''Dear Wife'' is a 1949
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
starring
Joan Caulfield
Beatrice Joan Caulfield (June 1, 1922 – June 18, 1991) was an American actress and model. After being discovered by Broadway producers, she began a stage career in 1943 that eventually led to signing as an actress with Paramount Pictures. In th ...
and
William Holden
William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film ''Stalag 17'' (1953) ...
. It is the sequel to ''
Dear Ruth
''Dear Ruth'' is a successful 1944 Broadway play written by Norman Krasna. It ran for 680 performances.
History
Krasna wrote a serious play, '' The Man with Blond Hair'', which received a tepid response. He said that Moss Hart suggested he writ ...
'', which was based on the
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
play of the same name by
Norman Krasna
Norman Krasna (November 7, 1909 – November 1, 1984) was an American screenwriter, playwright, producer, and film director who penned screwball comedies centered on a case of mistaken identity. Krasna directed three films during a forty-year car ...
.
Plot
Miriam Wilkins is a teenage girl who is campaigning for her brother-in-law Bill Seacroft to be elected to the state senate, but without his knowledge. Bill is a middle-aged war veteran who works at a bank and is frustrated by having to live with his wife Ruth's family. Bill wants to be more independent and stand on his own two feet.
Ruth's father, Judge Harry Wilkins, has already been nominated for state senator. The Wilkins family is shock to learn that Bill will run against him in the election. Harry comes to terms with the situation, believing his chances of winning considerable, but is upset when Miriam calls him a political "fathead" in a local newspaper article.
As the two campaigns begin, Ruth becomes jealous of Tommy Murphy, Bill's beautiful female campaign manager. Harry hires Albert Krummer, Ruth's former fiancé and Bill's current boss, as his campaign manager. The conflict between the two camps deepens. Albert, still in love with Ruth, seeks to inflame the rising conflict between Ruth and Bill.
Bill begins to take his campaign seriously and publicly airs his views on Harry's policy concerning a new local airport. Bill states that the airport would force many city residents out of their homes. Miriam uses her influence as secretary of the Civic Betterment Committee to arrange a live radio broadcast in support of Bill's campaign. The broadcast is a complete disaster and throws everyone into conflict. By the end of the broadcast, Bill and Ruth have separated because she stubbornly refuses to join him and move out of the family house. Harry disapproves of the separation, and he later informs Bill of a
duplex that Ruth is showing in her new job as a real-estate agent.
Taking his father-in-law's advice, Bill rents the duplex, which is located in another district. He and Ruth almost reunite, but she refuses to move in with him because she is still too jealous of Bill's campaign manager Tommy. Bill's relationship with Tommy is strictly business, but she admits to Bill that she has fallen for him. He rejects her advances, but it is too late. Ruth accepts a new job in Chicago and plans to move there. Miriam wishes to reunite the couple, and as she has just had a fight with her boyfriend Ziggy, she convinces Bill to take her to a dance.
Ruth is already on her way to the railway station with Albert, who hopes to renew their relationship. Harry arranges for the police to arrest Albert because of his car's bad brakes. Albert and Ruth are brought into court, and Harry insists that they remain in town for the trial, which will not be heard until next week. Bill and Albert meet at the dance, and Albert informs Bill that he has been disqualified as a candidate because he moved to another district. Harry's sponsor announces that a piece of land will be donated to any homeowner displaced by the new airport.
When Harry wins the senate race, the political conflict is resolved. Bill fights with Albert at the dance and punches him for interfering with his marriage. Meanwhile, Harry lectures Ruth about her duties as a wife. Ruth and Bill finally reunite. Miriam secretly starts a new petition to nominate Bill for state senator.
Cast
*
Edward Arnold as Judge Wilkins
*
Mary Philips
Mary Philips (January 23, 1901April 22, 1975) was an American stage and film actress.
Biography
The only child of Charles and Anna (née Hurley) Philips of New Haven, Connecticut, Philips was born in New London, Connecticut, and she was ed ...
as Mrs. Edie Wilkins
*
Mona Freeman
Monica Elizabeth "Mona" Freeman (June 9, 1926 – May 23, 2014) was an American actress and painter.
