|
Overview
I Was a Male War Bride is an American comedy romance film first released in 1949,
directed by Howard Hawks.
The film stars Cary Grant, Ann Sheridan, Marion Marshall, Randy Stuart and Bill Neff.
It has also been released under the title: You Can’t Sleep Here.
Our overall rating for this film is: very good.
Synopsis
In the immediate aftermath of WWII, Henri Rochard, an officer in the
French secret service, is sent to the German town of Bad Nauheim to
track down a lens polisher named Schindler and persuade him to work for
the Allies. Against his wishes, he is accompanied by an American
army lieutenant, Catherine Gates, who still harbours a grudge after
their last assignment together. In the course of their ensuing
adventures, Henri and Catherine manage to patch up their differences
and decide to get married. Unfortunately, Catherine must return
to the United States and the only way Henri can go with her is by
applying for entry to her country as her
bride...
Film Review
Although he is perhaps best remembered for his groundbreaking thrillers
- Scarface (1932) and The Big Sleep (1946) – and high
class westerns such as Rio Bravo
(1959), Howard Hawks also directed some of Hollywood’s best screwball
comedies, including Bringing Up Baby
(1938). I Was a Male War
Bride is one of Hawks’s later comedies, a very enjoyable battle
of the sexes farce in which a hapless Cary Grant suffers no end of
humiliations when he tries to get the better of Ann Sheridan and US
military bureaucracy. The film was inspired by a true (but hard
to believe) story that appeared in the Readers’ Digest.The film was shot on location in Germany (Hawks’s first shoot in Europe), which brings not just a sense of realism but also a distinct mood of post-war relief tempered by the realisation of the nightmare the world has just lived through. The downbeat tone may also have been influenced by the fact that many of the cast and production team - including the lead actors – fell ill during the location shoot because of the extreme cold weather. The humour may be far more restrained than in earlier screwball comedies, but there are some brilliant visual gags and the crackling dialogue between the two lead performers could hardly be improved on. It may not be Howard Hawks’s most worthy film, but I Was a Male War Bride is unquestionably one of his most entertaining, even if the decision to cast Cary Grant as a Frenchman is so mind-bogglingly ludicrous as to be almost surreal. © James Travers 2008 Write a review for this film...User Comments
What do you think of this film?
Related links
More American ComedyMore American Romance Recent DVD releases |
Credits
Similar films:
If you like this film you may also like the following: Christmas in July (1940) Desk Set (1957) Finian’s Rainbow (1968) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) Horse Feathers (1932) The Lady Eve (1941) The Merry Widow (1934) Oklahoma! (1955) The Palm Beach Story (1942) Pat and Mike (1952) Pillow Talk (1959) Platinum Blonde (1931) Send Me No Flowers (1964) Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) |


