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Too much of everything

People are voting emotionally.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

NOTES: Number 9 at Australian ticket windows for 1950; number 10 at the British box-office for 1949; number 2 at U.S./Canadian cinemas, its gross rental receipts of $4.1 million being exceeded only by the $5 million returned by Jolson Sings Again. Despite this popularity, the movie does not figure on any of the usual "Ten Best" lists from contemporary critics and commentators.COMMENT: Slow, dated romantic comedy. Most of the humor consists of (1) a risqué element that was doubtless considered very daring in a Hollywood film of 1949 but is now totally passé; (2) tilts at officialdom and red tape which even in 1949 had been pretty well done to death and now more than ever seem like flogging a dead horse; (3) elementary slapstick including such hoary old gags as climbing up a pole to read a sign labelled "Wet Paint". Each gag is introduced and developed at a funereal pace. The accent is heavily on talk and such humor as there is, is sometimes muffed by the inept direction of Howard Hawks. Comedy was NOT his forte! Still, thanks to the hard-working cast, some laughs do manage to survive. Although he makes no attempt at a French accent, Cary Grant makes a good contrast to Ann Sheridan. These two clashing personalities do manage to strike a few sparks. The rest of the cast is more than competent, though only a few of the players are known to us and their parts are small.Some of the wisecracks are fairly amusing and a bit of the slapstick (the stuntman going up on the level crossing gate, Grant mumbling to an empty chair as the process screen speeds by) is mildly diverting. But the film as a whole, despite its exceptionally lavish production values, including extensive location filming with the principals against actual German locales, could benefit by considerable trimming.Hawks' direction is occasionally imaginative (the gate rising behind the train, Grant coming into view in front of the lieutenant's window), occasionally inept (switching to another angle for the bike and sidecar gag was a mistake), but mostly dull.

. . . proved more dangerous to film in Real Life than lensing SCHINDLER'S LIST. However, you'd never know this from a casual viewing of I WAS A MALE WAR BRIDE, the first half of which features Cary Grant's and Ann Sheridan's characters searching post-WWII Germany for a black marketeer named "Schindler," who apparently grinds rare military-grade lenses. Filmming had to break off for months mid-shoot as Cary Grant, playing the BRIDE, nearly died of hepatitis, while co-star Ann Sheridan battled life-threatening pleurisy and pneumonia. Most Americans forget or never learned that U.S. Gen. "I-Like-Ike" Eisenhower, to avenge WWII, killed several MILLION German P.O.W.s and civilians through denying them access to food and medicine from 1945 through 1948. (These facts are NOT in most history books, because War's winners write the texts, which then are censored by the Texas State School Board.) When I WAS A MALE WAR BRIDE filmed ON LOCATION, every inch of Germany was crawling with corpses and the deadliest germs known to mankind, making it one big happy Death Camp. But Hollywood's moguls had no qualms about nearly sacrificing the lives of Mr. Grant and Ms. Sheridan (plus probably ACTUAL fatalities among the lesser known cast and crew) on the altar of political expediency (as in, "Hey, Middle America, watch this movie and then book a Bavarian vacation!") while the fat cats themselves were snuggled safely in their Tinsel Town castles. If all this sounds like an apt analogy for generals and privates in War, you only need to watch I WAS A MALE WAR BRIDE with informed eyes to notice how haggard Mr. Grant and Ms. Sheridan look towards the end. You may conclude that this flick was a total travesty, parading as Art.

One of the reviewers above who mentioned Kafka had it right: the movie is an exercise in humiliation, and humiliation of Cary Grant, yet. Earlier Hawks movies like Bringing Up Baby are humiliating also, but are funny enough to soften an edge that here is just painful. The result has a real dramatic problem in that it's pretty hard to believe Grant and Sheridan would ever fall in love and marry--whereas his expressed desire never to see her again, on the other hand, is totally convincing. I watched pretty much without laughing, but the performances are great and the movie is grimly fascinating, like a fun-house-mirror reflection of a screwball comedy.

Though I didn't see it until today I think I'm fairly safe in saying that this entry hasn't worn well. Without researching the reviews at the time I'm prepared to believe it was well received and the fact that it relied solely on the two stars to sell it - there is not one single 'name' in the supporting cast - speaks volumes for the box office clout of Grant and Sheridan. Apparently based on real events in the life of a French soldier in World War II Cary Grant, despite bearing a French name, Henri Rochard, and clearly a member of the French armed forces, makes no attempt at a French accent and Hawks wastes half the running time on the Beatrice and Benedek aspect of the relationship before getting to the meat, the fact that Grant, in order to enter the United States, has to be classified as a 'war bride' and when one of the biggest jokes is this 'bride' forced to sleep in a bath, we lose hope of much better. I found it just about watchable.