This rarely shown 1939 Twentieth-Century-Fox comedy is based on a frothy novel by James M. Cain, best known today for his hard-boiled detective fiction and screenplays. With a first-rate script by one of Zanuck's most versatile collaborators --the writer/producer/director Nunnally Johnson, who the very next year would be nominated for his screenplay for "Grapes of Wrath," the movie is blessed with an unusual cast: Warner Baxter, whom one would never think of as a comic actor, is perfectly believable and extremely appealing as the too understanding husband; the incandescently lovely and, for once, the not-too-saccharine Loretta Young as his not quite talented enough wife; Binnie Barnes as the scheming other woman; Helen Westley as the dreadful mother-in-law, and finally one of Lubitsch's stalwarts, George Barbier, as Westley's long-suffering husband. Perhaps in tribute to the great maestro himself the film ends with Baxter and Young in a train singing "Beyond the Blue Horizon" which Jeanette MacDonald also sang in a train in Lubitsch's classic "Monte Carlo." Gregory Ratoff directs with great flair.
8 Reviews
Good but the update is a little better
blanche-28 March 2009
Warner Baxter, Loretta Young, and Binnie Barnes star in "Wife, Husband, and Friend," a 1939 comedy remade some years later as "Everybody Does It" with Paul Douglas, Celeste Holm, and Linda Darnell.
It's the story of a society woman (Young) who dreams, as her mother did, of a career in singing but just doesn't have the vocal chops. It turns out that her husband (Baxter) has an incredible voice. A diva (Barnes) falls for him and takes him along on tour with her, finally arranging for him to star with her in an opera.
The problem I had with this film is that it's exactly like "Everybody Does It" right up until the last half hour, and then it leaves out the best parts of the story. The opera scene in this film can't touch the opera performance in "Everybody Does It" - nor does it give an explanation for the behavior of the Baxter character, which we get in the later film.
My other problem is a singing one - the dubbing of Loretta Young's voice is too good. Celeste Holm did her own singing in "Everybody Does It," and it's pleasant, but not of operatic caliber, making the story more believable.
Nevertheless, in its own right, "Wife, Husband, and Friend" is cute, with some good performances. Baxter is very funny as the husband, and there's wonderful support from George Barbier and Helen Westley, who play Young's parents. Young is gorgeous and very effective.
Extremely enjoyable, but if you get a chance, see "Everybody Does It" for some extra comedy and to fill an important plot hole!
It's the story of a society woman (Young) who dreams, as her mother did, of a career in singing but just doesn't have the vocal chops. It turns out that her husband (Baxter) has an incredible voice. A diva (Barnes) falls for him and takes him along on tour with her, finally arranging for him to star with her in an opera.
The problem I had with this film is that it's exactly like "Everybody Does It" right up until the last half hour, and then it leaves out the best parts of the story. The opera scene in this film can't touch the opera performance in "Everybody Does It" - nor does it give an explanation for the behavior of the Baxter character, which we get in the later film.
My other problem is a singing one - the dubbing of Loretta Young's voice is too good. Celeste Holm did her own singing in "Everybody Does It," and it's pleasant, but not of operatic caliber, making the story more believable.
Nevertheless, in its own right, "Wife, Husband, and Friend" is cute, with some good performances. Baxter is very funny as the husband, and there's wonderful support from George Barbier and Helen Westley, who play Young's parents. Young is gorgeous and very effective.
Extremely enjoyable, but if you get a chance, see "Everybody Does It" for some extra comedy and to fill an important plot hole!
Loretta Has The Dream, But Warner's Got The Voice
bkoganbing7 March 2009
The title characters of Wife, Husband, and Friend are Loretta Young, Warner Baxter and Binnie Barnes. Although given Binnie's actions in the film the characterization is open to interpretation.
Loretta and Warner are the proverbial happily married upper middle class couple, he in the contracting business and she the socialite with a dream of being a concert singer. Seems to be a hereditary thing, Loretta's mother Helen Westley had similar ambitions to the chagrin of her father George Barbier.
Baxter tries to humor her, but that only encourages and his humoring becomes an expensive proposition. Enter real opera singer Binnie Barnes who accidentally discovers its Baxter who's got the voice in the family. Baxter also attracts her in other ways. In the meantime Loretta's got Cesar Romero, a pianist buzzing around her hive.
