Holy Matrimony **** (1943, Monty Woolley, Gracie Fields, Laird Cregar, Una O’Connor, Alan Mowbray, Melville Cooper, Franklin Pangborn, George Zucco, Eric Blore) – Classic Movie Review 12,109

The 1943 comedy film Holy Matrimony stars Monty Woolley and Gracie Fields in a smashing remake of 1933’s His Double Life.

Director John Stahl’s 1943 20th Century Fox comedy film Holy Matrimony is a smashing remake of 1933’s His Double Life about a reclusive painter, Priam Farll (Monty Woolley), who, after a mix-up, trades places with his suddenly dead butler and buries ‘himself’ in Westminster Abbey.

He finds himself settling down with nice widow Alice Chalice (Gracie Fields), who has been corresponding with the butler, but suddenly he is a bigamist when the man’s previous family arrives on the doorstep.

Holy Matrimony is an excellent, spirited entertainment based on Arnold Bennett’s 1908 novel Buried Alive, which makes a first-class endearing vehicle for half a dozen or so revered performers, some of whom weren’t easy to cast, and all of whom are seen here at their finest. It also stars Laird Cregar, Una O’Connor, Alan Mowbray, Melville Cooper, Franklin Pangborn, George Zucco, and Eric Blore. Woolley and Fields have great chemistry, while Cregar as effeminate art dealer Clive Oxford, Una O’Connor as Sarah Leek, Alan Mowbray as Mr Pennington and Franklin Pangborn as Duncan Farll are outstanding.

Screenwriter Nunnally Johnson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay but lost to Philip G Epstein, Julius J Epstein, and Howard Koch for Casablanca. Johnson had read the Arnold Bennett book in 1928 and was surprised no one had turned it into a film. However, the book had been made into a film twice in the UK. It was filmed in the silent era in 1921 with Lionel Barrymore as The Great Adventure, the title of Arnold Bennett’s play version of his novel Buried Alive. And it was made by Eddie Dowling Pictures and released by Paramount Pictures in the US in 1933 as His Double Life.

Also in the cast are Ethel Griffies, Montague Love, Richard Fraser, Edwin Maxwell, Ian Wolfe, Alec Craig, Fritz Feld, William Austin, Lumsden Hare, Leyland Hodgson, Thomas Louden, Milton Parsons, and Geoffrey Steele.

It was shot in April and May 1943. During production, Johnson quit his job at 20th Century Fox to become an independent producer. Previews were so positive that Fields was offered a full contract at Fox in June 1943. The film was a hit and Woolley and Fields were reunited two years later for Molly and Me. The film cost $709,000, earned $1,570,700 (worldwide), and made a profit of $267,400.

It premiered in Los Angeles, on 27 August 1943 and opened in New York City on 15 September 1943.

The cast are Monty Woolley as Priam Farll, Gracie Fields as Alice Chalice, Laird Cregar as Clive Oxford, Una O’Connor as Sarah Leek, Alan Mowbray as Mr Pennington, Franklin Pangborn as Duncan Farll, George Zucco as Lady Vale’s solicitor Mr Crepitude,  Eric Blore as Henry Leek, Ethel Griffies as Lady Vale, Melville Cooper as Dr Caswell, Whit Bissell as Harry Leek, Fritz Feld as Critic, Cyril Delevanti as Townsman, Olaf Hytten as Cockney, Montagu Love as Judge, Edwin Maxwell as King Edward VII, Billy Bevan as Cabby, Richard Fraser, Edwin Maxwell, Ian Wolfe, Alec Craig, William Austin, Lumsden Hare, Leyland Hodgson, Thomas Louden, Milton Parsons, and Geoffrey Steele.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,109

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