The Doctor Takes a Wife

Loretta Young and Ray Milland star in "The Doctor Takes a Wife," a 1940 comedy that also features Edmund Gwenn, Gail Patrick, and Reginald Gardner. Young plays June Cameron, a 1940 version of a feminist who writes on the joys of being a bachelorette. When her editor/boyfriend (Reginald Gardner) summons her back to New York from her vacation, she hitches a ride with Dr. Timothy Sterling (Milland). Through a series of unfortunate events, the press reports that they're married, which will ruin June's current the status of her current best seller, Spinsters Aren't Spinach. Her publisher wants to keep the mistake going because June can now write about being married; and Dr. Sterling's newly married status wins him a big promotion. The fly in the ointment is Sterling's fiancée (Gail Patrick).

Completely predictable, of course, and dated, but still fun because of the terrific cast and good direction by Alexander Hall. Both the stars are very good. Young is beautiful in her tailored suits and gives her material the needed light touch. Milland always had a flair for comedy and does a good job as the stubborn doctor. Amusing, and a look back at the old days when this kind of film was popular.

Unlike some other reviewers who found Loretta Young (as June Cameron) off-putting in the first part of the film, I liked her. It was rather Ray Milland (Dr Timothy Sperling) who came across as a misogynist blockhead. I don't know what attitudes were common in the USA c. 1940, but my guess is that Sperling's crass biologist views about gender roles were pretty marginal even back then. Still, director Alexander Hall evidently intended viewers to agree with the doctor rather than with the successful female author; after all, it is her who changes in the course of the film while Sperling stays the same.

In any case, once you put modern sensibilities aside and suspend disbelief long enough to accept the extremely unlikely setup of the storyline, this is a very good screwball comedy with witty dialogue and some absurdly comical situations. Both Young and Milland have great comic timing. So does Gail Patrick, to my surprise. I have seen here in other comedies (My Man Godfrey, Mad About Music), and while in each case she played quite different types of female roles (cold temptress, anxious mother) she was never really funny. Here she is, and that's great to see. In sum, The Doctor Takes a Wife is an enjoyable comedy that is well-worth watching.

I agree with the other positive reviews here, with one reservation. The film is a very funny, well written and performed screwball comedy. I especially enjoyed the sequence where Miland has to scramble between two adjoining apartments, a situation I've seen lots of times in comedy films; it's delightful here because of Miland's perfect performance and the spot on comic pacing. It's great fun seeing the cutsy-pie, air head performance of Gail Patrick; in her other "other woman" roles ("My Favorite Wife", etc.) she plays it stern and bland, here she's very funny and likable. OK, my one reservation--Loretta Young is miscast; she is off-putting in the first half of the film, seeming a total bitch. Later in the film, as her character softens she becomes a sympathetic character and right for the part. Hers is a role that seems to have been written for Roziland Russel or Jean Arthur; as I watched the film it was very easy to imagine those actresses fitting the part and the dialog to perfection. Occasionally Young seems to be handling her lines as Russel would, including her vocal inflections.

Ray Milland plays a doctor who meets Young at a little vacation lodge one afternoon. Young is trying to get back to her home in the city, but unfortunately is forced to ride with Milland after learning that the lodge's only train has already left for the night. Milland and Young immediately hit it off (I'm kidding, they hate each other's guts) and only descend deeper into dissension after Milland unknowingly insults the books Young writes. Any guesses as to what kind of books Young writes? If you said "I don't know, anything to do with anti-marriage/female empowerment," ding ding ding! We have a winner (not that there's anything wrong with female empowerment, mind you).

Young and Miland make a brief stop while a wedding is going on. Unfortunately, a little boy, on a mission from God mistakes the wedding vehicle and puts a "Just Married" banner on the back of Milland's car, unbeknownst to either Young or Milland. The press ends up following the two back to Young's apartment and put 2 and 2 together. Unfortunately, they put 2 and 2 together and ended up with 5. Assuming that this prominent anti-marriage authoress has gotten married, they then proceed to print the news all over town, not realizing that this is a case of jumping to conclusions, or "ignorant slander," if you will.

Young's boyfriend Johnny has the idea that the 2 should pretend like they actually ARE married in order to help Young's upcoming book sell very well (the upcoming book has to do with the joys of marriage, etc). Boy, didn't see this coming (wink, wink). After some strong protest from Milland, Young finally gets her way and the two proceed to live together somewhat peacefully until Milland's girlfriend Marilyn (Gail Patrick) shows up and begins to wreak havoc (Gail surprised me in this, she doesn't play her borderline venomous, straight-shooter kind of role in this; she's more of a young Ann Miller-type?)

All in all, things get all wrapped up with a nice red bow at the ending, which I wasn't really expecting (wink, wink). I'd give this one a 7/10, as I've seen funnier (case in point, Bringing up Baby, Merrily We Live with Constance Bennett, or My Man Godfrey with Powell/Lombard). But Loretta Young is quite funny in this.

Loretta Young (June) has just written a best-selling book about how spinsters can enjoy life without men. She is stuck out of town and needs to get back to her agent and boyfriend Reginald Gardiner (John) to start work on her second novel. Cue Lecturer Ray Milland (Dr Stirling). He has a fiancée Gail Patrick (Marilyn) who he intends to marry once he gets a professorship at his college. He is in the same out of town area and he ends up giving Young a lift back into New York. By some misunderstanding, a "Just Married" sign is attached to his car, and everyone assumes the couple have just got married. Uh-oh, this is bad for Young's career and for Milland's. But, actually, the situation could benefit them both. Watch to find out how…

This film is OK while you watch it but nothing outstanding. I thought Loretta Young was the best character despite being a bit of a horror at the beginning. And I've never been a fan of that wisecracking, screwball comedy quick patter where everyone talks over each other. SHUT UP! This film, annoyingly, has some tedious sections with this contrived device, especially at the beginning. However, once we get away from these, the dialogue is actually quite funny in parts, eg, Loretta's quip to Milland in the car when one of his model heads falls onto the car floor - "Trunk murderer? She asks him directly. Another amusing scene occurs where one of the meat-head College boys is asked a test question and asks for Milland's number and if it's OK to phone him later with the answer.

One last point - how come they cast all the spinsters to look the same? There is a definite spinster look to the women at the start of this film. What the best-selling book really should have told them to do was to get dressed up and go sit in a bar. They should then get sorted with a shag and everyone's happy. The world can be a very simple place if we just take the right attitude.