The Bishop’s Wife (1947)

☆ ☆ ☆

The Bishop’s Wife (1947) – H. Koster

Apparently, this is a movie that is often played during the Christmas season (because it is set at that time) and lo and behold, here I am in Florida watching it on Turner Classic Movies.  I missed the first five minutes but the plot wasn’t too hard to cotton onto.  Cary Grant is an angel sent to help David Niven, a Bishop who has become more focused on building a new cathedral than on his own family and perhaps some more important values (such as caring for the poor).  The Bishop’s wife (played by Loretta Young) is particularly sad due to her husband’s detachment and neglect.  But, of course, Cary sets everything straight with his angelic/magical powers (although only Niven knows the truth).  In particular, he shows everyone how to relax and have fun and to really love each other again.  Plus, he saves a baby from being hit by a car, helps to reinvigorate the local church choir (actually The Robert Mitchell Boy Choir), lights a Christmas tree, and ice skates up a storm.  Monty Woolley plays a professor friend of the Bishop and James Gleason plays a cab driver who are both touched by Dudley’s (Cary’s) charms.  But most of Cary’s attention is devoted to Young to the point where he must leave (to be reassigned to another case) or risk falling in love (I surmised). At first, I thought that this film might be one inspiration for Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire (1988) but the latter film is more poetic, philosophical, and less religious (not that religion plays too big a role here either).  In the end, the film didn’t distinguish itself as a top shelf entry in the Christmas canon (I would have preferred a more comedic touch from Grant) but it wasn’t bad.