My Favorite Wife
| My Favorite Wife | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by |
Garson Kanin James Anderson (assistant) |
| Produced by | Leo McCarey |
| Written by | Leo McCarey Samuel and Bella Spewack Garson Kanin John McClain |
| Starring |
Irene Dunne Cary Grant Randolph Scott Gail Patrick |
| Music by | Roy Webb |
| Cinematography | Rudolph Maté |
| Edited by | Robert Wise |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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88 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $921,000 |
| Box office | $2,057,000 |
My Favorite Wife (released in the U.K. as My Favourite Wife) is a 1940 screwball comedy produced and co-written by Leo McCarey and directed by Garson Kanin. The picture stars Irene Dunne as a woman who returns to her husband and children after being shipwrecked on a tropical island for several years, and Cary Grant as her husband. The story is an adaptation of Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem, "Enoch Arden"; in tribute, the main characters' last name is Arden. The supporting cast features Gail Patrick as the woman Arden has just married when his first wife, now declared dead, returns, and Randolph Scott as the man with whom his wife had been marooned. My Favorite Wife was RKO's second-biggest hit of 1940.
After seven years, lawyer Nick Arden (Cary Grant) has his wife Ellen (Irene Dunne), missing since her ship was lost, declared legally dead so he can marry Bianca (Gail Patrick). It turns out however that Ellen was merely shipwrecked on a deserted island, and has been rescued. When she returns home, she learns that Nick has just left on his honeymoon with his second wife.
When Ellen tracks him down before his honeymoon night, he is at a loss as to how to break the news to Bianca. He keeps putting off the unpleasant business. Meanwhile, Bianca becomes frustrated by Nick's odd behavior (especially the non-consummation of their marriage) and calls in a psychiatrist, Dr. Kohlmar (Pedro de Cordoba). Further complications ensue when an insurance adjuster (Hugh O'Connell) mentions to Nick a rumor that Ellen was not alone on the island, but had the company of a Stephen Burkett (Randolph Scott) and that they called each other "Adam" and "Eve". When Nick confronts Ellen, she recruits a mousy shoe salesman (an uncredited Chester Clute) to pretend to be Stephen, but Nick has already tracked down the real, appallingly virile and handsome Stephen (Randolph Scott).
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