#The Bishop's Wife

[classic-hollywood-glam]

Cary Grant The Bishop's Wife 1947

[clarkkantagain]

cary grant the bishop’s wife 1947

[classicfilmblr]

The Bishop's Wife (1947) dir. Henry Koster

[wardengrill]

The Bishop's Wife (1947)

[classicfilmsource]

Loretta Young and Cary Grant in THE BISHOP'S WIFE 1947 | Henry Koster

[filmgifs]

Loretta Young and Cary Grant in THE BISHOP'S WIFE 1947 | Henry Koster

[lindadarnell]

Loretta Young and David Niven in THE BISHOP'S WIFE 1947 | Henry Koster

[blondebrainpowered]

The Bishop's Wife, 1947

[hellostarrynightblr]

Cary Grant and Loretta Young in The Bishop’s Wife (1947) dir. Henry Koster

[cinematicfinatic]

Merry Christmas

[littlemxsunshine]

crazy that the three best christmas movies of all time came out between 1945-1955 and the plots are “affordable housing for all,” “fake dating pop star au,” and “an angel fucked your wife,” respectively. we try so hard but we’ve just been chasing those heights ever since

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Bishop's Wife (1947)

The Bishop's Wife is a Christmas film for those more interested in heavenly miracles than fat men in red suits. It’s a bit of a strange bird, which is why the archival posters I saw for it are utterly puzzling (I wonder if audiences at the time felt misled) but false advertising from the marketers or not, I won't complain. Whatever it takes to get eyes on this movie is worth it.

Bishop Henry Brougham (David Niven) is having difficulty funding the building of a new cathedral. Without the contribution of Agnes Hamilton (Gladys Cooper), it will be impossible for him to meet his goal but her money comes with all sorts of demands about the building’s design. His prayers for help are answered when a suave angel named Dudley (Cary Grant) appears at his door. When Dudley seems more preoccupied with helping Henry’s wife, Julia (Loretta Young) reconnect with her old friends and playing with Henry's daughter, Debby (Karolyn Grimes), than raising money, Henry has difficulty understanding what sort of angelic help he’s received.

The posters advertising the film heavily emphasize Cary Grant and Loretta Young, implying that his character might be stealing her away from David Niven's. It’s true that if you saw certain scenes in isolation and didn’t know that Dudley was an angel, it might seem like the two of them would end up together, but this is not that kind of movie. The angel knows that Henry's put so much effort in this cathedral project that he's neglected his family. His wife and daughter feel sad and lonely at the worst time of year: Christmas. Henry may not be directly going up to people and asking them for money for the building but you can tell there’s a plan in motion. You're curious to see how it will all come together.

Cary Grant is perfectly suited for this role. He’s extremely charming and divinely charismatic. He and Loretta Young get along so well you understand why Bishop Henry becomes suspicious of them. Young’s performance is also noteworthy because you see how much fun she’s having on the little adventures Dudley takes her, while never for a second thinking she might be falling out of love with her husband. It’s simply a deep friendship, the kind that might not last long but means the world to you at that moment. The sentiment is infectious, both to the other people in the film (there are several memorable side characters, such as an old friend of Julia’s, played by Monty Woolley) and to viewers. By the time the film gets to its December 25th finale, you’ve been reminded of some of the more important elements of the holiday and have been told a story that’s unlike any other yuletide romance I can think of.

I hadn’t heard anyone speak of The Bishop’s Wife before seeing it on a list of “classic” Christmas films and I can sort of see why. If I tell you it's the story of a bishop wondering about his wife's happiness, you’ll wonder how you could possibly relate. Trust me. Give this film a chance. In no time, you'll get a feel for the characters and become involved in the story. Seeing Dudley put together his ultimate plan is intriguing, the drama between the family is engaging, the performances are quite good (I didn’t mention David Niven earlier but he does well for himself) and the black-and-white cinematography gives it a certain homey feel you can't resist. I even think there's a spot for The Bishop's Wife in your yearly viewing list, particularly if you're craving more earnest Christmas sentiments than we usually get. (December 23, 2021)

[mormonbooks]

The Bishop's Wife Review

4/5 Stars!

