My Favorite Wife

"The funniest, fastest honeymoon ever screened!"

1940 1h 28m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

🍅

86%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.2

IMDB

★7.0TMDB · 177🍅86%Rotten Tomatoes●63Metacritic★7.2IMDB · 12,795

ComedyRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Years after her ship disappeared, a presumably dead woman returns home. To her shock, she finds her husband has remarried.

“The funniest, fastest honeymoon ever screened!”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Cary Grant
Nick Arden
Irene Dunne
Ellen Wagstaff Arden
Randolph Scott
Steve Burkett
Gail Patrick
Bianca Bates
Ann Shoemaker
Ma
Scotty Beckett
Tim Arden
Mary Lou Harrington
Chinch Arden
Donald MacBride
Hotel Clerk

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Garson Kanin
Writers: Bella Spewack, Sam Spewack, Sam Spewack
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

88 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.9M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

86 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Garson Kanin, shot by Rudolph Maté. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Roy Webb. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Robert Wise shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Cary Grant and Irene Dunne and Randolph Scott carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The funniest, fastest honeymoon ever screened!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Garson Kanin directs. Rudolph Maté behind the camera. Roy Webb scores. Robert Wise cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

188 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Shot for just $0.9M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
386 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Directed by Garson Kanin, shot by Rudolph Maté. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Roy Webb. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Robert Wise shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Cary Grant and Irene Dunne and Randolph Scott carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "The funniest, fastest honeymoon ever screened!".
9IMDB entry: tt0029284 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 17 themes, including "jealousy", "judge", "shipwreck", "honeymoon".
11Released under 14 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Rudolph Maté
Original score: Roy Webb
Editing: Robert Wise
Makeup / hair: Mel Berns
Runtime: 88 min · 1h 28m
Status: Released
Budget: $921,000
Box office: $2,057,000
Return: 223% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: My Favorite Wife (1940)
Rotten Tomatoes: 86% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 63/100
IMDB rating: 7.2/10 · 12,795 votes
MPAA: Approved

Awards

Nominated for 3 Oscars. 3 wins & 3 nominations total

Also by

Garson Kanin

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2022-06-23
★ 6/10
Whilst it has it's moments; this is really quite a jaded comedy romance. Cary Grant ("Nick") has just married "Bianca" (Gail Patrick) when his previous, presumed dead, wife "Ellen" (Irene Dunne) who went missing seven years earlier in a shipwreck turns up alive and kicking. To add to the rather convoluted storyline, "Ellen" has been stuck all this time on a desert island with Randolph Scott ("Stephen") and as you can imagine loads of confusion ensues now as they all try to decide who actually wants to be married to whom! Grant is his usual, affable, self but the others didn't really do it for me - except, maybe Granville Bates as the hopelessly indecisive judge "Bryson". I'm afraid that I found the story really quite thin - the one joke has some legs, but they tire midway through and the whole thing just becomes too contrived.

Production companies