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Although the film shows hundreds of American female military personnel stationed in Germany after World War II, apparently few were interested in the local men. According to Howard Hawks's "I Was a Male War Bride," only the male soldiers wed Europeans, and the military bureaucracy and red tape were stacked against American women marrying European men. With that premise, an American Lieutenant, Ann Sheridan, falls for Frenchman Cary Grant, and the couple resort to extraordinary ploys to both comply with and circumvent the rules to marry and bring Grant to the U.S. as Sheridan's "bride." Although Grant is about as French as Big Ben and looks as feminine in drag as Sylvester Stallone, Cary is Cary and brings charm and charisma to his improbable role of Captain Henri Rochard. Tough and sexy Sheridan is better cast, but the sum of the two stars exceeds either apart. Cary and Ann have chemistry and work well together in a plot that could have easily fallen apart with a less skilled team of actors and director.

Grant plays the patient and suffering spouse, who must endlessly explain that he is married to an American soldier and entitled to shelter and transportation in a system that does not recognize his gender as compatible with his situation. Throughout, Grant's face and body language speak volumes about the frustration of dealing with bureaucracy and filling in forms in triplicate. Although at times Sheridan seems oblivious to the depth of Grant's problems, her performance is fine, and she convincingly captures the transition from an initial loathing of to an eventual attraction to Rochard. Shot on location in post-war Germany, the black-and-white photography captures the beauty of the countryside and the devastation of the cities with documentary like precision. Hawks keeps the proceedings well paced, and, while rarely laugh-out-loud funny, "I Was a Male War Bride" and its megawatt stars provide excellent entertainment.

I saw this movie years and years ago and always remembered the line, "Be quiet or people will think we smuggled in a cow." I was excited to see it on TCM. Alas, while it's good, it's not as hysterically funny as I thought it was going to be. Cary Grant plays a Frenchman with an English accent who winds up married to an American officer, played by Ann Sheridan. I loved their banter, especially in the beginning. Their wedding night is interrupted when she gets orders to ship out, and the problem becomes how to get her new husband home with her to America when all the spousal regulations seem to be for brides.

For me, the funniest scene took place while Grant is waiting for the bus with all the brides. Over a loudspeaker, a female officer informs the women about the new styles in the states and the way hair is worn. Grant's face is priceless while she's talking.

The movie is cute and notable for Grant dressing like a woman and looking very homely. Ann Sheridan is very good. The film is a little slow, but if you love Cary Grant, you should enjoy it.

I've always liked this movie despite it having one VERY serious short-coming. You see, some dimwit decided to cast Cary Grant as a French Soldier and, to put it bluntly, he sucks at imitating a Frenchman. If only the producers had watched the movie Suzy (completed more than a decade earlier), they could have seen how silly Grant looks when he plays a French person. He has no trace of a French accent. If he had sounded like Pepe LePew, it would have been a vast improvement! So, provided you can get past this (and I'm sure many CAN'T), you are left with an intelligent little comedy about what happens when an American servicewoman marries a French officer and tries to bring him back to the states. As you may have guessed, this did NOT happen very often as nearly all American troops who married abroad were men marrying local ladies. And, because this is NOT the norm, one bureaucratic snafu after another prevent them from the supposedly easy task of immigrating with his new bride to America. Particularly noteworthy is Grant when he poses as a WAC! Although he was a handsome man, he was one scary looking woman!!

As a fan of Cary Grant's work in such comedies as Philadelphia Story and Bringing Up Baby, I was thoroughly disappointed by this movie.

It has a few shining, laugh out loud moments in the beginning and in the well known cross-dressing segment near the ending, but I found the middle to be long, slow and not very entertaining. The plot wasn't very interesting and Grant's adventures became repetitive and boring. Also, Grant isn't very convincing as a Frenchman, and I kept forgetting why he had trouble getting into the States in the first place. If you have trouble sitting through slow-moving movies, I would definitely not recommend this.

However, on the opposite side, there are a few funny moments, a cute romantic plot, and, of course, Cary Grant. See it if you wish, but be warned not to have too high of expectations.

One of the most undervalued screwball comedies... I think this picture is equal to classics like "It Happened One Night","Bringing Up Baby" or "My Man Godfrey".In this movie Ann Sheridan has the rare opportunity to show that she's not just a great dramatic actress but also has a impressive comedian talent - neither Katharine Hepburn nor Carole Lombard would have made it better.Cary Grant acts also quite good,but he has no chance against Ann with her sharp-tongued,dry commentaries...The dialogues and the action are very funny,I even laugh about it when I see that feature the 10th time...part of the plot is nonsense,of course,but there are also some sarcastic digs on the bureaucratic system. If you like screwball comedies,this movie is a MUST!!!