from the hospital."[4]:290 A number of pre-production conferences took place in the hospital, and McCarey recovered sufficiently to visit the set two or three weeks into filming.[2]:418
When the shooting was finished, McCarey edited the film, and a preview was arranged. McCarey later recalled, "after about five reels, the picture took a dip, and for about two reels or more, it wasn't as funny as what preceded it ... it was a lot of unraveling of a tricky plot." A second preview confirmed that the film broke down at exactly the same point.[2]:418–419
So the cast was dismissed, the writers went home, the director went back to New York, and I sat there with the cutter trying to figure out what to do to save the picture. ... Then I got the wildest idea I ever had. There was a judge in the opening who was very funny, and he dropped out of the picture, and I decided to bring him back. What we actually did was to tell the judge our story problems in the picture and have him comment on them. And it was truly great. It became the outstanding thing in the picture.[2]:418–419
McCarey brought Kanin and one[who?] of the other writers back, and wrote the judge's dialogue himself—with help from Gail Patrick, who had studied law. (Patrick later was the Executive Producer of the long-running Perry Mason TV series in the 1950s and 1960s). One reel was shot and two or three were pulled. When the film was previewed again, it worked.[2]:419
Patrick later said she felt that the resolution of the film should have included a romance between her character, Bianca, and Stephen Burkett (Randolph Scott). "I suggested that," Patrick said, "but the director [Garson Kanin] said I was going too far."[5]
My Favorite Wife was RKO's second-biggest hit of 1940, after Kitty Foyle,[3]:144 earning a profit of $505,000.[3]:148
The New York Sun described the film as "built for straight fun. It goes in for giggles, chuckles, and raised eyebrows....'My Favorite Wife' is gay, brittle, amusing farce."[9]
"Both in theme and execution, My Favorite Wife was a quasisequel to The Awful Truth," wrote RKO studio chronicler Richard B. Jewell in 1982. "The film peaked about two-thirds of the way along and began to wear thin near the end, yet still contained a number of inspired scenes."[3]:148
In 1991, Pauline Kael assessed My Favorite Wife as "the most famous and the funniest" modern version of Tennyson's story "Enoch Arden" (1864). She wrote "Garson Kanin was 27 (and at his liveliest) when he directed this screwball-classic hit".[10]
My Favorite Wife was adapted for a 60-minute radio broadcast of Lux Radio Theater on December 9, 1940; Laurence Olivier as Nick Arden and Rosalind Russell as Ellen Arden. Gail Patrick reprised her film role. The March 23, 1941, broadcast of The Screen Guild Theater presented a 30-minute adaptation of the film, with Dunne reprising her role and Robert Montgomery as Nick Arden. Four years later, on November 12, 1945, the same show presented another 30-minute adaptation, this time with Patrick once again reprising her role.[12]
Grant and Dunne also reprised their roles when the movie was adapted for the December 7, 1950, broadcast of Screen Director's Playhouse.[12]
Film remakes
20th Century Fox began filming a 1962 remake starring Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin, and Cyd Charisse under the working title of Something's Got to Give, which was to be directed by George Cukor. Problems arose from the beginning, mostly due to Monroe's failure to show up on time for work. Monroe was fired and Martin backed out when the studio attempted to recast Monroe's role with Lee Remick. A recreation of surviving footage cobbled from the unfinished Something's Got to Give exists, along with some scenes reshot with Remick.
Cary Grant's scene in the elevator—seeing his first wife, Irene Dunne—was repeated in "Move Over, Darling" and was remade in a similar scene of the 1998 film The Parent Trap, in which Dennis Quaid, in an elevator, sees his separated wife, Natasha Richardson.[15]
Too Many Husbands, a 1940 romantic comedy film about a woman who loses her husband in a boating accident and remarries, only to have her first spouse reappear—yet another variation on the poem "Enoch Arden".
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress whose career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned six decades. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited personality, and outspokenness, cultivating a screen persona that matched this public image, and regularly playing strong-willed, sophisticated women. She worked in a varied range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, which earned her various accolades, including four Academy Awards for Best Actress—a record for any performer.
The Awful Truth is a 1937 American screwball comedy film directed by Leo McCarey, and starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. Based on the 1922 play The Awful Truth by Arthur Richman, the film recounts a distrustful rich couple who begin divorce proceedings, only to interfere with one another's romances.
Stage Door is a 1937 American tragicomedy film directed by Gregory La Cava. Adapted from the 1936 play of the same name, it tells the story of several would-be actresses who live together in a boarding house at 158 West 58th Street in New York City. The film stars Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, Gail Patrick, Constance Collier, Andrea Leeds, Samuel S. Hinds and Lucille Ball. It was produced and distributed by RKO Pictures. Eve Arden and Ann Miller, who became notable in later films, play minor characters.
