The Bishop's Wife

The Bishop's Wife
by Henry Koster

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DVD details

Actor: Cary Grant, David Niven, James Gleason, Loretta Young, Monty Woolley
Director: Henry Koster
Brand: GRANT,CARY
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: Pan & Scan, 1.33:1
Running Time: 109 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-03-06
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)

DVD Reviews of The Bishop's Wife

DVD Review: Disappointing Christmas Fare
Summary: 2 Stars

I'd heard about this movie all my life, so on a whim I purchased it from Amazon and settled down with my eggnog for a holiday treat. Was I disappointed! I'd expected something on the caliber of It's a Wonderful Life. Instead, I thought this movie was shallow and contrived. It's an insipid story line about how a nice angel improves everyone's attitude by doing a few parlor tricks like straightening files and providing a never-ending bottle of whiskey. Loretta Young's character wallowed in subservient self-pity. David Niven's cold portrayal of her bishop husband didn't warm up much, even after the angel's visit. I didn't really care for any of the characters, and found myself yawning. The film was nominated for Best Picture after its 1940s release, so I'm sure there's a host of Americans who disagree with me, but I wish I hadn't wasted my money.

DVD Review: This Movie will Grow on You
Summary: 5 Stars

The more I see this film, the more I like it. This film has a definite ring of reality and truth. Anyone who has had ministry experience will empathize with David Niven's character as the pastor of a church that is in somewhat of a decline. After years of struggling to grow his church, he is desparate to "save" his church and his ministry by securing the funding of a new building program. He is so focused on this goal that he is willing to sacrifice his ideals and his marriage in order to achieve it. What's very realistic about this is that Niven's character thinks he is doing "God's work" in his pursuit. Unless one has been in full-time ministry, it is difficult to grasp the pressure ministers are under to "produce" growth - to have a "successful" ministry. This pressure is captured very well in the film. In the process of achieving this funding for a new church building, Niven's character has lost sight of Who and what he is serving, and worse, he is totally unaware of his cold and "stagnant" relationships with God, his wife, his co-workers, and those he is called to love and serve.

In steps an angel, Cary Grant, who is sent to influence this driven, over-worked, frantic, and misguided pastor/husband to recover his once-sincere devotion to his God, to his ministry, and to his wife. Complications arise when Grant's character and the pastor's (Niven) wife, Loretta Young, are attracted to each other. The angel falls in love with the pastor's neglected and dispirited wife.

Of course everything works out in the end. The angel (Grant) accomplishes his mission and the pastor is restored to genuine love of God and his wife. There are many sweet and endearing characters and scenes along the way. I highly recommend this for your Christmas season viewing.

DVD Review: Best Christmas movie of all time!
Summary: 5 Stars

This movie is in my humble opinion, the best Christmas movie ever made. It has humor, lots of it, and sensitivity to the true meaning of Christmas. Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and David Niven are incredible in their roles. This is not only my favorite Christmas movie, it is one of my all time favorite movies in any genre. I cannot recommend this movie enough. Heartwarming, funny, caring, wonderful acting, it has it all. If you are looking for a Christmas movie to warm the heart, "The Bishop's Wife" is the movie for you!

DVD Review: Elegant magical timeless moving story!
Summary: 5 Stars

This is as good as it gets!! My favorite Christmas movie! A classic. So elegant and fluid a storyline that you yearn for a dozen more like it! But there is nothing like it. Filled with the wonder of childhood, of faith restored, of a relationship healed. Of the Divine entering into human lives and changing them for the better. Beautiful. It will move you to tears and have you filled with quiet joy. It will encourage you to trust more and remove the destructive impediments of selfish will and Lean Back into the Everlasting Arms that are G-d.

DVD Review: Christmas Lover's Triangle?
Summary: 4 Stars

What to do? You're an Episcopal Bishop who feels an angel is movin' in on your wife... and you've been overburdened trying to get a cathedral built! This is a nice 'old' classic for middle-agers and above to watch together (nothing here to keep the interest of children or teens). Fine performances by Cary Grant, David Niven and Loretta Young. It an enjoyable movie, though I find the ice-skating sequence too long and drawn out.

Description of The Bishop's Wife

Heavenly bells are ringing, jubilant choirs are singing and Christmas joy is blanketing the world like freshly fallen snow. But the Yuletide spirit has yet to warm Bishop Henry Brougham's Victorian home. Struggling to raise funds for a new cathedral, the preoccupied young clergyman has neglected his loving wife Julia, and now only divine intervention can save their marriage! But the powerful and handsome angel sent from above has a mind of his own and teaching mortal Henry an immortal lesson inromance isn't all he's got planned! Starring Oscar(r) winners* Cary Grant, Loretta Young and David Niven, and featuring "a stellar supporting cast" (The Hollywood Reporter) that includes James Gleason and Monty Woolley, this delightful romantic comedy is wondrous, witty andtruly divine! *Grant, Honorary Oscar (1969); Young, Actress, The Farmer's Daughter (1947); Niven, Actor, Separate Tables (1958)

Perhaps if The Bishop's Wife had lapsed on its copyright and fallen into the public domain like It's a Wonderful Life, it would be as much a Christmas staple as that classic. It certainly deserves to be. Dudley (Cary Grant) is an angel sent down by the prayers of a new bishop (David Niven). The bishop is trying to build a new cathedral, and he's so entrenched in his fundraising that he's watching his own marriage crumble around him. Loretta Young is devoted, moist-eyed, and basically a great date for the tempted Dudley. They drink in the afternoon, go skating at night, and make impulse buys. The skating sequence beats mightily on one's suspension of disbelief, but the rest of the film is an absolute joy. Grant is suave, worldly, and enchanting. A wonderful present for anyone who has not seen it. --Keith Simanton

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