Dream Wife (1953)

A business tycoon decides to wed a Middle Eastern princess whose customs dictate the pair must live apart for several months before marrying; even more complications settle in when the tycoon's ex-fiancée is assigned to chaperone the pair.

Director:

Sidney Sheldon

Writers:

Sidney Sheldon, Herbert Baker

Stars:

Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Walter Pidgeon

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cary Grant	...	Clemson Reade
Deborah Kerr	...	Effie
Walter Pidgeon	...	Walter McBride
Betta St. John	...	Tarji
Eduard Franz	...	Khan of Bukistan
Buddy Baer	...	Vizier
Les Tremayne	...	Ken Landwell
Donald Randolph	...	Ali
Bruce Bennett	...	Charlie Elkwood
Richard Anderson	...	Henry Malvine
Dan Tobin	...	Mr. Brown
Movita	...	Rima
Gloria Holden	...	Mrs. Jean Landwell
June Clayworth	...	Mrs. May Elkwood
Dean Miller	...	George

Storyline

Clemson Reade, a business tycoon with marriage on his mind, and Effie, a U.S. diplomat, are a modern couple. Unfortunately there seems to be too much business and not enough pleasure on the part of Effie. When Clemson meets Tarji, a princess trained in all the arts of pleasing men, he decides he wants an old fashioned girl. Princess Tarji's father is king of oil-rich Bukistan. Because of the oil situation and to maintain good political relations during the courtship between Clemson & Tarji, the State Department assigns a diplomat to maintain protocol until the wedding. Effie!

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Plot Keywords:

princess | fiance | new york city | middle east | cross cultural relations | 

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Taglines:

M-G-M's HILARIOUS HIT! (original print ad - mostly caps)

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 June 1953 (USA)

Also Known As:

Du und keine andere

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,565,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film failed at the box office, resulting in a loss to MGM of $456,000 ($4.33M in 2019) according to studio records.

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Goofs

Upon arrival to America, as Tarji exits the plane, we see "Star of Bukistan": written across the aircraft in English and Arabic. In the next shot, as she is descending the aircraft's stairs, it changes to "Trans World Airlines"

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Quotes

Clemson Reade: We haven't been able to make a definite plan since we met.
Effie: Well, we went to Vermont for two weeks.
Clemson Reade: Yes. Yes, that's right. To her grandfather's farm. For two wonderful relaxing weeks in glorious Vermont.
Walter McBride: Tim'll be there in September.
Clemson Reade: We spent *one* day there. She had to leave to take care of the crisis in Sahara; some of the sand was missing.
Effie: Well, you stayed on.
Clemson Reade: With grandfather. It wasn't the same thing.

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Connections

Featured in American Masters: Cary Grant: A Class Apart (2004)

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Soundtracks

Ghi Ti, Ghi Ti, Ghi Ti
By Charles Wolcott and Jamshid Sheibani

User Reviews

Taken from 'real life'

In Stewart Granger's memoirs he mentions that after seeing future wife Jean Simmons in Black Narcissus, he was so overcome with sexual desire that he felt he had to marry her. It's almost as if Sidney Sheldon had a few drinks with Granger and was told this story years before it came out and decided it would make a great movie plot.

Cary Grant is an oil executive and Deborah Kerr a female diplomat in the previously all male world of Foggy Bottom in the not too distant past. In negotiating for oil leases with the mythical kingdom of Bukistan, Cary is really bowled over by the fact that Princess Betta St. John is so unlike the career minded Kerr. A few words here and there and the engagement between Grant and Kerr is off and between Grant and St. John is definitely on.

Of course the culture clash occurs and it ain't quite what Grant envisions. And Kerr starts to work on St.John and she's got some new ideas sprouting in her head.

The Fifties were so different than now. Those kind of ideas in some Moslem countries would have gotten St. John killed now. Relations between the west and the Moslem world has certainly changed over 50 years.

Grant and Kerr make fine leads and notice should be paid to Walter Pidgeon as Kerr's State Department boss and to Eduard Franz as the King of Bukistan who turns out to be a very wise fellow indeed.

I wonder what Stewart Granger must have thought in seeing this film?