He Married His Wife (1940)

Race horse owner pays so much attention to business he winds up divorced from his wife. His alimony payments are so steep he plots with his lawyer to get her married off.

Director:

Roy Del Ruth

Writers:

Sam Hellman (screen play), Darrell Ware (screen play)

Stars:

Joel McCrea, Nancy Kelly, Roland Young

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Joel McCrea	...	T.H. Randall
Nancy Kelly	...	Valerie
Roland Young	...	Bill Carter
Mary Boland	...	Ethel
Cesar Romero	...	Freddie
Mary Healy	...	Doris
Lyle Talbot	...	Paul Hunter
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	Dicky Brown
Barnett Parker	...	Huggins
Harry Hayden	...	Prisoner
Charles C. Wilson	...	Warden (as Charles Wilson)
Charles D. Brown	...	Detective
Spencer Charters	...	Mayer
Leyland Hodgson	...	Waiter
William Edmunds	...	Waiter

Storyline

T.H."Randy" Randall and Valerie Randall are divorced but friendly, but not to the extent she doesn't have him jailed for non-payment of alimony. His attorney, Bill Carter, suggests that the only way out of his financial strain is for him to get Valerie married off to someone else. Dizzy matron Ethel thinks that is a good idea and arranges a week-end party at which Valerie is to be paired off with likely-prospect Paul Hunter. Plans are disrupted when free-loading Freddie crashes the party and makes a heavy move on Valerie, and she likes it, mostly because Randy doesn't. Carter can't see any problem - a husband is a husband - but Randy is so certain that Freddie is bad news that he decides to win her back and remarry her himself, since he has also decided that he still loves her.

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Plot Keywords:

screwball comedy | alimony | lawyer | yoga | wedding | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

19 January 1940 (USA)

Also Known As:

Casou com o Seu Marido

Filming Locations:

Hoover Ranch, Calabasas, California, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$50,600, 24 January 1940

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The current print shown on the Fox Movie Channel (FMC) has no end credits. The AFI Catalogue lists additional credited cast, indicating they viewed a print with end credits. Added, in the following order, were Harry Hayden, Charles C. Wilson (as Charles Wilson), Charles D. Brown, Spencer Charters, Leyland Hodgson and William Edmunds.

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Quotes

Bill Carter: If you never saw him before, why'd you let him kiss you?
Ethel Hillary: Well, after all, Bill, there is such a thing as hospitality.

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Connections

Remade as Meet Me After the Show (1951)

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Soundtracks

Was It You There in My Arms?
(uncredited)
Composer unknown
Played on a record

User Reviews

Those Screw-Ball Comedies - a totally "Golden Age"

Paulene Kael was an interesting film critic, and occasionally did some first rate research - like her CITIZEN KANE BOOK, showing what the original screenplay was like, and what Herman Mankiewicz brought to the project. But she was not infallible. Her KANE BOOK actually seemed to belittle Orson Welles so much that many have suspected an secret motive to it. In one of her books of collected reviews she added a group of films she called "Guilty Pleasures", and she included this picture among them. She explained that they were not necessarily great movies, but she thought they were all worthy films that she enjoyed (for one reason or another). The films included many forgotten films like LAUGHTER IN PARADISE, an English Comedy about a will with strange bequests in it, or YOUR PAST IS SHOWING, another English comedy (with Peter Sellers, Dennis Price, Terry Thomas, and Peggy Mount) about a scandal sheet and blackmail. To be fair some of the films she lists are worth watching (catch, for example, THE GREEN MAN with Alistair Sim, Terry Thomas, and Raymond Huntley). But some are extremely odd choices. This is one of the odd choices.

When we hear "Screwball Comedy" we think of films with Carole Lombard like MY MAN GODFREY or TRUE CONFESSIONS. We recall fondly the weird situations involving madcap heiresses, dull heroes, and eccentric side characters. And many of these films do still hold up well...but not all of them. HE MARRIED HIS WIFE suffers from a plodding script with only one genuinely comic moment. It begins with McCrae dancing with Nancy Kelly, apparently having a good time, when a process server serves him with papers for failing to keep up with his alimony payments to her. I suspect the writers thought it a funny situation. It wasn't. It beggars the imagination that anyone owing alimony is going to take his or her ex-spouse out dancing. Where is the reality of that? From that false start it continues downhill. There is only one minor moment of actual hilarity in the film. While attending Mary Boland's weekend party, McCrae and Roland Young come across a moose call (a horn you blow if you wish to attract the attention of a moose while hunting). I don't remember why but first McCrae and then Young try blowing it, and we hear very weak efforts for their pain. Then, all of a sudden, we hear the horn blown properly and long. The camera pans back and we see a disgusted Mary Boland handing the device back to the crestfallen Young and McCrae, having demonstrated how to properly use it!