I'd love to know who dubbed the voices of all these people, the film from 20th Century Fox lists no credits. The major fault in the film is the casting of Baxter. He's a good actor, but hardly a blue collar type. When the film was remade ten years later, Paul Douglas played Baxter's role in Everybody Does It.
Even with Baxter miscast, the film's got a lot of amusing moments, especially on the opera stage with Baxter. He carries the comedy part off real well. Unlike A Night At The Opera where the Marx Brothers set out to disrupt the opera, Baxter does his whole shtick quite accidentally.
I'm glad TCM unearthed this long buried classic, it's dated, but still has some good moments. Loretta beauty sparkles and Binnie Barnes was never better as the wisecracking other woman.
Loretta and Warner are the proverbial happily married upper middle class couple, he in the contracting business and she the socialite with a dream of being a concert singer. Seems to be a hereditary thing, Loretta's mother Helen Westley had similar ambitions to the chagrin of her father George Barbier.
Baxter tries to humor her, but that only encourages and his humoring becomes an expensive proposition. Enter real opera singer Binnie Barnes who accidentally discovers its Baxter who's got the voice in the family. Baxter also attracts her in other ways. In the meantime Loretta's got Cesar Romero, a pianist buzzing around her hive.
I'd love to know who dubbed the voices of all these people, the film from 20th Century Fox lists no credits. The major fault in the film is the casting of Baxter. He's a good actor, but hardly a blue collar type. When the film was remade ten years later, Paul Douglas played Baxter's role in Everybody Does It.
Even with Baxter miscast, the film's got a lot of amusing moments, especially on the opera stage with Baxter. He carries the comedy part off real well. Unlike A Night At The Opera where the Marx Brothers set out to disrupt the opera, Baxter does his whole shtick quite accidentally.
I'm glad TCM unearthed this long buried classic, it's dated, but still has some good moments. Loretta beauty sparkles and Binnie Barnes was never better as the wisecracking other woman.
If you can stand the music, this is a very cute movie
ragseller478 March 2009
I caught about 3/4 of this movie last night on Turner Classics and I wish I had seen it from the beginning. I was so taken with Warner Baxter's performance - he is so cute when he performs on stage the first time, scratching and looking uncomfortable. Later when he reluctantly stars with Miss Barnes in an opera, dressed in this Renaissance type outfit complete with fake beard, he is just a delight to watch. I actually laughed out loud. The dialog is crisp and funny, Loretta Young is very appealing and the supporting actors are real characters. I would buy this movie and skip the music, except for the last song they do on the train.
Forgettable
richard-17877 March 2009
This is a forgettable movie about a wife who dreams of being an opera singer, though she hasn't got the talent, and her husband, who when he discovers that he does have a great voice starts to dream of a career as a singer as well. The collapse of his career results from a performance of an opera called Arlesiana. I figured it would be Cilea's work, but in fact it is evidently like the Salammbo in Citizen Kane: a work written for the movie. It's sung in Italian, but the music is definitely not Cilea's, and the sets and costumes suggest some Renaissance tale rather than Daudet's simple farmers in late nineteenth-century southern France.
There's really nothing to recommend this movie.
There's really nothing to recommend this movie.
The Thin Man meets opera
AlsExGal8 March 2009
"The Thin Man meets Opera" is the best way I can describe the character of this romantic comedy, it is such an unusual movie and so funny. Warner Baxter and Loretta Young star as a contractor husband and his society wife, Leonard and Doris Borland. Leonard's contracting business hasn't been doing so well - a fact he's been concealing from his wife in hopes that things turn around. Doris wants to try at a singing career. Leonard decides Doris just needs to get it out of her system and twists the arm of everyone in town that he knows to come to his wife's singing debut so that it will be a success, hoping that this one event will put an end to her efforts. You see, the problem is that Doris is actually a terrible singer.
The other problem is that Mr. Borland is actually a tremendous singer. This is discovered when he runs into a professional singer, Cecil Carver (Binnie Barnes) who suggests Mr. Borland go on a singing tour with her. With his business being hard up for cash, Mr. Borland accepts, but has to be careful to conceal what's going on from his wife, who in the meantime is having a hard time getting any more audiences for her singing.
