Wonderful Christmas film-considering its production history perhaps a miracle it turned out so well!-has a perfectly cast Cary Grant as an angel sent to help out a weary and tired (but good-hearted and means well, although he's up against a committee of wealthy donors such as the icy Mrs. Hamilton (Gladys Cooper, with a tone and delivery that cuts like a rugged edged knife) bishop, Henry Brougham (David Niven), and his patient, loyal, but frustrated wife, Julia (Loretta Young, such cherubic beauty and her performance, to me, is so good because it reveals sadness, loneliness, but love for a husband and dedication to him, with a smile that gives her whole presence life when Grant enters her family's life, a whole gamut of emotional range throughout the film). Yes, this is a spiritual film, which might put off some, but I still think fans of Grant won't want to miss this because his charisma, charm, movie star appeal is intact. My favorite scene has Grant's angel, and Young, visiting Monty Woolly's history professor at his flat, with Grant constantly filling his glass with port without his knowledge just with a point of his finger and Grant's "David, the angel in his mind, and the lion" storytime with the Brougham's daughter. The film is also full of nice little moments such as the hat Young desires and Grant, with just a face of disapproval, convinces a customer in the store it doesn't look right on her, Niven trapped in a chair at Hamilton's mansion after discussing her husband's face being added to a St. George statue in his likeness (!), Grant assisting the Bishop's daughter in a snowball toss, ice skating theatrics where Grant encourages Young to have some fun, a taxi ride that nearly ends in a head-on collision, maid Matilda (an underrated Elsa Lanchester) unable to not remain entranced with Grant anytime she sees him (her breath taken away by just seeing him!), Grant dictating to a typewriter Niven's sermon while the machine types away without fingers, Grant attending to a Christmas tree Lanchester was struggling with guiding hands as if orchestrating a composition, Grant harping a tune quite touching to an unexpected Mrs. Hamilton (her history about a love lost and a rich husband she only married for his money when Grant offers a sympathetic ear is such a beautiful treat!) which leads to her cold demeanor transforming to a warmth that wallops the Broughams, and Niven's troubled emotions as Grant's angel "disrupts" his life in ways that bother him while the impact on the community should revive his spirits. An angel's envy of the mortal in his charge, the bishop willing to "fight" for keeping his family, a professor's renewed interest in spirituality while his "broken down writer's block" is "lifted", and Grant's entire presence in the lives of those associated with the bishop "brainwiped" serve as dramatic highpoints. Not the usual kind of Grant vehicle, but he nonetheless leaves quite the impression.
Review of The Bishop's Wife
