tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post3099399489672294088..comments2024-03-24T21:42:48.278-04:00Comments on Another Old Movie Blog: The Bishop's Wife (1947)Jacqueline T. Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11047941886908178350noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post-26286646359260474222015-09-09T07:27:25.929-04:002015-09-09T07:27:25.929-04:00Agreed, John, Cary Grant was splendid as Dudley. ...Agreed, John, Cary Grant was splendid as Dudley. He is quite poignant in the role.Jacqueline T. Lynchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11047941886908178350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post-38538816338565339662015-09-08T22:31:03.574-04:002015-09-08T22:31:03.574-04:00Like Cary Grant once answered when told "I wi...Like Cary Grant once answered when told "I wish I could be Cary Grant", <br />his reply was "So do I".<br /><br />Who wouldn't want to be like Dudley.<br />A simply lovely movie worth watching over and over and over.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02753303414504608808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post-27962797173059497032008-12-26T17:25:00.000-05:002008-12-26T17:25:00.000-05:00We all do it.I liked Gleason in "Meet John Doe" wh...We all do it.<BR/><BR/>I liked Gleason in "Meet John Doe" where he plays the grumpy newspaper editor. He was always good at those gruff exterior but heart of gold type of roles.Jacqueline T. Lynchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11047941886908178350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post-49017963242608377832008-12-26T16:36:00.000-05:002008-12-26T16:36:00.000-05:00Doh! Let this be a lesson: It never hurts to doubl...Doh! <BR/><BR/>Let this be a lesson: It never hurts to double check with imdb.com.<BR/><BR/>And after I did take the trouble to do that, I discovered that James Gleason (1) is in <I>Night of the Hunter</I>, one my favorite movies ever and (2) has one of those great working actor resumes (over 150 credits) that stretches back to 1922 and includes everything from an appearance in <I>Leave It To Beaver</I> to <I>Hunter</I> and <I>Bishop's Wife</I>.K.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10222703055177237209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post-16029881140782070902008-12-26T16:11:00.000-05:002008-12-26T16:11:00.000-05:00Welcome, K, and thanks so much for your comments. ...Welcome, K, and thanks so much for your comments. Yes, I've seen "Remember the Night" and I like it very much. <BR/><BR/>I agree that James Gleason was always good. Though, when you speak of "The Manchurian Candidate", I think you're thinking of James Gregory. Also very good.Jacqueline T. Lynchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11047941886908178350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post-64595963877447285892008-12-26T14:57:00.000-05:002008-12-26T14:57:00.000-05:00Excellent post! I'll definitely check this one out...Excellent post! I'll definitely check this one out. Have you seen "Remember the Night," with Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck? It doesn't aim as high as <I>The Bishop's Wife,</I> but is nonetheless highly enjoyable.<BR/><BR/>James Gleason was always good. At his best in <I>The Manchurian Candidate.</I>K.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10222703055177237209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post-52772324650668379582008-12-22T14:19:00.000-05:002008-12-22T14:19:00.000-05:00I like the Scrooge movies, too, a very secular gra...I like the Scrooge movies, too, a very secular grasp of the Christmas message of redemption. No other secular Christmas story does it as successfully. I love reading it, too. Very moody and atmospheric. Dickens wrote it as a ghost story, after all.<BR/><BR/>Your wife's experience in Brazil sound interesting. I can remember traveling through Australia and New Zealand in late November and being amazed at how the Christmas rush was in full swing already, with no Thanksgiving buffer zone leading into it. <BR/><BR/>David, maybe that is why Dudley doesn't have his wings yet.<BR/><BR/>Actually, I have to tip my own Santa hat at the old movies for having the courage to not only bring up the taboo subject of religion, but to show religious represenatives, i.e. the bishop, and a particularly sexy angel, as being many-sided and not saccharine. They have faults.<BR/><BR/>Today's Christmas movies that show no hint of a religious aspect to the holiday at all are the more cowardly ones, I think. They do not dare broach the subject for fear of seeming to preach. Understandable, but hardly realistic in an age where our filmmakers pride themselves on realism.<BR/><BR/>Millions of Americans, and people all over the world, do manage some spiritual aspects to their lives without preaching or intolerance. Lumping these unassuming souls in with the sour, disaproving, holier than thou types, or the outright nutcases, is hardly fair or logical. Why not have the guts to show what exists?Jacqueline T. Lynchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11047941886908178350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post-53634958326969575882008-12-22T13:42:00.000-05:002008-12-22T13:42:00.000-05:00You're right, of course, about the modern Chri...You're right, of course, about the modern Christmas holiday (i.e., celebrated as we know it) being a relatively newfangled thing-- a product of the Victorian age as I understand it. & I also get a kick out of the blow-up Barneys (tho we don't see too many of those per se out in rural Idaho)-- but I am a sucker for some of the kitschier aspects of Christmas. My wife, Eberle, lived in Brazil for a time & she always talks about how there was no raucous prelude to Christmas as she knew from the States (because as it sounds like you're aware yourself, Advent is a penitential season)-- then all the sudden on Christmas Eve, there was a "holiday," but not in the sense we know it.