My Favorite Wife (1940)

My Favorite Wife stars Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. This is a entertaining movie in every aspect from story line right down to the setting. Irene Dunne is lost at sea for seven years. Cary Grant has her declared dead so he can remarry to a woman the audience will immediately dislike. Irene Dunne, who plays Ellen Ardin, is found shipwrecked on an island and rescued.

She arrives home just in time to stop the honeymoon before the marriage is consummated. The husband, Nick Arden, played by Cary Grant, does not know his wife has been found alive. This makes for a comedy of errors with the new wife and the old wife, both at a tropical resort for a honeymoon retreat.

As the movie plays out with Ellen, the old wife being quite upset over her husband's, Nick's, new marriage neglects to tell him that she was marooned for seven years with one other person on the island. A man who is the muscle sprouting ,handsome , and athletic type. When he learns this, his jealousy rages.

They have two children together that do not remember their mother, they were young when she was lost at sea.

Ann Shoemaker plays Nick's mother who is on Ellens side. She wants the new wife out of the picture and Ellen back in.

Court proceedings, arrests, chases, and acts to get the other person jealous, all of these make for fast paced film and it keeps your interest through the whole thing.

When watching this movie look at the architecture of the homes and the beautiful furnishings. Check out the appliances in the kitchen and the nick knacks laced through out the house. These are some interesting and beautiful pieces.

The clothes that are worn in the film are exquisitely detailed, unlike the clothes of today. The cars are all new for the year 1940 and look like they were just driven out of the show room. They just don't make things like they use to.

Enjoy this movie. There was a remake of this with Doris Day and James Gardner, but this is the original and the best.