The Sailor Takes a Wife


1h 31m 1946
The Sailor Takes a Wife

Brief Synopsis

A sailor gets more than he bargained for from a quickie marriage.

Film Details

Also Known As
For Better, For Worse, John and Mary
Genre
Comedy
Adaptation
Release Date
Jan 1946
Premiere Information
release: Jan--Feb 1946
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Distribution Company
Loew's Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the play Happily Ever After by Chester Erskine (copyrighted 28 May 1943).

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 31m
Sound
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1

Synopsis

In New York City, on an October night in 1944, John Hill, a sailor from California, shares a carriage ride and a kiss with Mary Breckenridge, a young stenographer he met only six hours earlier. John and Mary are married later the same night, and immediately begin planning the honeymoon they hope to take when John returns from his military base. The following day, Mary tells her boss, Freddie Potts, a pot manufacturer, that she has married a sailor. Although Freddie himself had hoped to marry her, he helps Mary find a new apartment. John returns to the city two days earlier than expected, and tells Mary that he received a medical discharge from the Navy because of a childhood back injury. As the newlyweds settle into their new apartment, they become embroiled in a series of minor disputes, including one angry quarrel that begins when John ridicules Mary's pajamas. One day, John becomes trapped in his apartment building elevator with Lisa Borescu, a beautiful Romanian shop owner. While Harry, the apartment janitor, tries to free the two stranded tenants, John and Lisa become fast friends. Later that afternoon, Lisa tries to help John find an advertising job at a company owned by her wealthy friend, Mr. Amboy. In the hope of impressing John's future boss, Mary invites Mr. Amboy to a home-cooked meal. Freddie and Lisa are also invited to the dinner, and Freddie arrives bearing a gift of pots for the newlyweds. When Mr. Amboy, a plastic pot manufacturer, presents Mary with his company's pots as a gift, Freddie is angered and becomes argumentative with Mr. Amboy. The evening ends in disaster when John trips and accidentally spills the dinner on Freddie and Mr. Amboy. Freddie leaves the dinner party in a rage, and while Mr. Amboy leaves to change his clothes, Lisa tricks John into visiting her in her apartment. There, Lisa flirts with John, gets him drunk and sends him home with lipstick stains on his face. Believing that John is having an affair with Lisa, Mary becomes upset and locks herself in the bedroom. The next day, on Mary's birthday, John tries to make amends with his wife by cooking her dinner and buying her a black lace nightgown. The plan nearly works until a lavish gift sent by Freddie arrives, and John becomes jealous. A quarrel ensues, and Mary goes to Freddie's seeking comfort. John follows Mary to Freddie's, where he threatens to harm Freddie if he continues to meddle in their marriage. All ends happily, though, when Lisa helps John and Mary reconcile, and the couple agrees to put aside their petty quarreling.

Film Details

Also Known As
For Better, For Worse, John and Mary
Genre
Comedy
Adaptation
Release Date
Jan 1946
Premiere Information
release: Jan--Feb 1946
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Distribution Company
Loew's Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the play Happily Ever After by Chester Erskine (copyrighted 28 May 1943).

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 31m
Sound
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1

Articles

The Sailor Takes a Wife


When a fresh-faced USO hostess Mary (June Allyson) and sailor John (Robert Walker) get married at the end of a whirlwind six hour courtship, all will end well, right? Not so much when the sailor's tour of duty is cut short and the new couple has to set up house in a hurry -- especially when a bedtime ends in tears when he makes fun of her frumpy pajamas. Meanwhile, the exotic Romanian shop owner (noir bad girl staple Audrey Totter) invites her new neighbor over for shots of slivovitz. Walker had recently played a soldier in Bataan (1943) and so was fresh in viewer's minds as a soldier. Onscreen, he was an aw-shucks everyman, but off-screen he was a wreck, bedeviled by mental illness, alcoholism, and a broken heart after wife Jennifer Jones left him for producer David O. Selznick. This movie provides a happy marital ending that eluded Walker in real life. (Side note: scenes with African-American actor Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, most famous for playing Jack Benny's butler foil on radio, were excised from some prints in the South because Walker tips his hat to Anderson in one scene.)

By Violet Levoit
The Sailor Takes A Wife

The Sailor Takes a Wife

When a fresh-faced USO hostess Mary (June Allyson) and sailor John (Robert Walker) get married at the end of a whirlwind six hour courtship, all will end well, right? Not so much when the sailor's tour of duty is cut short and the new couple has to set up house in a hurry -- especially when a bedtime ends in tears when he makes fun of her frumpy pajamas. Meanwhile, the exotic Romanian shop owner (noir bad girl staple Audrey Totter) invites her new neighbor over for shots of slivovitz. Walker had recently played a soldier in Bataan (1943) and so was fresh in viewer's minds as a soldier. Onscreen, he was an aw-shucks everyman, but off-screen he was a wreck, bedeviled by mental illness, alcoholism, and a broken heart after wife Jennifer Jones left him for producer David O. Selznick. This movie provides a happy marital ending that eluded Walker in real life. (Side note: scenes with African-American actor Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, most famous for playing Jack Benny's butler foil on radio, were excised from some prints in the South because Walker tips his hat to Anderson in one scene.) By Violet Levoit

Quotes

Trivia

Notes

Working titles for this film were John and Mary and For Better, For Worse.