<BR/><BR/>& yes, I (& Eberle) like the old Christmas movies-- we're almost always watch the 51 "Scrooge," & we both like "The Bishop's Wife" a lot. Interesting how much Christmas figured in classic movies, even ones not ostensibly about the holiday.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15687192784861682991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post-75413646381912351482008-12-22T13:40:00.000-05:002008-12-22T13:40:00.000-05:00I like The Bishop's Wife a lot, but Dudley's affec...I like The Bishop's Wife a lot, but Dudley's affections toward Mrs. Brougham always leave me feeling a bit awkward. It doesn't seem very angelic at all!<BR/><BR/>DavidDavid K.https://www.blogger.com/profile/01027726332582812488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post-62156144628611527732008-12-22T13:16:00.000-05:002008-12-22T13:16:00.000-05:00Thank you so much for your kind comments and your ...Thank you so much for your kind comments and your own thoughtful post, Mr. Hayes.<BR/><BR/>I suspect you're right in that there is an element of Grant's being disingenuous in his almost-declaration of love for Loretta Young. But he plays it along a knife-edge, and we never really know, or aren't meant to know for sure. Though Hollywood loved to present films with religious overtones, certainly to appeal commercially to an audience the studio bosses felt was conservative and religious, one also senses discomfort in the portrayal of religious subjects. Faith is never explored, just used as a gimmick, as a plot device. There was the studio heads' prudent fear of offending that made them hesitant to delve too deeply.<BR/><BR/>Is this where our modern-day representation of Christmas as a ceramic village put on the mantle began? I don't know. Not that I have any objections to it; I don't. We must each keep the holidays in our own way. What fascinates me is the cynicism that leaks out of these warm-hearted holiday favorites, like the oozing pink juice from a chocolate-covered cherry. <BR/><BR/>As for the commercialism, that is American. I don't mind it. We have a secular nation, where people are free to be or not be religious. We are also free to control the commercialism in our own family holiday celebrations, and are in, or should be, in complete control over how tacky we get. <BR/><BR/>I'm more the small, plain, wooden Nativity scene in the living room, the candle in the window, and put the Baby Jesus in the manger when I come home from midnight Mass type of person. But if my neighbor has six-foot lighted figures of Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble in Santa hats with flashing lights on his front lawn, I don't care. It's funny.<BR/><BR/>I will say though, that when it comes to Christmas movies, I prefer the old ones. The modern ones seem to try too hard, just as people seem to try too hard these days to make things bigger, flashier, the best Christmas ever. No wonder there is so much anxiety this time of year, with that kind of pressure we place upon ourselves. <BR/><BR/>Interesting that probably the most popular modern Christmas movie is "A Christmas Story" which is set in 1940 and harkens back to what we imagine is the simplicity of those days.<BR/><BR/>There is no religious presentation in this film, except for the street choir at the beginning singing. Ralphie's family goes to a Chinese restaurant Christmas morning, not to church. But before the mid-19th century, no American Protestant went to church Christmas day, either, particularly in New England where celebrations of the holiday were seen as Papist and baudy and inappropriate. <BR/><BR/>It took the commercialism, the merchants on Main Street, to bring Christmas into mainstream American homes. Afterwards, the churches followed, and began to celebrate Christmas.<BR/><BR/>Not quite a funny perhaps as Fred and Barney in Santa hats lit up on the front lawn, but still a delightful example of American quirkiness.Jacqueline T. Lynchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11047941886908178350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post-37054075776990936142008-12-22T12:06:00.000-05:002008-12-22T12:06:00.000-05:00A very nice essay on a great movie-- a lot to chew...A very nice essay on a great movie-- a lot to chew on here. It does seem that the story sets up Grant's "lonliness," as he describes his constant wandering & wants to stop this to be with Loretta Young. But on the other hand, one wonders if this is disingenuous-- just part of his plan to get Niven & Young back together as a "real" couple. <BR/><BR/>Christmas & Hanukkah, too-- perhaps to a lesser degree-- are difficult holidays for many; Christmas in particular is divorced to a great degree from its religious base (even among the religious, Christmas in this country is pretty much consumerist, & also tied in with often problematic family ties). As someone who isn't religious myself, & who still does celebrate Christmas, I think you're right about the temptation to try to re-capture childhood wonder thru the holiday-- like most attempts at re-capturing the past, this often ends in nothing but frustation.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the thoughtful post.<BR/>J HayesAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15687192784861682991noreply@blogger.com