His Brother's Wife

Robert Taylor (as Chris Claybourne) is a playboy doctor who falls in love with model Barbara Stanwyck (as Rita Wilson). This is a film for Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor (he takes off his shirt as a bonus) fans only.

Otherwise, "His Brother's Wife" is an absurd movie. The opening switches around from an infested Jungle Fever… to Mr. Taylor as a seemingly alcoholic doctor… to Ms. Stanwyck playing Roulette… Then, Stanwyck and Taylor go on a prolonged date where she discovers he has a fetish for collecting and/or trading hats, which seems to disappear with his alcoholic tendencies - actually, he's an excellent doctor. Later, listen for Stanwyck to tell Taylor he smokes too much.

*** His Brother's Wife (1936) W.S. Van Dyke II ~ Robert Taylor, Barbara Stanwyck, Joseph Calleia, Jean Hersholt

There's always one cardinal rule in the days of old Hollywood, if you succeed than imitate. Robert Taylor's breakthrough role in his career was in Magnificent Obsession as a young playboy doctor. Right after that he was cast in Small Town Girl as a young playboy doctor. So just to keep the variety of roles going in His Brother's Wife, he's once again playing a young playboy doctor.

Bob Taylor spent so much time in the medical profession on screen it was like going to medical school.

His Brother's wife takes pieces of Magnificent Obsession, Arrowsmith, with a dash of The Rains Came and mixes it together for a hand wringing melodrama. What's significant about His Brother's Wife was that Taylor met and later married Barbara Stanwyck. The love affair they had going on this movie set definitely tells in their performances.

Taylor is from old American stock where apparently the men go into medical profession. He's got a doctor father in Samuel S. Hinds and a physician brother in John Eldredge. Taylor meets Stanwyck at a gambling establishment owned by Joseph Calleia to whom he gets into debt. He also has a whirlwind romance with Stanwyck, but brother Eldredge breaks them up.

In retaliation, Stanwyck takes over Taylor's debt to Calleia and marries Eldredge in revenge. After a lot of romantic game playing she's off to to the tropics where Taylor is working with Jean Hersholt on a cure for some tropical ailment.

Maybe there's a bit of Rain in this film too, because folks down there in the tropics do some foolish things. That I won't get into, but it's highly melodramatic.

The women of 1936 just loved Robert Taylor and that made up for a lot of the claptrap in this plot. Viewed 71 years later however the film needs a lot to be desired. Still Taylor and Stanwyck found each other and were married a little over 16 years. They did another film at 20th, Century Fox a period costume drama entitled This Is My Affair which was better, but not all that much.

Good thing that Louis B. Mayer started varying Taylor's roles after this. The man was definitely getting into a rut.

The other comments here say it all, so I'm simply adding my voice to the chorus. The single word that comes to mind is "ludicrous." One of the more hilarious elements in this ridiculous film is to see everyone talking about the 130 degree heat of the jungles of South America, but their clothes are pristine white, without the slightest smudge, and no one seems to be even breaking a drop of perspiration. It's also a plot point that Robert Taylor is broke, but he has no problem easily jumping on a boat from South America to get back to New York City...and then back to South America, with Stanwyck. If you have the choice between watching this and getting a root canal, go for the root canal -- at least they put you to sleep.

This movie ran about an hour and a half, but it seemed longer than "Gone with the Wind."

"His Brother's Wife" is the story of a playboy (Taylor) who decides to go into the jungle to find a cure for spotted fever. Before he leaves, he meets Stanwyck, and they fall in love.

That, however, doesn't keep him from wanting to leave for the jungle - and even when it does, his father talks him back into it. So off he goes, leaving a furious and heartbroken Stanwyck behind. She retaliates by marrying his brother.

This thing is all over the place, though Stanwyck and Taylor are a darling couple and have great chemistry. MGM always put too much makeup on Taylor - I'm sure he looked just great without it.

Not recommended - you can see Taylor and Stanwyck in better films.

His Brother's Wife is the film that brought Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor together, but since all Hollywood trivia buffs know the sadness that ended their marriage, it might not be very enjoyable to watch this film. To be honest, there aren't very many sparks flying between the two in this movie, so if you want to see lots of smooches and starry-eyes, rent This Is My Affair instead.

Robert Taylor is a biologist and a playboy-imagine the combination-and when he falls in love with Barbara Stanwyck, he vows to give up his science lab and settle down. The only trouble is he's already signed up for an important two year trip to the jungle to study spotted fever. The only other trouble is he's in debt to Joseph Calleia at his gambling house, so if he stays, he's in big trouble. Barbara comes to the rescue and tells Joseph she'll work off Bob's debt while Bob's away.

The story does get a little interesting and the movie continues, but the start is pretty slow. Die-hard Stanwyck or Taylor fans might want to check it out, but this isn't going to make the classics list anytime soon.