Strong support comes from Eugene Palette as Leonard Borland's business partner in the contracting firm, and there is a small bit done by a very young Cesar Romero as someone who is supportive of Doris Borland's singing efforts. I'd never seen Warner Baxter do comedy before, and it was quite a treat, especially when he bursts into song with an obviously dubbed baritone voice. Catch this one if it comes your way.
The other problem is that Mr. Borland is actually a tremendous singer. This is discovered when he runs into a professional singer, Cecil Carver (Binnie Barnes) who suggests Mr. Borland go on a singing tour with her. With his business being hard up for cash, Mr. Borland accepts, but has to be careful to conceal what's going on from his wife, who in the meantime is having a hard time getting any more audiences for her singing.
Strong support comes from Eugene Palette as Leonard Borland's business partner in the contracting firm, and there is a small bit done by a very young Cesar Romero as someone who is supportive of Doris Borland's singing efforts. I'd never seen Warner Baxter do comedy before, and it was quite a treat, especially when he bursts into song with an obviously dubbed baritone voice. Catch this one if it comes your way.
Great Performances but Ugly Characters
Michael_Elliott23 January 2013
Wife, Husband and Friend (1939)
*** (out of 4)
This is a rather bizarre comedy from Fox, which has Loretta Young playing the wife, a woman who thinks she has a great voice and would make a terrific star but she doesn't realize that she's rather mediocre. Warner Baxter is the husband who hates music until one day he realizes that he's got a great voice and goes out on tour behind the wife's back. The friend (Binnie Barnes) brings on all sorts of problems with her greed and jealousy. WIFE, HUSBAND AND FRIEND is a good movie thanks in large part to a terrific cast but I honestly can't remember a comedy from this era that had more unlikeable characters. In fact, I'd say all of the characters here were quite ugly all around leading with the wife. She's so self-centered, rude and spoiled that you can't help but not like her and especially after a breakdown scene she has towards the end. Baxter's character really isn't much better and there's no question that the Barnes diva is annoying and a real jerk. The shocking thing is that all three actors are simply wonderful with their performances and especially Young during that breakdown scene I mentioned. Baxter really gets to shine with some of the comedy early on and we get strong work from Cesar Romero, George Barbier and Eugene Palette. The film isn't as funny as one would have liked but there are enough laughs to keep it going and there's no question that the cast is in fine form.
*** (out of 4)
This is a rather bizarre comedy from Fox, which has Loretta Young playing the wife, a woman who thinks she has a great voice and would make a terrific star but she doesn't realize that she's rather mediocre. Warner Baxter is the husband who hates music until one day he realizes that he's got a great voice and goes out on tour behind the wife's back. The friend (Binnie Barnes) brings on all sorts of problems with her greed and jealousy. WIFE, HUSBAND AND FRIEND is a good movie thanks in large part to a terrific cast but I honestly can't remember a comedy from this era that had more unlikeable characters. In fact, I'd say all of the characters here were quite ugly all around leading with the wife. She's so self-centered, rude and spoiled that you can't help but not like her and especially after a breakdown scene she has towards the end. Baxter's character really isn't much better and there's no question that the Barnes diva is annoying and a real jerk. The shocking thing is that all three actors are simply wonderful with their performances and especially Young during that breakdown scene I mentioned. Baxter really gets to shine with some of the comedy early on and we get strong work from Cesar Romero, George Barbier and Eugene Palette. The film isn't as funny as one would have liked but there are enough laughs to keep it going and there's no question that the cast is in fine form.
Marriage with music
jarrodmcdonald-130 March 2024
Warning: Spoilers
The wife in the story is played by Loretta Young, who was nearing the end of her long-term contract with 20th Century Fox and refusing to extend her hitch. So in some ways the real-life actress was not unlike the diva she portrays in this film. For the husband we have Warner Baxter, who had settled comfortably into a series of modestly budgeted crowd pleasers at the studio. Baxter's most frequent and perhaps favorite leading lady, Myrna Loy, was to be borrowed from MGM. But I suppose expense got in the way of that trade, and as a result, Young was assigned.
