We’re Not Married (Dir: Edmund Goulding, 1952).
Covering similar ground to the earlier Mr and Mrs Smith (Alfred Hitchcock, 1941), We're Not Married is a portmanteau comedy in which, due to a jurisdictional error, five couples discover they are no longer married. Seemingly starring any available 20th Century Fox contract player, the movie is of most interest today for an early appearance from Marilyn Monroe.
On Christmas Eve, a newly appointed justice of the peace (Victor Moore) marries the first of five couples, ignorant to the fact that his appointment does not take effect until January. This comes to light a few years later when each pair is informed of the mishap. The movie follows each couple as they respond to the news in different ways.
On Christmas Eve, a newly appointed justice of the peace (Victor Moore) marries the first of five couples, ignorant to the fact that his appointment does not take effect until January. This comes to light a few years later when each pair is informed of the mishap. The movie follows each couple as they respond to the news in different ways.
Although its strands are loosely connected, We're Not Married cannot overcome feeling like a series of sketches, some of which are, inevitably, better than others. For me the weakest of the bunch was the one which is granted the most screentime. Top billed Ginger Rogers and Fred Allen star as the Gladwyns, a pair of radio hosts whose contracts deem they are a married couple. I found the constant bickering between the two rather tiresome, although it does feature some neat satirical swipes at commercial radio.
Far more appealing is the sequence with Marilyn Monroe as a Mississippi beauty queen and her stay at home husband David Wayne. Monroe's appeal, in what was one of her first significant roles, in readily apparent; easily holding her own among a cast of much bigger names. The other highlight is the episode with soldier Eddie Bracken and his pregnant wife Mitzi Gaynor. With Bracken about to be shipped to Hawaii, the sequence is a sweetly old fashioned reminder of the mores of an earlier age.
Less successful are the remaining segments, with Eve Arden as the long suffering wife of philanderer Paul Douglas and, Louis Calhern and Zsa Zsa Gabor as a warring couple on the verge of divorce. Both have their amusing moments but suffer from dated, some would argue sexist, humour.
Far more appealing is the sequence with Marilyn Monroe as a Mississippi beauty queen and her stay at home husband David Wayne. Monroe's appeal, in what was one of her first significant roles, in readily apparent; easily holding her own among a cast of much bigger names. The other highlight is the episode with soldier Eddie Bracken and his pregnant wife Mitzi Gaynor. With Bracken about to be shipped to Hawaii, the sequence is a sweetly old fashioned reminder of the mores of an earlier age.
Less successful are the remaining segments, with Eve Arden as the long suffering wife of philanderer Paul Douglas and, Louis Calhern and Zsa Zsa Gabor as a warring couple on the verge of divorce. Both have their amusing moments but suffer from dated, some would argue sexist, humour.
Not a perfect movie, and some ways off from being a classic, We’re Not Married is still worth a watch thanks to some genuine high spots and its roster of vintage Hollywood stars.
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