Still image from the 1940 film My Favorite Wife.

My Favorite Wife

Directed by Garson Kanin

A shipwrecked woman is rescued just in time for her husband's re-marriage.

1940 1h 28m Comedy TV-G

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CAST
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Garson Kanin, Director
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Garson Kanin
Director

1

Irene Dunne, Ellen [Arden]
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Irene Dunne
Ellen [Arden]

2

Cary Grant, Nick [Arden]
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Cary Grant
Nick [Arden]

3

Randolph Scott, [Stephen] Burkett
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Randolph Scott
[Stephen] Burkett

4

Gail Patrick, Bianca [Bates]
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Gail Patrick
Bianca [Bates]

5

Ann Shoemaker, Ma [Arden]
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Ann Shoemaker
Ma [Arden]

FULL SYNOPSIS

After being shipwrecked on an island off the coast of Indonesia for seven years, Ellen Arden returns home on the very day that her husband Nick has had her declared dead so that he can marry Bianca Bates. After learning from her sympathetic mother-in-law that Nicky has left for Yosemite on his honeymoon, Ellen flies off to the honeymoon lodge, the same one, in fact, where she and Nicky spent their own honeymoon. When Nick sees Ellen just as he enters the lodge elevator with Bianca, he can't believe his eyes, but soon discovers that his beloved Ellen has returned. After his initial elation at having Ellen back, however, he is soon confronted with the reality that he now has two wives. Although he admits to Ellen that he never really loved Bianca, whom he met on the boat on the way back from searching for Ellen, Nicky cannot bring himself to tell Bianca that she is a lame duck. Instead, he thinks of a variety of excuses why he must leave their honeymoon suite and not behave as a bridgegroom should. Bianca is certain that there is something wrong with Nicky, especially when they return home and he refuses to tell his children, Tim and Chinch, that Bianca is their stepmother. Ellen decides to torment him by masquerading as a friend of the family from the South. After Bianca goes to bed with a headache and calls her mother to complain about Nicky's eratic behavior, Nicky receives a late-night visit from an insurance investigator representing the company which paid Ellen's l...


VIDEOS
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Ben Mankiewicz Intro...
NaNmHosted Intro
You Casanova You!
NaNmMovie Clip
Are You the Bride?
NaNmMovie Clip
Stranger Than Fiction...
NaNmMovie Clip
Bigamy!
NaNmMovie Clip
Original Trailer
NaNmTrailer

ARTICLES
Based on Lord Tennyson's poem, "Enoch Arden," My Favorite Wife (1940) once again pairs Irene Dunne and Cary Grant in a romantic farce. The two first appeared together in The Awful Truth (1937), a classic screwball comedy directed by Leo McCarey. Working with Sam and Bella Spewack on the original story, McCarey intended to direct My Favorite Wife, but prior to filming he was involved in a very serious car accident, forcing him to relinquish his directorial responsibilities. Instead, McCarey tapped screenwriter Garson Kanin to direct and the prominent scenarist rose to the occasion quite successfully. McCarey was able to produce the movie, enjoying continued involvement in his pet project, and along with the Spewacks, received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay for their work. My Favorite Wife also received Oscar nominations for Best Score (Roy Webb) and Best Art Direction (Van Nest Polglase and Mark-Lee Kirk). The movie was one of six films based on Tennyson's poem. McCarey originally planned the film for Jean Arthur under the working title, Woman Overboard, but she was committed to other projects (she eventually made a film - Too Many Husbands (1940) - which had a similar plot). Other versions of "Enoch Arden" include D.W. Griffith's film of the same name, which premiered in 1911. Another version, Something's Got to Give, went into production in 1962 with Marilyn Monroe but was never completed since the actress dropped out during filming (it was her f...

NOTES

Although the film was based on a story by Samuel and Bella Spewack and Leo McCarey, it was very loosely inspired by Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem Enoch Arden in which a man who has been lost at sea for several years returns home to find that his wife believed him dead and remarried. According to information contained in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, J. R. McDonough, Vice President of RKO, was warned by the PCA to tone down scenes referring to a sexual relationship between "Ann" and "Burkett," as well as the suggestion in the final scene in which "Nick" tries to share "Ellen's" bed before his marriage has been declared annulled. The suggestiveness was toned down in both instances. The film's premiere was held in Louisville, KY, the hometown of star Irene Dunne. The film was nominated for the following Academy Awards: Best Art Direction, Best Original Score, and Best Original Story. In December 1940, the story was presented on the Lux Radio Theatre starring Laurence Olivier and Rosalind Russell. According to modern sources, Garson Kanin stepped in to direct portions of the film after Leo McCarey was involved in a near-fatal car accident. The story was to be remade by Fox in the spring of 1962 under the title Something's Got to Give. That production starred Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin and was directed by George Cukor. Monroe was fired from the film for her frequent absences, however, and died shortly thereafter. All of the footage from that production was subsequently shelved and a new production was made by Fox in 1963 under the title Move Over Darling, directed by Michael Gordon and starring James Garner, Doris Day and Polly Bergen (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1961-70; F6.3323). Some footage of the Monroe version was included in a 1991 Fox Television Network documentary on her.

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