For the role of the friend in this comedic affair we have Binnie Barnes, who had been a leading lady in her native Britain in the early part of the decade. But at this point in the game, she was usually hired to play second leads in Hollywood. She married a producer who ensured she stayed in front of cameras until the 1970s, meaning she had a longer motion picture career than her costars.
Based on a story by James Cain, known more for melodramatic offerings, the script was written by Nunnally Johnson. Fox reused Johnson's script for a remake a decade later, 1949's EVERYBODY DOES IT. I guess the idea is that everybody does sing (you thought It meant something else, didn't you?); though some are better at it than others. The general premise concerns a vainglorious wife who thinks she has it in her to be a great singer. Truth be told, she can't carry a tune in a paper bag. Try telling her that!
The laughs come from the poor husband's long-suffering routine putting up with such a woman. But even bigger laughs are generated in the next sequence, when the husband who is a working class construction contractor, is heard singing...and surprise of all surprises, he actually has talent. Of course, this sets the stage, literally, for him to explore a career outside his comfort zone. A vocal coach (Barnes) will help him attain great heights on a tour with her, to be followed by a role in an opera no less.
Of course, we have the wife (Young) struggling to adjust to this unexpected turn of events. The marriage is in jeopardy, since she has to acknowledge that she failed as a singer, then her ego must take another beating recognizing her husband will have the career she dreamed of...not an easy treble clef to swallow. While this is going on, she becomes jealous of the time that her husband spends with the other gal.
The only way things can go back to the old status quo is if the husband forsakes his new career and returns to his work in the construction business. Undoubtedly, the wife will find something else to try, a new artistic pursuit in which she's again out of her depth. But they will always have each other.
The remake features Paul Douglas as the husband, and to be honest I feel that Paul Douglas is more convincing in blue collar roles than Warner Baxter is. The role of the wife is taken by Celeste Holm, another actress who was a diva off-camera. And the music teacher is played by Linda Darnell, slightly miscast, though she had successfully teamed up with Douglas in A LETTER TO THREE WIVES. Both versions feature the very best character actors in the supporting parts, and you really can't go wrong watching either picture.
For the role of the friend in this comedic affair we have Binnie Barnes, who had been a leading lady in her native Britain in the early part of the decade. But at this point in the game, she was usually hired to play second leads in Hollywood. She married a producer who ensured she stayed in front of cameras until the 1970s, meaning she had a longer motion picture career than her costars.
Based on a story by James Cain, known more for melodramatic offerings, the script was written by Nunnally Johnson. Fox reused Johnson's script for a remake a decade later, 1949's EVERYBODY DOES IT. I guess the idea is that everybody does sing (you thought It meant something else, didn't you?); though some are better at it than others. The general premise concerns a vainglorious wife who thinks she has it in her to be a great singer. Truth be told, she can't carry a tune in a paper bag. Try telling her that!
The laughs come from the poor husband's long-suffering routine putting up with such a woman. But even bigger laughs are generated in the next sequence, when the husband who is a working class construction contractor, is heard singing...and surprise of all surprises, he actually has talent. Of course, this sets the stage, literally, for him to explore a career outside his comfort zone. A vocal coach (Barnes) will help him attain great heights on a tour with her, to be followed by a role in an opera no less.
Of course, we have the wife (Young) struggling to adjust to this unexpected turn of events. The marriage is in jeopardy, since she has to acknowledge that she failed as a singer, then her ego must take another beating recognizing her husband will have the career she dreamed of...not an easy treble clef to swallow. While this is going on, she becomes jealous of the time that her husband spends with the other gal.
The only way things can go back to the old status quo is if the husband forsakes his new career and returns to his work in the construction business. Undoubtedly, the wife will find something else to try, a new artistic pursuit in which she's again out of her depth. But they will always have each other.
The remake features Paul Douglas as the husband, and to be honest I feel that Paul Douglas is more convincing in blue collar roles than Warner Baxter is. The role of the wife is taken by Celeste Holm, another actress who was a diva off-camera. And the music teacher is played by Linda Darnell, slightly miscast, though she had successfully teamed up with Douglas in A LETTER TO THREE WIVES. Both versions feature the very best character actors in the supporting parts, and you really can't go wrong watching either picture.
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