I Was a Male War Bride

It goes without saying that Cary Grant is thoroughly unconvincing as a French officer who falls in love with an American WAC (brusque, fast-talking Ann Sheridan) in postwar Europe. But realism is hardly the point of Howard Hawks' romantic farce, which was shot on location but is as artificial as any other bit of Hollywood fluff about an initially hostile man and woman who wind up in each other's arms. The first part of the picture is rather like It Happened One Night in khaki, with the stars trading insults as they work, often at odds, to find a black market forger, while the second takes a mildly satirical turn as the now-married couple try to manipulate travel regulations to secure passage for Grant to the United States, with the poor fellow ultimately forced to dress up in drag in order to get on the ship with Sheridan. I Was a Male War Bride never achieves the snap and sparkle of, say, the gender-sparring Tracy-Hepburn movies, but despite some labored moments it's a worthy addition to the Cary Grant library, especially on this handsome-looking DVD (released as part of a collection in honor of what would have been Grant's 100th birthday), which also features the original trailer, a gallery of production stills, and silent footage of both location shooting and the German premiere. Recommended. [Note: also newly available in the “Cary Grant Collection” at the same price are: Born to Be Bad, Kiss Them for Me, and People Will Talk.] (F. Swietek)