Love Affair is a 1939 American romance film, co-starring Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne, and featuring Maria Ouspenskaya. It was directed by Leo McCarey and written by Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden Stewart, based on a story by McCarey and Mildred Cram. Controversial on concept, the official screenplay was re-tooled and rewritten to appease Hollywood censorship and relied on actor input and improvisation, causing long delays and budget extensions.
Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson was a British-American actress and singer. She was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer who became popular during the Second World War for her portrayal of strong women on the homefront; listed by the Motion Picture Herald as one of America's top-10 box office draws from 1942 to 1946.
Adam's Rib is a 1949 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor from a screenplay written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin. It stars Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn as married lawyers who come to oppose each other in court. Judy Holliday co-stars as the third lead in her second credited movie role. Also featured are Tom Ewell, David Wayne, and Jean Hagen. The music was composed by Miklós Rózsa, and the song "Farewell, Amanda" was written by Cole Porter.
Bachelor Mother (1939) is an American romantic comedy film directed by Garson Kanin, and starring Ginger Rogers, David Niven, and Charles Coburn. The screenplay was written by Norman Krasna from an Academy Award-nominated story by Felix Jackson written for the 1935 Austrian-Hungarian film Little Mother. With a plot full of mistaken identities, Bachelor Mother is a light-hearted treatment of the otherwise serious issues of child abandonment.
Thomas Leo McCarey was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was involved in nearly 200 films, including the critically acclaimed Duck Soup, Make Way for Tomorrow, The Awful Truth, Going My Way, The Bells of St. Mary's, My Son John and An Affair to Remember.
Irene Dunne was an American actress who appeared in films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She is best known for her comedic roles, though she performed in films of other genres.
Garson Kanin was an American writer and director of plays and films.
They Knew What They Wanted is a 1940 film directed by Garson Kanin, written by Robert Ardrey, and starring Carole Lombard, Charles Laughton and William Gargan. It is based on the 1924 Pulitzer Prize winning play They Knew What They Wanted by Sidney Howard. For his performance Gargan was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Karl Malden made his film debut.
Something's Got to Give is an unfinished American feature film shot in 1962, directed by George Cukor for 20th Century Fox and starring Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse. A remake of My Favorite Wife (1940), a screwball comedy starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, it was Monroe's last work, but from the beginning of its production it was disrupted by her personal troubles, and after her death on August 4, 1962, the film was abandoned. Most of its completed footage remained unseen for many years.
Move Over, Darling is a 1963 American comedy film starring Doris Day, James Garner, and Polly Bergen and directed by Michael Gordon filmed in DeLuxe Color and CinemaScope released by 20th Century Fox.
Holiday is a 1938 American romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor, a remake of the 1930 film of the same name.
The comedy of remarriage is a subgenre of American comedy films of the 1930s and 1940s. At the time, the Production Code, also known as the Hays Code, banned any explicit references to or attempts to justify adultery and illicit sex. The comedy of remarriage with the same spouse enabled filmmakers to evade this provision of the Code. The protagonists divorced, flirted, or even had relationships, with strangers without risking the wrath of censorship, and then got back together.
Gail Patrick was an American film actress and television producer. Often cast as the bad girl or the other woman, she appeared in more than 60 feature films between 1932 and 1948, notably My Man Godfrey (1936), Stage Door (1937), and My Favorite Wife (1940).
Fay Kanin was an American screenwriter, playwright and producer. Kanin was president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1979 to 1983.
Michael Kanin was an American director, producer, playwright and screenwriter who shared an Academy Award with Ring Lardner Jr. for writing the Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy film comedy Woman of the Year (1942).
Once Upon a Honeymoon is a 1942 romantic comedy/drama starring Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, and Walter Slezak, directed by Leo McCarey, and released by RKO Radio Pictures. It was nominated for the Oscar for Best Sound Recording.
Tom, Dick and Harry is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Garson Kanin and starring Ginger Rogers, George Murphy, Alan Marshal, Phil Silvers, and Burgess Meredith. It was produced and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The screen play written by Paul Jarrico, Rogers was working on the film when she was awarded the Oscar as Best Actress for her 1940 performance in Kitty Foyle. It was her first film released after her Oscar win. It was remade as The Girl Most Likely (1957), a musical which was also the last film released by RKO.
References
1 2 Richard Jewell, "RKO Film Grosses: 1931–1951", Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 14, No 1, 1994. p. 55
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