Now here is a fine pickle for a Catholic film reviewer who believes in the sanctity of marriage.  How does such a person handle a situation wherein a wife, presumed dead for seven years (with good reason), reappears on the day you marry another woman?  This is not something that has happened to me, thankfully, but is the premise for today’s film, My Favorite Wife (1940).  If it was me in this predicament, I know one of the first people to which I would turn would be my spiritual director.  You can read the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church as many times as you please and not find any guidance on such a mess.  Yet, because I focused on the Sacrament of marriage in my last Irene Dunne/Cary Grant feature, The Awful Truth (1937), I will take a different aspect of this story when I get to my full Catholic analysis.  In the meantime, enjoy my unpacking of the enjoyable little mess that is My Favorite Wife.

You rarely see a man marrying the woman he might call My Favorite Wife, or any woman for that matter, in a church in classic films.  Incidentally, that is the only place for Catholics to have a wedding for it to be considered Sacramental, but I digress.  Instead, as is so common for this era in Hollywood, Nick Arden (Cary Grant) is the courtroom in front of Judge Bryson (Granville Bates) in order to be wedded to Bianca Bates (Gail Patrick).  First things first, however: lawyer Nick is filing a petition to have his first spouse, Ellen Arden (Irene Dunne), declared legally dead.  As Nick haltingly explains, thanks to Judge Bryson’s many interruptions, she had drowned during an anthropological expedition to the Pacific.  While these legal proceedings take place, the very much alive Ellen arrives at the home she once shared with Nick and their two children, Chinch (Mary Lou Harrington) and Tim (Scotty Beckett).  Because she left when they were infants, they do no recognize her.  The one who immediately knows the identity of this person is Nick’s mother (Ann Shoemaker), who is watching Chinch and Tim while their father weds Bianca and they leave on their honeymoon.  Once Nick’s mom recovers from her shock, she soon informs Ellen that Nick is marrying another woman.  If only all our characters were as honest as this elder, as God would like us to be.  Ellen is given the destination for Nick and his new bride, which happens to be where he and Ellen had spent their wedding night.  Ellen travels there, arriving before the newlyweds.  He does not initially see her in the lobby before getting into the elevator up to his room, only spotting her as the lift is closing.  From that point on, he is thrown into a frenzy, needing to find some kind of excuse to go back down to see her.  This is the moment he should have revealed God’s truth to Bianca, but again, comedy.  Once Ellen and Nick are finally face-to-face, it is evident that he still cares for her.  Yet, this puts him in the bind that I described in the introduction.  This is what I will be talking about further in the next paragraph, but for now I will give him credit for not wanting to hurt anyone’s feelings.  His solution, though, is little better, preferring to stay clear of Bianca as much as possible.  When he is finally pried from Ellen’s presence by the hotel clerk (Donald MacBride), he behaves irritably with Bianca.  Meanwhile, Ellen decides to return to her home and children, wanting to spend some time with them.  She, too, is trying to figure out how best to let them know that she is their real mother.  Before she can think of something, Bianca and Nick return home, driving through the night to arrive.  Once more, the pressure is on for Nick to find a way to let down Bianca, which is made all the more difficult by her hysterics over essentially being ignored.  This time Nick is saved by the doorbell.  This turns out to be a life insurance adjustor who is going over the details of Ellen’s case.  It is at this moment that Nick learns of Stephen Burkett (Randolph Scott).  He had been a survivor on the deserted island with Ellen, and they had even nicknamed each other Adam and Eve.  Nick confronts Ellen with this revelation, but she claims it is nothing, and that Stephen lives hand-to-mouth at the local Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA).  Yes, you could once live at your local Y.  Nick wants to meet Stephen, and Ellen says that will happen when Nick admits to Bianca what has happened with Ellen.  Stephen, though, is not the short, middle-aged man Ellen preemptively presents to Nick in his office.  Instead, Nick had tracked Stephen to a nearby club, and Stephen is a young, champion diver (I guess).  Nick brings Ellen to the same establishment for an uncomfortable reunion.  Though Stephen believes the way is open for him to marry Ellen, he does reassure Nick that nothing happened between them during the seven years on the island.  Yet, the whole sordid affair is beginning to come to light, and soon Nick is arrested for bigamy.  This brings Bianca, Ellen, Nick, and Stephen before Judge Bryson.  As the poor old courtroom overseer attempts to make sense of this mess, Stephen takes Ellen aside to try to convince her to return with him to the island.  She refuses, not simply because she is still in love with Nick, but also because of the children.  They return to the courtroom just after Bianca has punched Nick in the nose and storms away.  Ellen and Nick are dismissed, too, when he accidentally spills water on the brief Judge Bryson is attempting to use to parse the case.  Still, Ellen is a little peeved by Nick’s noncommittal stance to this point.  She carries this on as they decide to take the children to their house in the mountains.  He wants to stay, but she tells him to leave.  He goes for a little bit, but it is long enough for her to tell Chinch and Tim that she is their mother, and for Nick’s mother to phone to say that Judge Bryson has declared Ellen legally alive.  Importantly, this means she is still married to Nick.  Thus, when he returns, after some more teasing, she finally accepts him back.

I am not sure my discussion of My Favorite Wife made any sense of how a Catholic would handle such a predicament. Actually, the title did turn me off for a moment.  Had I not had such fun watching Dunne and Grant in The Awful Truth, I might have put off seeing My Favorite Wife.  Even if it is a comedy, it should not be shocking that Nick is arrested for bigamy.  Having multiple wives is illegal in every state, including Utah, and yes, there is a Christian component to this, no offense to our protestant brothers.  The bigger reason, though, has to do with taxes and such, but we will avoid that issue.  Getting back to the movie, Nick could have avoided legal troubles had he been up front from the beginning with Bianca.  There is a key moment, though, that touched my Christian heart and spoke to me on a personal level.  When Nick is first presented with an alive Ellen, he understands that he must tell Bianca.  He is prevented from doing so because he does not want to hurt her feelings.  His more precise words are that he wants to do right by everybody.  Following Jesus can sometimes seem like a tricky path.  We look at complicated situations and think that only God knows the correct way forward.  This is true, of course.  God is all-knowing.  At the same time, He gives us pretty straight forward instructions for handling anything, and that is to love.  I empathize with Nick because to deliver to someone a truth as difficult as the one he must tell Bianca means risking hurt feelings.  To be a Christian, at least in a narrow interpretation of it, means that we do our best to avoid purposely injuring others, emotionally or physically.  There is a phrase that covers this idea, and that is to speak the truth in love.  That does not mean a lack of tears.  We cannot control others’ emotions.  But that is always the right thing by everyone, to echo Nick.  Then again, had he followed this principle, there would not have been a movie.  Luckily, Ellen is forgiving.

Make My Favorite Wife another classic film that gets my recommendation.  I cannot say that a bias is forming.  At the same time, I have found more consistent enjoyment from older movies than newer ones.  Call me old-fashioned if you like, but they are better.