I am writing this review because I have just watched 'Move over Darling' for the first time after having been watching the original, 'My Favorite Wife' for years so I thought I'd write a review of both films and compare them.
Firstly this remake is good and entertaining but not as good as the original black and white version. Although the later film does have identical dialogue in parts and James Garner and Doris Day are great in the roles, they just do not to it as good as Cary Grant and Irene Dunne done...er did.
For instance, the scene where Nicholas Arden first sees his wife in the hotel lobby and he follows the lift doors closing. Hilarious and Garner does it superbly, but that was a typical Cary Grant action and no-one can do it better.
The film opens with Nicholas Arden (Garner), who having lost his wife to a shipwreck five years ago, is filing his petition to get have his missing wife declared legally dead, so he can marry Bianca, a fox-clad beauty played by Polly Bergan.
However, having happily made his vows and is all set to settle down with wife number two, wife number one, hilariously portrayed by Doris Day determined to get her husband, life and home back, returns after having been shipwrecked on a desert island.
Garner now has to spend the rest of the movie realising that his one true love has returned and must find a kind, and considerate way to 'dump' his new bride.
Add to his misery and torment, Garner's discovery that his wife has not been the lone shipwrecked victim these last five years, but has been a jungle mate to a muscle bound Adonis played by Chuck Conners, news made worse by the fact that their affectionate nicknames for each other during that time seem to have been Adam and Eve.
With such 'naked' truths scratching the surface, it's not long before Garner's troubles really start as with two Mrs Arden's out and about, living, breathing, walking and talking, the authorities are starting to sit up and take notice. Bigamy is after all a crime.
What is more evident in this movie is the sexual overtones which had been thoroughly censored in the first movie, but were starting to emerge more as the sixties progressed. Like Garners' attempts not only to tell his new wife of his first wife's reappearance, but his attempts to avoid having sex with her.
I also like Doris Day's chat with Bianca during the massage scene where she describes 'My Favorite Wife' to draw a comparison with her own life. Her Swedish accent was a bit bad though wasn't it???
Perhaps the only top marks this remake gets over it's forerunner is the title song which became Doris Day's last big hit, certainly her last top ten hit in the UK. A lovely song sung by my favourite female vocalist. In fact I preferred her talents as a singer than her talents as a comedienne, as funny as she was, which is ironic as I preferred her to see her 1940 counterpart Irene Dunne work her comedy than to sing her operettas.
The one failing of both these films however is the character of Bianca, she is such a tragic figure when you think about it, she's neither nasty, vulgar, cruel, malicious or evil. Just a woman who loved a man enough to marry him, yet in both films she becomes a victim. Maybe she should have been written to be a gold-digger or a liar or a cheat, just so you don't feel so sorry for her. The Comedy can become a bit tainted and black as a result.
Anyway. Not as good as the original but still a great screwball 60's sex comedy.
Firstly this remake is good and entertaining but not as good as the original black and white version. Although the later film does have identical dialogue in parts and James Garner and Doris Day are great in the roles, they just do not to it as good as Cary Grant and Irene Dunne done...er did.
For instance, the scene where Nicholas Arden first sees his wife in the hotel lobby and he follows the lift doors closing. Hilarious and Garner does it superbly, but that was a typical Cary Grant action and no-one can do it better.
The film opens with Nicholas Arden (Garner), who having lost his wife to a shipwreck five years ago, is filing his petition to get have his missing wife declared legally dead, so he can marry Bianca, a fox-clad beauty played by Polly Bergan.
However, having happily made his vows and is all set to settle down with wife number two, wife number one, hilariously portrayed by Doris Day determined to get her husband, life and home back, returns after having been shipwrecked on a desert island.
Garner now has to spend the rest of the movie realising that his one true love has returned and must find a kind, and considerate way to 'dump' his new bride.
Add to his misery and torment, Garner's discovery that his wife has not been the lone shipwrecked victim these last five years, but has been a jungle mate to a muscle bound Adonis played by Chuck Conners, news made worse by the fact that their affectionate nicknames for each other during that time seem to have been Adam and Eve.
With such 'naked' truths scratching the surface, it's not long before Garner's troubles really start as with two Mrs Arden's out and about, living, breathing, walking and talking, the authorities are starting to sit up and take notice. Bigamy is after all a crime.
What is more evident in this movie is the sexual overtones which had been thoroughly censored in the first movie, but were starting to emerge more as the sixties progressed. Like Garners' attempts not only to tell his new wife of his first wife's reappearance, but his attempts to avoid having sex with her.
I also like Doris Day's chat with Bianca during the massage scene where she describes 'My Favorite Wife' to draw a comparison with her own life. Her Swedish accent was a bit bad though wasn't it???
Perhaps the only top marks this remake gets over it's forerunner is the title song which became Doris Day's last big hit, certainly her last top ten hit in the UK. A lovely song sung by my favourite female vocalist. In fact I preferred her talents as a singer than her talents as a comedienne, as funny as she was, which is ironic as I preferred her to see her 1940 counterpart Irene Dunne work her comedy than to sing her operettas.
The one failing of both these films however is the character of Bianca, she is such a tragic figure when you think about it, she's neither nasty, vulgar, cruel, malicious or evil. Just a woman who loved a man enough to marry him, yet in both films she becomes a victim. Maybe she should have been written to be a gold-digger or a liar or a cheat, just so you don't feel so sorry for her. The Comedy can become a bit tainted and black as a result.
Anyway. Not as good as the original but still a great screwball 60's sex comedy.