Early years
Freeman was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up in Pelham, New York. A lumberman's daughter, she was a model while in hig ...
as Miriam Wilkins
*
Joan Caulfield
Beatrice Joan Caulfield (June 1, 1922 – June 18, 1991) was an American actress and model. After being discovered by Broadway producers, she began a stage career in 1943 that eventually led to signing as an actress with Paramount Pictures. In th ...
as Ruth Wilkins then Seacroft
*
William Holden
William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film ''Stalag 17'' (1953) ...
as Bill Seacroft
*
Billy De Wolfe
William Andrew Jones (February 18, 1907 – March 5, 1974), better known as Billy De Wolfe, was an American character actor. He was active in films from the mid-1940s until his death in 1974.
Early life and early stage career
Born William Andr ...
as Albert Kummer
*
Arleen Whelan
Arleen Whelan (September 1, 1916 – April 7, 1993) was an American film actress.
Early years
Whelan was a native of Salt Lake City, Utah. Before she became an actress, she worked in Southern California as a manicurist, contributing her ea ...
as Tommy Murphy
Production
In 1945, Paramount paid a record $400,000 for the film rights to the hit play ''
Dear Ruth
''Dear Ruth'' is a successful 1944 Broadway play written by Norman Krasna. It ran for 680 performances.
History
Krasna wrote a serious play, '' The Man with Blond Hair'', which received a tepid response. He said that Moss Hart suggested he writ ...
''. This included the right to use the characters in a sequel. In December 1947, the studio announced the sequel, featuring many of the original cast.
Arthur Sheekman
Arthur Sheekman (February 5, 1901 – January 12, 1978) was an American theater and movie critic, columnist, playwright, and editor—but best known for his writing for the screen. His specialty was light comedy. Groucho Marx called him "The Fast ...
, who cowrote ''Dear Ruth'', and
N. Richard Nash
Nathan Richard Nusbaum (June 8, 1913 – December 11, 2000), known as N. Richard Nash, was an American writer and dramatist best known for writing Broadway shows, including '' The Rainmaker''.
Early life
Nash was born Nathan Richard Nusbau ...
were assigned to write the script and
Richard Maibaum
Richard Maibaum (May 26, 1909 – January 4, 1991) was an American film producer, playwright and screenwriter best known for his screenplay adaptations of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels.
Among his works are the first anti-lynching play on Bro ...
was to direct. However, Maibaum produced the film, and
Richard Haydn
Richard Haydn (born George Richard Haydon, 10 March 1905 – 25 April 1985) was a British-American comedy actor. Some of his better known performances include his roles as Professor Oddley in ''Ball of Fire'' (1941), Roger in '' No Time for Lov ...
, who appears in a small role in the film billed as Stanley Stayle, directed.
Filming began in early 1949 when William Holden became free after the screen adaptation of
Thomas Savage's book ''Lona Hanson'' was shelved.
Reception
''Dear Wife'' was screened for preview audiences on December 31, 1949 and premiered in New York on February 1, 1950 at the
Paramount Theatre with an accompanying stage show featuring actress
Celeste Holm
Celeste Holm (April 29, 1917 – July 15, 2012) was an American stage, film and television actress.
Holm won an Academy Award for her performance in Elia Kazan's ''Gentleman's Agreement'' (1947), and was nominated for her roles in ''Come to th ...
. On March 2, 1950, the film began its run at Paramount's Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles theaters.
In a contemporary review for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', critic Thomas M. Pryor wrote: "As sequels go, the new picture is most unusual for it is every bit as enjoyable and racy as its progenitor. This spectator had a good time all the way and so apparently did the audience."
Reviewing the film in the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', John L. Scott wrote: "'Dear Wife' is pleasant to take although, when you review it, there really isn't much to the story. It's for the family trade and should hit its stride in the neighborhoods."
References
External links
*
* {{IMDb title, 0041286
1949 films
1949 comedy films
American black-and-white films
American comedy films
American sequel films
Paramount Pictures films
1950s English-language films
1940s English-language films
1940s American films
1950s American films