my favorite wife
Leo McCarey was supposed to both produce and direct My Favorite Wife, but an illness forced him to relinquish the director’s chair to Garson Kanin, who did a splendid job. [1]
My Favorite Wife (released in the U.K. as My Favourite Wife) is a 1940 screwball comedy starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant that tells the story of a woman returning home to her husband and children after being shipwrecked on a tropical island for seven years. [2]
I agree that Move Over Darling is a very good remake of My Favorite Wife, but Doris Day and James Garner, much as I like them, cannot reach the level of sophistication of Grant/Dunne. [3]
This hilarious retread of the old “Enoch Arden” legend stars Irene Dunne as Ellen, who returns home to her husband Nick (Cary Grant) and children Tim (Ann Shoemaker) and Chinch (Mary Lou Harrington) after being marooned on a desert island for seven years. [1]
Ellen reaches Nick just before he embarks on his honeymoon. [2]
When his wife is believed dead after seven years missing at sea, a dashing attorney marries again only to have his first wife suddenly appear on his honeymoon night. [4]
Some of the film’s highlights are worth mentioning here, like the superimposition of Burkett performing gymnastic feats alongside Nick Arden’s troubled face as he muses at his desk, conveying with economy the husband’s jealous preoccupation. [...] That master player of light, witty material, Grant, is of course sublime, and I was surprised by Irene Dunne - who I had never previously seen in a lead film role. [3]
They are both wonderful actors and this is a very funny movie with witty dialogue. [1]
Unlike the vastly inferior remake, Move Over, Darling, just about everything in Wife is absolutely right, starting with that farceur par excellence Cary Grant and that quintessence of wifely charm Irene Dunne. [5]
Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, originally teamed in the 1937 comedy “The Awful Truth”, are back for more fun. [4]
Cary Grant makes this the best of the numerous versions of the script — later attempted as SOMETHING’S GOT TO GIVE (Marilyn Monroe’s last film) and remade as MOVE OVER, DARLING. [3]
The superb supporting cast includes Granville Bates as a flummoxed judge, Chester Clute as a meek shoe salesman whom Ellen tries to pass off as Barkett, and Donald MacBride as a beetle-browed honeymoon-hotel clerk. [...] Upon discovering that Ellen is still alive, Nick is on the verge of a tender reunion-until it discovers that she spent those seven lost years in the company of handsome Mr. Barkett (Randolph Scott). [...] There is a color remake of this movie from the 1960’s called Move Over Darling and starring Doris Day and James Garner and it is a very good, very cute movie but my favorite is this original black and white Grant/Dunne version. [1]
Sources:
[1] My Favorite Wife | Barnes & Noble.com
[2] My Favorite Wife - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[3] My Favorite Wife (1940) - IMDb user comments
[4] My Favorite Wife DVD At DeepDiscount.com
[5] My Favorite Wife 1940: Movie and film review from Answers.com