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My Favorite Wife (1940)
In Garson Kanin's screwball comedy hit, again pairing
Irene Dunne and Cary Grant after their successful The
Awful Truth (1937), and remade (unsuccessfully) with Marilyn
Monroe as Something's Got To Give (1962):
- the opening court scene in which Judge Bryson (Granville
Bates) declared that 'widowed' lawyer Nick Arden's (Cary Grant)
wife of seven years, Ellen Wagstaff Arden (Irene Dunne), was declared
legally dead after a seven year absence (and presumed drowned in
the Pacific Ocean); immediately, Nick was allowed to remarry second
wife-bride Bianca Bates (Gail Patrick)
- the scenes of Ellen's surprise reappearance at her
home after seven years, where she spoke to her two young children
who didn't know her, Tim (Scott Beckett) and Chinch (Mary Lou Harrington),
and Nick's mother Ma (Ann Shoemaker)
- the subsequent honeymoon scene at Yosemite Park lodge,
when newly-married, 'widowed' lawyer Nick Arden entered the lodge
elevator, and as the door closed taking him and newlywed bride Bianca
up to Suite 'C', Nick caught a surprise glimpse of his first wife
Ellen, supposedly legally dead - however, she had unexpectedly returned
after being shipwrecked for seven years on an island before being
rescued by a Portuguese freighter, and was trying to track him down
(at the same locale where they had honeymooned seven years earlier)
- the frustrations experienced by a perturbed Bianca,
who thought her erratic and strange-acting husband (full of variety
of excuses as he tried to get together with Ellen and avoid his husbandly
duties) was purposely avoiding her on their honeymoon night, especially
when, almost immediately, he declared that he needed a shave in the
hotel's barber shop: ("You know what I need?...A shave...I'll
go down to the barber shop. Be right back...Aw, I feel like a hairy
ape...well, I don't feel right unless I shave...")
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Nick to Avoid Bianca: "You know what I need?...A
shave..."
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Nick's Ordering of a Second Room - Suite 'A' for
Ellen
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Nick's Faked Phone Call to Bianca
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- Nick's second scene with the confused hotel desk
clerk when he snuck away from Bianca and ordered a second room,
Suite 'A', for another wife - Ellen: ("I'd like to have another
room"), and the clerk's reaction: ("What a man!")
- the scene of Nick's faked phone call to Bianca (Nick:
"Something's come up" Bianca: "Why don't you come up?")
that he had left the hotel, was in Carmel and enroute by plane to San
Francisco (it was "a matter of life or death"), but then
he ran into her as he fled from the phone booth - she eyed him suspiciously
- upon their return home from the honeymoon, Nick was
having trouble telling the truth to Bianca ("My wife's come
back"), and he decided to not tell his children that Bianca
was their step-mother; Ellen also tormented and humiliated Nick and
Bianca, by pretending to be a Southern-accented, obnoxious visiting
friend of the family
- the revelation during a late-night visit by an insurance
adjuster/officer Mr. Johnson (Hugh O'Connell), who had paid out Ellen's
American Life Accident insurance policy, that it was rumored (unverified)
that there may have been a second person on the island with Ellen,
named Stephen Burkett (Randolph Scott), who was reported drowned
(and rescued) at the same time; Nick was further inflamed by the
fact that Ellen and Stephen had allegedly called themselves "Adam"
and "Eve" on the island
- crazed by jealousy and feeling like Ellen had deceived
him, Nick tracked down Burkett, finding him to be a handsome, virile,
health-nut and athletic diver and pool swimmer at the posh Pacific
Club - when Nick first spotted Burkett on the diving board, a woman
came up to him and asked: ("Young man? Is that Johnny Weissmuller?"),
and Nick jealously replied: ("No, I wish it were")
- the scene of Ellen unsuccessfully trying to fool Nick
by recruiting a mousy, bald-headed shoe salesman (Chester Clute)
to claim that he was the "Adam" character while they were
on the island
- the courtroom scenes, after Nick was arrested for
bigamy, with befuddled Judge Bryson confused by the complications
of the case, who had already declared Ellen legally dead, annulled
the first marriage, and approved the second marriage; after he annulled
Nick's second marriage, Bianca added that Nick was "legally
dead" to her after punching him in the face (and causing a bloody
nose); the judge noted: ("I'd like to tell my wife about this
case. She thinks all my cases are dull")
The Complicated Courtroom Case
Nick Charged With Bigamy
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Nick Arrested for Bigamy
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Before the Judge
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Judge Bryson
(Granville Bates)
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- the final reconciliation scene in their mountain
cabin between a still non-committal Nick with Ellen, who were sleeping
in separate rooms; after she threatened that he take a sixty-day
cruise and come back around Christmas (Ellen: "Well, that's
not so long. Let's see, November, December, 23, 2...it could be
just about Christmas time. You come back and talk to me about it
then. We'll have a lovely Christmas. After all, what's 59 days
more?"), he left, but returned soon after dressed up as Santa
Claus to join her in her bedroom rather than sleep separately in
the attic; he pulled down his fake beard and wished her a "Merry
Christmas!" [The words "Good night" were written
in white letters on a black screen as the film ended]
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In Court: Nick Arden's (Cary Grant) Remarriage to Bianca
(Gail Patrick)
Ellen's Surprise Reappearance at Her Home - When Husband
Nick Was Away on His Honeymoon
At Yosemite Lodge - Nick Arden with 2nd Wife Bianca
Nick's Glimpse of First Wife Ellen From Elevator
Ellen (Irene Dunne) - In the Lobby of the Lodge
Ellen Pretending to Be Southern Friend of the Arden
Family
Life Insurance Adjuster
Ellen's "Adam" - Virile Stephen Burkett
(Randolph Scott)
Shoe Salesman Masquerading as "Adam"
Last Scene: Nick Dressed as Santa
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