Too Many Husbands

I wasn't expecting much from this Jean Arthur comedy vehicle, and as a result, I was pleasantly surprised by it.

Arthur plays a woman married to the best friend of her dead husband, who's mighty surprised when her dead husband turns out not to be so dead after all. Now she's got two men fighting over her, a state of affairs she settles back to enjoy, much to the dismay of her father, played by that terrific character actor Harry Davenport.

Jean Arthur is absolutely adorable, even if she is a bit of a brat in this. You want to hug her even as you want to see her kicked in the seat of her pants. Fred MacMurray plays the back from the dead husband, while Melvyn Douglas plays the best friend. I felt MacMurray straining a bit at the screwball comedy antics he was asked to tackle, but Douglas navigates the material expertly and probably gives the film's best performance.

I will say that the film is utterly unpredictable -- I could not guess how it was going to turn out right up until its closing credits.

Grade: B

Fred MacMurray is the long lost husband who returns to the scene to find that his wife, Jean Arthur is married to new husband, Melvyn Douglas. Arthur's character must choose which husband to keep. The viewer is compelled to want both men to win Arthur's hand; they are both charming. The plot is simple but the fun, witty dialog and situations that develop are very entertaining. I loved MacMurray and Douglas' tails and top hats. The ball gowns were lovely to look at. It's amusing to watch the dancing style in the party scene; lively, silly and fun. A fine, light movie to enjoy with popcorn and the family or champagne with a friend.

Too Many Husbands is a prime example of the screwball comedy. All the usual elements are in place -- romance out of whack, a collection of goofy but likable characters, frenetic, sometimes slapstick action, fast-delivery, witty dialog, a ridiculous situation, class satire, and the cops further gumming up the works -- all breaking off in unexpected directions like the baseball pitch the genre is named after.

A flighty rich dame (Jean Arthur) finds herself married to two different men at the same time, and she loves both of them. She is not an intentional bigamist. Hubby number one, sexy but ever wandering Fred MacMurry was lost at sea and declared legally dead, so the lonely widow marries his best friend, reliable, hard-working smoothie Melvin Douglas. When hubby number one shows up alive after all and ready for action with his beautiful wife, the fun ensues. Poor Jean, she just can't make up her mind which husband to choose. With one a reckless adventurer and the other a neglectful workaholic no sensible woman would want either, but this is Jean Arthur! She's having a whale of a time as the two compete to show her more attention than either ever had in the past. She may just take forever to make up her mind!

Jean Arthur, who was reportedly a serious dingbat in real life, seems perfectly cast in this type of role. MacMurry and Douglas are in their element here, too. The three bright stars, all at their peaks, make this one a delight all the way through. Good support comes from Henry Davenport, another mainstay of the screw-baller, as Jean's harried father, and Edgar Buchanan, looking younger than you thought he ever was, as a suspicious cop.

Too Many Husbands is a bit of a slow-starter, but give it a chance. Under Wesley Ruggles' sure direction, it soon picks up steam, getting wackier and funnier as it goes along. The great acting, gorgeous, luminous, old nitrate black and white cinematography and smooth editing you have come to expect from big studio productions of the 'thirties and the 'forties make this one a pleasure to watch. Smooth, glossy entertainment from Old Hollywood's Golden Era.

I've just discovered this lighthearted film today on tv and must admit it has all the fine elements that make for a good stage play -- plenty of sure-fire dialogue, continual momentum to the story (never a dull moment), and light touches of original music. There are some hilarious moments so downright comical it made me burst out laughing. Just accept it as one more comedy of that era and you'll enjoy it nicely without having to make comparisons or look for weaknesses. Harry Davenport as the father adds his wisdom where he can. I feel all the actors had a good romp in this movie and I liked the repartee amongst them very much. Not sure precisely how it ended so will need to see it again some day. It's a fun movie indeed.

Over at RKO Studios where My Favorite Wife was being done Columbia was working on Too Many Husbands, a reverse of the same plot premise. That is a presumed dead husband showing up unexpectedly and inconveniently and complicating poor Jean Arthur's life. Of course when your husbands are Fred MacMurray and Melvyn Douglas that's a choice any girl would love being stuck with.

Too Many Husbands as a history going back to a W.Somerset Maugham play and before that to Tennyson's Enoch Arden. In this version Arthur has married her late husband's publishing partner in their firm Melvyn Douglas. But like Irene Dunne who spent several years on her tropical island in My Favorite Wife, Fred MacMurray is only there for a few months. Douglas however convinced he was really dead got him declared so in order that he may marry Arthur.

So now what to do? After all kinds of methods tried the decision is really kind of taken out of their hands. Will the loser bow out gracefully? One never knows in these things.

Jean Arthur was a mainstay over at Columbia Pictures, but her leading men MacMurray and Douglas were borrowed from Paramount and MGM respectively. And instead of a live in mother Arthur has a doting father in Harry Davenport living with her who just wishes things would go back to normal with one man in her life. Presiding over it all is Douglas's butler Melville Cooper whose facial expressions are a throwback to silent era days. But they're all he needs to get his point across.

A remake of this with a military and show business background was done in 1955 called Three For The Show. Even with Betty Grable, Jack Lemmon, and Gower Champion around it's decidedly inferior to this.

Too Many Husbands even got some Oscar recognition with a nomination for Best Sound Recording. Fans of the three leads should be pleased.