Monday, December 16, 2013

5th Holiday Movie: The Bishop's Wife



My fifth movie is all about Cary Grant with a really good story mixed in. Thanks to my friend Jeannie, I have the DVD for the first time this year, although it was always fun to try to find a time it was on that wasn't three in the morning. Thanks TCM for not letting me sleep!

If you aren't familiar with this movie made in the 40's, then you might be familiar with it's remake The Preacher's Wife. I never watched it, but I do know that it had Whitney Houston and Denzel Washington into it. Denzel alone might make it worth it. Plus it's still hard to believe Whitney has left us so young.

But I digress. This is about The Bishop's Wife, which stars the handsome and debonair Cary Grant. Let me tell you if I was ever granted a guardian angel that wasn't a glittery gold caterpillar, Cary Grant would be who I'd want.

Like with Elf, I watched this today and took notes. The movie is about a Bishop named Henry Brougham who is so worried about getting a grand cathedral built that he's lost sight of what's important to him like his wife Julia and daughter Debbie. He's also has an older rich lady dragging him around by his jingle bells who is calling the shots on the cathedral.

An angel named Dudley (Cary Grant) is sent down to help him with his problems. Henry thinks it's his cathedral but we know better.

This movie is about Dudley interfering in a way that lets us know that Henry is insecure in his relationship with his wife. His wife on the other hand is ecstatic to find someone who pays attention to her and spends more and more time with Dudley. It's apparent right away that she still loves Henry (although you can't help but wonder why) but Henry doesn't know that.

We also know that even though Dudley is an angel, he's not a perfect one. He starts having his own feelings for Julia, and leaves not a minute too soon. One of my favorite lines to Julia when they are discussing him leaving is, "There are very few people who know the secret to making heaven on earth. You are one of those rare people."

Very sigh-worthy.

Now let's look at my notes...

Apparently the subtitles on this DVD were only available in French and Spanish. So only French and Spanish deaf people could watch this. Shame.

Cary Grant overcoat: hot

I miss elaborate window displays at Christmas.

She just reserved a Christmas tree for Christmas Eve. Can you imagine just going to Lowes and be like, "I want that one. And send it on Christmas Eve!" And they didn't even charge her! The professor she's talking to at the time is offered a tiny Charlie Brown looking tree for $1.85 and then bargains the guy down! Crazy. It was a Christmas tree store.

The daughter Debbie is already in bed by dinner time. Nice! Not to mention there's two servants in the house. One is the cook and one cleans and watches the child. Nice. I want to be a bishop!

I wrote: "Loretta Young is beautiful. I can see why Dudley wanted to give up his angelhood for her."

Snowball fights are only fun in movies. In real life they are cold and hurt.

The kids have been playing in the snow for awhile but they aren't wet.

Cary Grant is speaking in French: hot

There's a really bad ice skating scene where it's obviously not the actor's skating. It's always filmed from far away and the dude doesn't even look like Cary Grant. When they aren't filmed from far away, you only see them from the back. Smoke has watched this movie with me a few times and we always make fun of it. It's just bad. Filmmaking has come so far!

There's also a scene involving Dudley playing a harp and it's so obviously not his hands. Sometimes his head is out of proportion with the scene so it's obvious it was cut in.

Henry is talking to the professor and just walks out of the apartment without saying goodbye. People only do this in film and television. Who can just leave somewhere without a word?

Dudley to Henry before he leaves: "Kiss her for me, you lucky Henry."

The last thing I wrote is: I miss hats.

Who doesn't miss hats?

(I'm just walking out of this blog post).

No comments: