We're Not Married! (1952)

In separate stories, five wedded couples learn that they are not legally married.

Director:

Edmund Goulding

Writers:

Nunnally Johnson (screenplay), Dwight Taylor (adaptation),

Stars:

Ginger Rogers, Fred Allen, Victor Moore

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Ginger Rogers	...	Ramona Gladwyn
Fred Allen	...	Steven S. 'Steve' Gladwyn
Victor Moore	...	Justice of the Peace Melvin Bush
Marilyn Monroe	...	Annabel Jones Norris
David Wayne	...	Jeff Norris
Eve Arden	...	Katie Woodruff
Paul Douglas	...	Hector C. Woodruff
Eddie Bracken	...	Wilson Boswell 'Willie' Fisher
Mitzi Gaynor	...	Patricia 'Patsy' Reynolds Fisher
Louis Calhern	...	Frederick C. 'Freddie' Melrose
Zsa Zsa Gabor	...	Eve Melrose (as ZsaZsa Gabor)
James Gleason	...	Duffy
Paul Stewart	...	Attorney Stone
Jane Darwell	...	Mrs. Bush
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Walter Brennan	...	Handsome (scenes deleted)

Storyline

A Justice of the Peace performed weddings a few days before his license was valid. A few years later five couples learn they have never been legally married. Annabel Norris, already Mrs. Mississippi and ready to enter the Mrs. America contest, is now free to enter the Miss Mississippi contest.

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Plot Keywords:

wedding | marriage | soldier | episodic structure | double exposure effects | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 December 1952 (France)

Also Known As:

Wir sind gar nicht verheiratet

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A sixth sequence, featuring Walter Brennan and Hope Emerson as a backwoods couple was filmed but deleted prior to release. The footage still survives of this sequence.

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Goofs

The letter inducting Willie Fisher into the Army carries the date "May 11, XXXX", not showing any year, as is of course normal. The letter also refers to the "Asiatic-Pacific theater", when "Asia-Pacific" would be the correct term.

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Quotes

Ramona Gladwyn: Say one thing about our marriage. If there's such a thing as an un-jackpot, I've hit it!

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Connections

Featured in Biography: Marilyn Monroe: The Mortal Goddess (1994)

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Soundtracks

"Baby Face"
Music by Harry Akst
Played after Annabel is handed the trophy

User Reviews

WE'RE NOT MARRIED! (Edmund Goulding, 1952) **1/2

This is another early Marilyn Monroe picture; in this case, it's a compendium of stories involving a handful of marriages – presided over by reliable Victor Moore – which are discovered to have been illegal because his term of office hadn't yet officially started when the ceremony was performed! So, he's made to send each of these a letter explaining the awkward situation and, according to where they stand at that particular moment in their married life, see how they decide to act upon it. The couples are played by Fred Allen and Ginger Rogers, David Wayne and Marilyn Monroe, Paul Douglas and Eve Arden, Louis Calhern and Zsa Zsa Gabor, and Eddie Bracken and Mitzi Gaynor. The least episode is the one with Douglas and Arden, where the latter becomes suspicious of just what goes on during the former's business trips; the Calhern-Gabor episode is mildly interesting for having her turn out a schemer – planning to appropriate her husband's fortune with the help of shyster lawyer Paul Stewart…until he's saved by the propitious arrival of Moore's letter!; Wayne has a hard time adjusting because of Monroe's triumph in a "Mrs. Mississippi" contest – believing his troubles over when the marriage is revealed to have been null, his 'wife' promptly enrolls in a "Miss Mississippi" competition (which, naturally, she wins); Bracken is a soldier who goes AWOL in order to consolidate his wedding vows when it transpires that his child (whose birth is imminent) may be declared illegitimate – Lee Marvin appears briefly as Bracken's buddy in this, one of the two most satisfying episodes; the other is the one featuring constantly-bickering pair Rogers and Allen, which unbearable situation threatens to sink their early-morning radio show (where they're ironically billed as the ideal married couple)! Again, the film is handled with utmost professionalism – and is undeniably entertaining while it's on – but which now feels dated and undistinguished.