Wow! Such a good movie.

Very well executed

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Lawyer Nick Arden (Cary Grant) has just remarried when his first wife Ellen (Irene Dunne) returns from presumed death by shipwreck seven years earlier. Not even her children recognise her, and in the meantime she has been declared legally dead and the life insurance has paid out.This is a decent enough film and if you are a Cary Grant or Irene Dunne fan you will want to see it. There are not as many screwball laughs as there might have been, the character's motivations are not quite plausible and the plot is a bit lumpy but it is really quite enjoyable.Remade as 'Move over, Darling' in 1963, whether you will prefer this version probably depends on whether you like your movies with the flavour of the 1940s or the 1960s.I give it (in the context of the time) an 8/10.

Though not as spontaneously hilarious as Dunne and Grant's earlier pairing in "The Awful Truth" (1937), "My Favorite Wife" again displays the masterful comedic timing and wonderful on screen romantic chemistry that Irene and Cary shared. Just as she did in "The Awful Truth", Miss Dunne has to use every trick at her disposal in order to goad Cary Grant into doing the right thing. She not only has to compete against her replacement spouse counterpart and ice queen Bianca, she has to win her husband and the father of her children back...all the way back to the marriage bed. The end scene with Cary Grant dressed as Santa Claus and wishing Irene Dunne a Merry Christmas is hysterical. Because of the strict movie code of the time, he can't come right out and say what special gift he is delivering to her but the audience knows just the same! Movies were so much more entertaining back then because they left so much to the imagination, thereby enriching moviegoers' imaginations in the process.

It's a sad state of affairs when the best scenes and lines of dialog in a movie are offered up by the support players instead of the principals. I'm referring to Donald MacBride as the hotel clerk and Granville Bates as the distracted judge in the divorce hearing. I thought the best moments in the picture were the scenes with those two in them.I had a definite impression the film makers were going for screwball comedy here but it just didn't pan out in my estimation. There were some funny scenes to be sure, Nick's (Cary Grant) sideways tilt seeing 'dead' Ellen (Irene Dunne) for the first time while in the elevator was done well. Overall however, the life went out of the movie for me with Nick's refusal to come to grips with the situation, and Ellen's playing him along with the foolish set-ups at home and the lodge. As for Bianca (Gail Patrick), the script treated her miserably; it's no wonder she appeared bummed out most of the time. She had good reason.My best takeaway from the picture rests with the physical presence of the main characters. Grant and Randolph Scott fill their roles with the requisite good looks that leading men of the era embodied; Scott was even given a decent beefcake scene at the swimming pool for admiring fans of the day. Irene Dunne was actually older than Grant by six years, but with a glowing, youthful appearance that the story line should have taken better advantage of. I thought Gail Patrick was an attractive catch for Nick, and it would have been nice if the story offered her a chance to crack a smile every now and then. As it is, she was the only character who's actions were credible and decisive, even though given short shrift in the story's resolution.

This is not my favourite screwball comedy of all time or anything, but I did really enjoy it. It is compared to The Awful Truth, and I will say I do prefer The Awful Truth, and while people may find this blasphemous I preferred 1963's Move Over Darling too.Where the film doesn't quite succeed is that it felt a little too short, the film's end takes a little too long and felt misplaced and there are some moments in the middle where the film drags a bit.However, it looks good, is well directed, is well scored, while the story is great, the screenplay a lot of fun and the performances from Irene Dunne, Gail Patrick and especially Cary Grant are fun. In terms of casting, the only weak link is Randolph Scott, not that he was terrible or anything but he is very underused seeing his role feels I agree more of a cameo than a fully-fleshed out character. So overall, good but not great, worth seeing for Grant. 6.5/10 Bethany Cox