My Favorite Wife

Irene Dunne is washed overboard from a boat and is missing for 7 years. The story opens with Cary Grant in court having her declared dead, and marrying his new sweetheart. (Naturally, she is a bit spoiled.) And of course Irene shows up at home that very day, dressed in a sailor suit, picked up by a freighter after being marooned all those years. Her kids don’t remember her. She flies to Tahoe in time to see Cary get in the elevator with his new bride. Cary’s reaction is priceless, his head following the closing door until you know he’s about to fall over. Later, he learns that during those 7 years she shared the island with Randolph Scott, and that they called each other Adam and Eve. In a drama the fact that everything he does from that point on is pretty stupid would bother me, but this is a screwball comedy, and one of the best, so that sort of thing is par for the course. Necessary, in fact, or we wouldn’t have a comedy. Grant and Dunne are just wonderful, every word and gesture pitch perfect. Randolph Scott is damn good, too, as the hyper-athletic guy who intimidates the hell out of Cary Grant just by existing.