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Film Talk
Film Talk Saturday
26Aug
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Saturday, August 26, 2006 at 10:03
Continuing my research, I watched My Favorite Wife (1940), directed by Garson Kanin and starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. It's about a wife who returns to her family after being shipwrecked on a deserted island for seven years -- on the very day her husband had her declared legally dead and married another woman. Implausibilities notwithstanding, this seems to set up a pretty good conflict. Well-handled, nobody would mind suspending their disbelief to go with the story. Unfortunately, the film lacks energy and -- conflict!
Instead of digging out a story line we could care about, the film piles implausibility upon implausibility and uses all manner of easy tricks to get Cary Grant and Irene Dunne to "do" Cary Grant (befuddled and charming) and Irene Dunne (witty and perky) to the extreme. Both performances are annoying as hell.
Due to the mores of the day, it would have been unthinkable for Cary Grant's character to consummate his marriage with his new bride and then leave her for his long-lost wife. So instead we watch Cary Grant devise every lame excuse to avoid sleeping with his bride. Of course, they couldn't make it too obvious, so the pretense is he's too chicken to tell her about his wife's return. The new bride is not unlikable enough to forgive Grant for his behavior, and he only ends up looking like a cad. Meanwhile, it turns out Irene Dunne was not marooned alone. She had the company of a virile Johnny Weissmuller look-alike. So the story flips to Grant's jealousy and Dunne's punishing him for not trusting her.
This was one of those films that had me talking back to the TV and rewriting the script at least three different ways. There must be a story behind how these top talents managed to turn out such a boring film. Studio politics, a rush job, moral codes? Because the fixes seem so obvious.
Despite the disappointments, there were a few good moments: when Grant first sees Irene Dunne; when he first sees the Johnny Weissmuller look-alike (swinging from a set of rings before doing an Olympic-worthy dive into a swimming pool); a toy doll in the attic that falls and, in a very heartbreaking voice, says "mama;" the judge; and the kids, who are the best actors in the film.
Instead of digging out a story line we could care about, the film piles implausibility upon implausibility and uses all manner of easy tricks to get Cary Grant and Irene Dunne to "do" Cary Grant (befuddled and charming) and Irene Dunne (witty and perky) to the extreme. Both performances are annoying as hell.
Due to the mores of the day, it would have been unthinkable for Cary Grant's character to consummate his marriage with his new bride and then leave her for his long-lost wife. So instead we watch Cary Grant devise every lame excuse to avoid sleeping with his bride. Of course, they couldn't make it too obvious, so the pretense is he's too chicken to tell her about his wife's return. The new bride is not unlikable enough to forgive Grant for his behavior, and he only ends up looking like a cad. Meanwhile, it turns out Irene Dunne was not marooned alone. She had the company of a virile Johnny Weissmuller look-alike. So the story flips to Grant's jealousy and Dunne's punishing him for not trusting her.
This was one of those films that had me talking back to the TV and rewriting the script at least three different ways. There must be a story behind how these top talents managed to turn out such a boring film. Studio politics, a rush job, moral codes? Because the fixes seem so obvious.
Despite the disappointments, there were a few good moments: when Grant first sees Irene Dunne; when he first sees the Johnny Weissmuller look-alike (swinging from a set of rings before doing an Olympic-worthy dive into a swimming pool); a toy doll in the attic that falls and, in a very heartbreaking voice, says "mama;" the judge; and the kids, who are the best actors in the film.
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