I Married a Woman

I Married a Woman was made in 1958 at the height of George Gobel's career. George is playing his usual henpecked character from television with an overbearing boss, an interfering mother-in-law, a dissatisfied advertising client and a few other things that make his life an adventure. But if you were married to the statuesque Diana Dors, somehow a lot of those problems would seem small. They don't for Mr. Gobel.

Gobel was a very big name in television at this time with a Saturday night variety show for NBC at 10:00 pm. I still remember from my youth the booming TV announcer for NBC announcing their fabulous Saturday night line up of COMO, CAESAR, GOBEL. It was sure superior to NBC's line up now.

Watching George Gobel for me is a piece of nostalgia. And looking at the shapely Diana Dors in a tight dress is reason enough itself to watch this film. Gobel's humor doesn't quite translate to the big screen however. You get the feeling you're watching one long skit from his old TV show.

One of the gags that doesn't quite work is have John Wayne make an unbilled appearance as Diana Dors's idea of a romantic leading man. Romantic? John Wayne? Wayne makes two appearances in the film. In a movie theater where Gobel and Dors are watching the Duke and Angie Dickinson mouthing some meaningless romantic dialog with the Duke looking quite debonair.

I have to believe that this was a gag meant for someone like Cary Grant or Tyrone Power who were great romantics on the screen. The Duke just looks ridiculous doing this. Maybe that in itself was a gag.

I'll let you be the judge if you see this film.

An alleged comedy starring George Gobel and Diana Dors' cleavage, this TV-style sitcom asks us to believe 1) George would win Diana, 2) they'd live in what looks like a $10 million Manhattan duplex on his salary as a junior ad executive, 3) she would never, never get the chance to tell him she's expecting, which would essentially end the movie, 4) he'd put up with Jessie Royce Landis's endless henpecking (cue the mother-in-law jokes), and 5) the ultimate symbol of screen urbanity, sophistication, and chivalry is… John Wayne. The writing is barely television level, and director Hal Kanter (later a TV mogul, responsible for "Julia" and other notable sitcoms), barely knows where to point the camera. The story's so thin that even at 85 minutes it feels padded. Diana, always good to look at and not an incapable actress, deserved better than this.

This is probably more fun now than it was when it came out.

It's a bit of black and white nostalgia now. Then, it was a showpiece for George Gobel, improbably married to sexbomb Diana Dors -- I guess that was the "joke."

Jessie Royce Landis is fun, as always, and the supporting cast supports very well.

It's by no means awful. It's kind of a man's fantasy about being a wimp who's adored by a gorgeous girl -- not unlike the better and better known "Seven Year Itch."

An American comedy; A story about a mild-mannered advertising executive who finds that his life has added complications after he marries the glamorous model from his beer commercial. The script was lame and unfunny, and the direction fails to make the distant signals of humour work, relying on narration to overfill the gaps. Diana Dors, as a pouting beauty trying to rescue her marriage, has to call on her charm and sparkle because, on paper, the film doesn't work well. Dors was matched with George Gobel, who failed to come up with the required robust persona that would make a tale about a neglected wife stick. Only John Wayne, who shows up in a cameo role, produces a genuine laugh. Angie Dickinson, similarly in a brief appearance, is creditable.

"I Married a Woman" is a most unusual movie in 1956...in addition to having a pretty dumb title. After being made, it sat on the shelf for two years before ultimately being released. Usually this means the film is god-awful and the studio is afraid to release it. But in this case it happened because the studio, RKO, was in a financial crisis and suspended production on everything! And so, they sat until eventually some deal was made to have Universal Studios release the films.

In "I Married a Woman", George Gobel plays a very boring man, Mickey Briggs, who is married to a knock-out wife, Janice (Diana Dors). Despite this, he seems mostly indifferent to the woman and thinks mostly about work....even though most men would envy him for having such a pretty wife. For instance, in one part of the film, she wants to go see a romantic film...and Mickey acts as if he's being forced to eat glass when he goes with her! And, again and again, Janice laments that Mickey is so indifferent to her...and she wishes he was like he used to be when they were dating. It's so bad that Janice even tries to make him jealous...just to get SOME sort of reaction! Later, she thinks Mickey's indifference is because he's been cheating on her...mostly because she's been egged on by her awful mother! This is an interesting reversal...something audiences probably didn't expect! What's next? See the film....and see just how bad the Briggs marriage become.

So is this any good? Well, yes and no. I like the general idea of the film. But I also must say that after a while I felt a bit annoyed by the film, as the characters seemed like jerks. Mickey was a very inattentive husband. Phyllis was a very annoying wife. And Phyllis' wife needed a good kick in the pants! I don't normally feel this way when I watch a film....and I think the writers didn't quite hit the mark and they should have softened the characters a bit. As a result, the film felt more like a sitcom than a movie. However, I did enjoy John Wayne's cameos...particularly the one at the end of the picture!