When We Are Married (film)

When We Are Married is a 1943 British comedy-drama film, directed by Lance Comfort and starring Sydney Howard, Raymond Huntley and Olga Lindo.

The film is a screen version of the 1938 stage play by J. B. Priestley, in which three Edwardian Yorkshire couples, who were all married on the same day 25 years earlier, gather to celebrate their joint silver wedding anniversary, only to be told that due to a legal technicality, their marriages were not valid and that for the past quarter-century they have all effectively been living in sin. Some react with horror at potential scandal, while others glimpse the possibility of freedom from a deadbeat spouse, or regret potential loves that got away after they were "married". Much drama ensues as the couples each re-evaluate their respective marriages, but after grievances have been aired and new understandings forged, all ends happily. The Monthly Film Bulletin, known for its exacting standards, complimented the film as "an exceedingly amusing, if somewhat unkind, picture of a Yorkshire chapel-going fraternity...under the skilful direction of Lance Comfort all the cast bring the characters to life".