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 »


IMDb Holiday Movie Guide

Overview

User Rating:
6.9/10   2,837 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
No change in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Charles Lederer (screenplay) &
Leonard Spigelgass (screenplay) ...
more
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:
"...for your information, I am a war bride!" 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)
more
Create a character page for: ?

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:
Revealing mistakes: With Catherine gone briefly, Henri is waiting and sleeping in the sidecar when some children put the motorcycle in gear. With no driver the motorcycle increases in speed and shifts gears. more
Quotes:
Lt. Catherine Gates: [Rochard is holding a baby for a stranger. His wife and Kitty walk up, both laughing] Ah, Henri, you look so maternal!
Lt. Kitty Lawrence: What is that?
Capt. Henri Rochard: A human fire extinguisher. You wanna try it?
Lt. Kitty Lawrence: Oh, come on.
[takes baby andfrowns at its prodigious wetness]
Lt. Catherine Gates: Aww, he's cute. What's his name?
Capt. Henri Rochard: Niagara.
Lt. Kitty Lawrence: [shaking hand dry] Henri, what a thing to do.
Lt. Catherine Gates: Where's the mother?
Capt. Henri Rochard: She went to get *more* water.
[...]
more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Rock Hudson's Home Movies (1992) more

FAQ

How does it end?
more
9 out of 13 people found the following comment useful.
"...for your information, I am a war bride!", 16 June 2002
7/10
Author: gaityr from United Kingdom

I was wavering between awarding this movie a 7 or an 8, and have finally plunked for an 8 because a movie with Cary Grant in it has got to be truly horrible and an utter stinker to get anything below an 8.

This should make it pretty obvious what the best thing about this otherwise average film was. The chemistry between Grant and Sheridan is amusing but not engaging (not the way his verbal sparring with other co-stars like Katharine Hepburn and Rosalind Russell just sparkle right off the screen); the plot is contrived and the romance between the two main characters--Henri and Catherine--isn't particularly believable. (Grant and Sheridan fail at what Gable and Colbert did so well in 'It Happened One Night': making it believable and real and sympathetic that two characters at absolute loggerheads *could* fall helplessly in love.)

This doesn't mean that the film is *bad*. The first half of the movie is mildly amusing, with the bickering between the two main characters as they take a motorcycle trip to their destination. But the best part of it probably comes when Henri and Catherine get married (three times!), with all its attendant problems. It is Grant's perfect comic timing and adorable mien that makes the blatantly "please laugh now" moments genuinely funny. The look of resignation, anger, or suppressed annoyance on Henri's face as he repeatedly asserts that he is "an alien spouse" under the Congressional War Brides Act must be seen to be believed. And I dare anyone *not* to laugh when Grant cross-dresses. That is probably the best part of the film.

An average film without Cary Grant, a better one for having him in it, but definitely an average (if not poor) Grant film. If you want to introduce a friend to the charms of Cary Grant or to screwball comedy, you're better off with Bringing Up Baby or His Girl Friday. This one's probably for true Grant aficionados only.

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Archie Leech as a transvestite! Snow_Serpent
NAME OF SHIP IN I WAS A MALE WAR BRIDE bevandjim
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