Just as in sports, it's nice to have a deep bench for Hollywood studios when it comes to directors. Fortunately for RKO Pictures, when Leo McCarey was involved in a serious car accident right before filming May 1940's "My Favorite Wife," the studio turned to Garson Kanin to direct the Cary Grant and Irene Dunne comedy. The jack-of-all trades playwright and screenwriter who broke into cinema by directing his first movie, 1938's "A Man to Remember," Kanin was prepared to replace McCarey immediately after directing five additional films.
Film critic Pauline Kael noticed that "Garson Kanin was 27 (and at his liveliest) when he directed this screwball-classic hit." Film reviewer John Sinnott added "This is a comic masterpiece, one of the great romantic comedies of the era. Every time I watch it I seem to enjoy it more."
"My Favorite Wife" almost wasn't quite the treasure it turned out to be. McCarey, on his feet after a couple of weeks recuperating, visited the set and saw "My Favorite Wife's" first preview. He noticed "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." The movie opened with a judge presiding over the request from attorney Nick Arden (Cary Grant) to declare his missing wife Ellen (Irene Dunne) dead after her ship sank seven years before. He wanted an official resolution to marry Bianca (Gail Patrick), which the judge approved.
McCarey had Kanin rewrite the conclusion to bring back the judge. "When the film was previewed again, it worked," McCarey remembered. The New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther credits actor Granville Bates (Judge Bryson) for making the final scenes a fitting ending. "Mr. Bates deserves a separate mention for his masterpiece of comic creation," praised Crowther. Bates died of a heart attack a few months in July 1940 after filming wrapped.
"My Favorite Wife," based on Lord Alfred Tennyson's 1864 poem 'Enoch Arden' which was previously made into six silent films, switches genders, with the wife declared dead. The missing Ellen returns to find her husband married to Bianca. In one of cinema's more funnier scenes, Irene goes to the hotel where Nick is celebrating his honeymoon. As the elevator door in the lobby closes, Nick spots his 'dead' wife, shifting his head in disbelief as the door closes. "It is a classic scene," writes film reviewer Sinnott. "Cary Grant can get a laugh with a simple facial expression easier than any other actor of his time."
Nick and Ellen eventually link up with their two children and declare their love for each other. But there's a wrinkle in their reunion: During the seven years Ellen was on a deserted island, she spent the entire time with one other survivor, Stephen Burkett (Randolph Scott). That's when things get sticky for everyone involved. Nominated for the Academy Awards' Best Story, "My Favorite Wife" was similar to the earlier Grant/Dunne 1937 classic "The Awful Truth." Film historian Richard Jewell notes, "Both in theme and execution, 'My Favorite Wife' was a quasisequel to 'The Awful Truth.'" This was Grant and Dunne's second of three movies together, which Irene enjoyed immensely. She reminisced, "I appeared with many leading men. But working with Cary Grant was different from working with other actors - he was much more fun! I think we were a successful team because we enjoyed working together tremendously, and that pleasure must have shown through onto the screen." One locale the two especially loved filming was at the famous Ahwahnee Hotel at Yosemite National Park, where director Stanley Kubrick based the interiors of the hotel in his 1980 "The Shining."
Roy Webb was nominated for composing the Academy Awards Best Score while it was also a Best Art Direction nominee. A 1962 remake of "My Favorite Wife" was in production, "Something's Got to Give" with Dean Martin, Cyd Charisse and Marilyn Monroe before it was abandoned when Monroe underwent a myriad of mental problems and died. A year later, Doris Day and James Garner used the same framework in 1963's "Move Over, Darling," with Garner duplicating Grant's famous elevator scene.
Film critic Pauline Kael noticed that "Garson Kanin was 27 (and at his liveliest) when he directed this screwball-classic hit." Film reviewer John Sinnott added "This is a comic masterpiece, one of the great romantic comedies of the era. Every time I watch it I seem to enjoy it more."
"My Favorite Wife" almost wasn't quite the treasure it turned out to be. McCarey, on his feet after a couple of weeks recuperating, visited the set and saw "My Favorite Wife's" first preview. He noticed "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." The movie opened with a judge presiding over the request from attorney Nick Arden (Cary Grant) to declare his missing wife Ellen (Irene Dunne) dead after her ship sank seven years before. He wanted an official resolution to marry Bianca (Gail Patrick), which the judge approved.
McCarey had Kanin rewrite the conclusion to bring back the judge. "When the film was previewed again, it worked," McCarey remembered. The New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther credits actor Granville Bates (Judge Bryson) for making the final scenes a fitting ending. "Mr. Bates deserves a separate mention for his masterpiece of comic creation," praised Crowther. Bates died of a heart attack a few months in July 1940 after filming wrapped.
"My Favorite Wife," based on Lord Alfred Tennyson's 1864 poem 'Enoch Arden' which was previously made into six silent films, switches genders, with the wife declared dead. The missing Ellen returns to find her husband married to Bianca. In one of cinema's more funnier scenes, Irene goes to the hotel where Nick is celebrating his honeymoon. As the elevator door in the lobby closes, Nick spots his 'dead' wife, shifting his head in disbelief as the door closes. "It is a classic scene," writes film reviewer Sinnott. "Cary Grant can get a laugh with a simple facial expression easier than any other actor of his time."
Nick and Ellen eventually link up with their two children and declare their love for each other. But there's a wrinkle in their reunion: During the seven years Ellen was on a deserted island, she spent the entire time with one other survivor, Stephen Burkett (Randolph Scott). That's when things get sticky for everyone involved. Nominated for the Academy Awards' Best Story, "My Favorite Wife" was similar to the earlier Grant/Dunne 1937 classic "The Awful Truth." Film historian Richard Jewell notes, "Both in theme and execution, 'My Favorite Wife' was a quasisequel to 'The Awful Truth.'" This was Grant and Dunne's second of three movies together, which Irene enjoyed immensely. She reminisced, "I appeared with many leading men. But working with Cary Grant was different from working with other actors - he was much more fun! I think we were a successful team because we enjoyed working together tremendously, and that pleasure must have shown through onto the screen." One locale the two especially loved filming was at the famous Ahwahnee Hotel at Yosemite National Park, where director Stanley Kubrick based the interiors of the hotel in his 1980 "The Shining."
Roy Webb was nominated for composing the Academy Awards Best Score while it was also a Best Art Direction nominee. A 1962 remake of "My Favorite Wife" was in production, "Something's Got to Give" with Dean Martin, Cyd Charisse and Marilyn Monroe before it was abandoned when Monroe underwent a myriad of mental problems and died. A year later, Doris Day and James Garner used the same framework in 1963's "Move Over, Darling," with Garner duplicating Grant's famous elevator scene.