This book was nothing like how I expected it to be and everything I needed and wanted it to be. I expected the kind of novel you could recommend to your mom for a bit of light reading on a Sunday afternoon. The Bishop's Wife. She's a mormon woman who is doing her best to take care of her ward.

I was pleasantly surprised at the moderately progressive tone the book took within the first few chapters (asking questions about the sexism in the church, the fear of judgement 'imperfect' families face, etc) but I soon realized that it there was much more. This novel is a deep commentary on Mormonism, digging into the deep and unpleasant parts, and asking difficult questions that most members like to avoid. It does it all through the eyes of a faithful middle-aged woman, who knows what she believes and uses her faith to bring justice to her community, even when she has to struggle against the church institution and her own husband to do it.

In my opinion, it's a great work of mormon feminism, that allows our culture to shine through in all it's glory and with all it's flaws. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, genuinely. The mystery is engaging, the community is loveable, the plot twists are gut wrenching. Truly a work of art. I'm excited to read more of Harrison's work

Breakdown under the cut

1. Well written - 5 Stars

Yes. The prose is beautiful. The plot is engaging. The mystery is complex and the new information always threw me. It was gut wrenching at times. It was comforting at others.

2. Fun level - 5 stars

It's a slow-paced story, with many moments that skip weeks or months where not much happens. But I enjoy stories like that. It gave breaks between the page-turning mystery solving moments.

3. Complex faith - 5 Stars

This is probably my favorite part of this book. The villains and the heroes are all mormons, and they all approach their faith and their religion in different ways. Linda obviously has more progressive views, and is enraged by the misogyny of many of the men in this story. Those men are not shown to be anamolys per se but they're also not shown to be the norm. Many women in the story have opportunities to voice their questions and doubts but it never makes them any less mormon. People exist all over the scale of mormonism and it feels like the most honest portrayal of our culture that I've read so far.

4. Homophobia scale - 3.5 Stars

It's not a major plot point, but it's mentioned that Linda's son Samuel joined the GSA at his school and she is proud of him for that. She also suspects that her other son might be gay, and worries about how that will affect his relationship with his father. I imagine this will be explored further in the series. It's refreshing that Linda is pro-LGBT but it also seems to treat the church's heteronormative stance quite naively and I'd love to see Harrison really dig into that topic in the future.

5. Mormon weird - 4 stars

Realistic Fiction, but definitely uniquely mormon. The characters in this book could not be swapped out with "generic christians." some of the problematic and dangerous beliefs are uniquely mormon, but so are the beautiful and comforting ones. There is a lot of discussion of the plan of salvation, that I appreciated. I also liked Linda's realistic approach to faith, and her honest moments of doubting, or referring to things as "legends" and "myths." Things don't have to be doctrine to be important in our culture

6. Diversity of characters - 2 stars

I don't think race is ever touched on in the novel, and they all live in Utah and have typical european-american names, so it's easy to assume they are all white. And despite being essentially a work of mormon feminism, a very small percentage of the speaking cast are women.

7. Other problematic stuff - 4.5 stars

I deeply enjoyed the novel as a snapshot of a mormon town, however that does mean that, despite her progressiveness, Linda has a realistic understanding of gender, as a middle-aged mormon woman. She has some beliefs and attitudes toward men that I found frustrating, although understandable.

Conclusion:

I gave this book 5 stars on goodreads but that was before I did my breakdown. I wish it had been more diverse, but I think Harrison explores race in the church in future novels. We'll see.

I LOVE Linda Wallheim. I LOVE the way Harrison talks about Mormon communities and Mormon faith and Mormon culture. I love how much this book made me feel. This is decidedly GOOD mormon rep, with all the determined faith mixed with struggles against flawed systems and truly terrible people. like. I cannot express how much I hate the villains in this book.

I can't wait to see Linda's next adventure.

[screenshotingmonstercinema]

[eclecticpjf]

Now watching:

[classicfilmsource]

THE BISHOP'S WIFE 1947 | Henry Koster