The other night I couldn’t believe BBC 4 was showing the delightful Christmassy film “The Bishops Wife” a classic family film at 10pm so feeling tired I recorded it for later viewing. I have seen it numerous times over the years and would put it on a par with “It’s a Wonderful Life” but for some reason gets less air time or accolades.
Up at 6am this morning and I thought there would be nothing better than sitting back and watching this Christmas classic. A few hours later, I was watching it again with the wife.
Cary Grant at his best playing an angel called Dudley sent to help a troubled Bishop frustrated at the difficulty in building a new cathedral to God, he prays to God for guidance. Bishop Henry Brougham played by David Niven is the troubled man of the cloth looking for guidance. Enter Dudley endowed by heavenly powers; he bestows his angelic persona upon the bishop who is overwhelmed by his mis-guided quest to build a magnificent "earthly" cathedral to glorify God.
The bishop finds it hard to believe Dudley is an angel it’s time to prove who he is just saying he was an angel didn’t cut it but when he just disappears, Henry starts to believe.
Dudley proceeds to weave a kindly spell over the Bishops family and all around him reminding them of the true meaning of Christmas. There is scene after scene of amusement from Cary Grant delivering plenty of charm as Dudley to the scene where the sherry glasses that keeps on refilling themselves and when he leaves the bottle keeps topping up. But at the same time the amusement doesn't overwhelm the storyline as we watch Bishop Henry become increasingly suspicious of Dudley, first questioning whether he really is an angel then becoming concerned at the friendship he forms with Julia.
One of my favourite scenes - ice-skating with Sylvester the taxi driver. With the Bishop, meeting Mrs Hamilton Dudley uses his heavenly powers and has Henry stuck to a chair so he could spend time with his wife Julia. Dudley takes Julia to the Bishops old parish where he transforms the boys’ choir. Later helps Julia shop for a fine hat and then they go skating.
It seems that the main source of the money for this new cathedral is from the wealthy Mrs. Hamilton (Gladys Cooper) and the lady is quite insistent on getting everything her way on the project. But once meeting Dudley, she soon on side seeing the stupidity of building the cathedral and offering instead to use her wealth to help the poor. It’s just a beautiful scene.
Later, Henry and Julia turn up at Mrs Hamilton’s, to his dismay he realises Dudley had been, and soon his plans come tumbling down. Disheartened he goes for a walk and visits an old friend and storms home to confront Dudley about his wife as Dudley declares his love for her but she loves Henry, was that the reason for Dudley’s heavenly visit to bring them together.
Knowing that Julia loves her husband, Dudley leaves, promising never to return. All memory of him is erased, and later that Christmas Eve at midnight, Henry delivers the sermon that he believes he has written but it was Dudley of course. Has the church fills Dudley observes from the street, satisfied that his work is done.
David Niven plays the perfect foil for Cary's assignment of "answering the bishop's prayer". Loretta Young's charming demeanour as the bishops devoted, but neglected wife, who I think Dudley as fallen a little bit in love with her and leads the audience on a heart-warming journey through small town America at mid-20th century, during a memorable Christmas season.
I recommend this film for the whole Family.
It was a pleasure to revisit this Henry Koster little gem. Everything works in the most unexpected way. The mystic magic of the story is utterly contagious. The unexpected musical number on ice skates by Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and James Gleason made me happy.
My Rating
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