Directed by Henry Koster, the Christmas classic, The Bishop's Wife, tells the tale of an Episcopal Bishop, Henry Brougham played by David Niven, who has been working for months on the plans for a new cathedral, paid for by a selfish and stubborn widow Mrs. Hamilton, (Gladys Cooper).
As a result he begins to lose sight of his wife, Julia, (Loretta Young) and
daughter Debbie (Karolyn Grimes) and of why he joined the church in the first
place, so Dudley, an angel in human form, played by Cary Grant, is sent to help
him, with the task of building a new cathedral and repairing his fractured
marriage.
Dudley help’s everyone he meets, but not
always in the way they would have chosen, nonetheless everyone liked Dudley,
with the exception of Henry.
As Christmas approaches Henry begins to believe that Dudley is there to replace
him, at work, and in his family’s affections.
He even manages to affect his maid Matilda
(Elsa Lanchester) and Secretary Mildred Cassaway (Sara Haden).
Even the cynical old atheist family friend
Professor Wutheridge (Monty Woolley) falls under his spell, eventually, but
Dudley must be careful not to become too fond of earthly distractions.
It’s a gem of a movie which can be appreciated
any time of year and has many memorable scenes but my favourite is when
Sylvester, the taxi driver (James Gleason) befriends Julia and Dudley and they
go ice skating in the park, in fact the sequence is one of the best things
you’ll see in many a film, enjoy.
No comments:
Post a Comment