IMDb > I Was a Male War Bride (1949)
I Was a Male War Bride
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I Was a Male War Bride (1949) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
6.9/10   2,846 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 6% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Charles Lederer (screenplay) &
Leonard Spigelgass (screenplay) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for I Was a Male War Bride on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
19 August 1949 (USA) more
Genre:
Tagline:
WAIT TILL YOU SEE FLORENCE! (original ad - all caps) more
Plot:
Captain Henri Rochard is a French officer assigned to work with Lieut. Catherine Gates. Through a wacky series of misadventures... more | add synopsis
Awards:
1 nomination more
NewsDesk:
The blogs of my blog
 (From Roger Ebert's Blog. 29 September 2009, 12:55 PM, PDT)

User Comments:
Grant and Sheridan Shine in Hawks Comedy more (38 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Cary Grant ... Capt. Henri Rochard

Ann Sheridan ... Lt. Catherine Gates
Marion Marshall ... Lt. Kitty Lawrence
Randy Stuart ... Lt. Eloise Billings
Bill Neff ... Capt. Jack Ramsey (as William Neff)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
King Donovan ... Undetermined Role (scenes deleted)
Charles B. Fitzsimons ... Lieutenant Kelly (scenes deleted)
Robert Stevenson ... Lieutenant (scenes deleted)
Otto Waldis ... Undetermined Role (scenes deleted)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Howard Hawks' I Was a Male War Bride (USA) (complete title)
I Was a Male War Bride (Australia)
You Can't Sleep Here (UK)
more
Runtime:
105 min
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Recording)
Certification:
USA:Approved (certificate # 13534) | UK:U | France:U | Canada:PG (video rating) | Australia:PG | Finland:S
Filming Locations:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
'Edward Platt (I)''s film debut. more
Goofs:
Factual errors: A ship's sick bay would have adequately trained personnel (hospital corpsmen) to handle any situation. To call "Florence" into sick bay to help with a baby delivery wouldn't have been necessary. more
Quotes:
Capt. Henri Rochard: I am an alien spouse of female military personnel en route to the United States under public law 271 of the Congress. more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Rock Hudson's Home Movies (1992) more

FAQ

How does it end?
more
5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful.
Grant and Sheridan Shine in Hawks Comedy, 15 February 2009
8/10
Author: dglink from Alexandria, VA

Although the film shows hundreds of American female military personnel stationed in Germany after World War II, apparently few were interested in the local men. According to Howard Hawks's "I Was a Male War Bride," only the male soldiers wed Europeans, and the military bureaucracy and red tape were stacked against American women marrying European men. With that premise, an American Lieutenant, Ann Sheridan, falls for Frenchman Cary Grant, and the couple resort to extraordinary ploys to both comply with and circumvent the rules to marry and bring Grant to the U.S. as Sheridan's "bride." Although Grant is about as French as Big Ben and looks as feminine in drag as Sylvester Stallone, Cary is Cary and brings charm and charisma to his improbable role of Captain Henri Rochard. Tough and sexy Sheridan is better cast, but the sum of the two stars exceeds either apart. Cary and Ann have chemistry and work well together in a plot that could have easily fallen apart with a less skilled team of actors and director.

Grant plays the patient and suffering spouse, who must endlessly explain that he is married to an American soldier and entitled to shelter and transportation in a system that does not recognize his gender as compatible with his situation. Throughout, Grant's face and body language speak volumes about the frustration of dealing with bureaucracy and filling in forms in triplicate. Although at times Sheridan seems oblivious to the depth of Grant's problems, her performance is fine, and she convincingly captures the transition from an initial loathing of to an eventual attraction to Rochard. Shot on location in post-war Germany, the black-and-white photography captures the beauty of the countryside and the devastation of the cities with documentary like precision. Hawks keeps the proceedings well paced, and, while rarely laugh-out-loud funny, "I Was a Male War Bride" and its megawatt stars provide excellent entertainment.

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