My Favorite Wife

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My Favorite Wife
Image:My favorite wife.jpg
Directed by Garson Kanin
Produced by Leo McCarey
Written by Leo McCarey
Samuel and Bella Spewack
Starring Irene Dunne
Cary Grant
Randolph Scott
Gail Patrick
Music by Roy Webb
Cinematography Rudolph Maté
Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures
Release date(s) 1940
Running time 88 min.
Language English
IMDb profile

My Favorite Wife (released in the UK as My Favourite Wife) is a 1940 screwball comedy that tells the story of a woman returning home to her husband and children after being shipwrecked on a tropical island for seven years. It is a reworking of Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem 'Enoch Arden'; in tribute, the main characters' last name is Arden. Garson Kanin directed.

Contents

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Ellen Wagstaff Arden (Irene Dunne) returns to her beloved husband Nick (Cary Grant), just as he has had her declared legally dead (seven years being the minimum period required), so he can marry the high strung Bianca (Gail Patrick). Ellen reaches Nick just before he embarks on his honeymoon. Further complications ensue when Nick discovers that the virile Stephen Beckett (Randolph Scott) was alone with Ellen on the island all those years.

Spoilers end here.

  • Irene Dunne .... Ellen Wagstaff Arden
  • Cary Grant .... Nick Arden
  • Randolph Scott .... Stephen Burkett
  • Gail Patrick .... Bianca Bates
  • Ann Shoemaker .... Ma
  • Scotty Beckett .... Tim
  • Mary Lou Harrington .... Chinch
  • Donald MacBride .... Hotel clerk
  • Hugh O'Connell .... Johnson
  • Granville Bates .... Judge
  • Pedro de Cordoba .... Dr. Kohlmar

The scene where Nick (Grant) visualizes Stephen (Scott) doing an athletic workout, including gymnastics and diving, seems to parody persistent rumors about the two men having a long-time affair in real life.

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. There were problems 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. Following Monroe's death in August 1962, Doris Day and James Garner were cast, and the new version was released by Fox as Move Over, Darling (1963).

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