I remember when I was still at school and pulling a sicky I was allowed to rent a couple of videos from the local shop and one I chose was The Preacher's Wife starring Whitney Houston and Denzel Washington. As a 12 year old I didn't really get it and of course at the time I wasn't aware that it was a remake of a film nominated at the 1948 Oscars starring Cary Grant and David Niven. The Bishop's Wife tells the story of Henry Brougham a Bishop with a lot of things on his mind. He needs money to renovate the cathedral, he fears he is losing his parishoners and he is worried that his wife and child no longer love him. Loretta Young's Julia the titular wife is also having problems and seems to look glum wherever she goes. So Henry prays for divine intervention and gets it in the form of Dudley the Angel played by Cary Grant. Dudley is a hit with all around him, he convinces the wealthy Mrs. Hamilton to donate the cathedral funds to the poor, he gets the aethist Professor Wutherington to open up about how he lost his faith and he also puts a smile on Julia's face but he gets a bit too close to her for comfort. The only person who isn't happy when Dudley is around is Henry who feels that Dudley is trying to outplay him and trying to steal his wife and child from him. Obviously everybody learns lessons before the film ends and the film does tackle some interesting themes about faith, love and how much we take life for granted sometimes. The end of the film sees Henry and his family reunited with Dudley wiping all the memories of him away before leaving.
For me the one fatal flaw of The Bishop's Wife was that I really didn't sympathise or like Cary Grant's Dudley. I found at times he was abusing his positon for his own good at one point stopping Henry from attending a carol concert with his wife and then taking her skating. Although he does end up putting things right I just did find him a little bit slimy for an angel and someone who had too much charm. David Niven was first choice to play the angel but when Grant came on board he was the bigger star so got his choice of roles and demanded to play Dudley. However that plays to Niven's advantage as I felt sympathy towards Henry and his lot in life trying to juggle family with the ferociuos women of the parish. I found one scene between him and the always excellent Monty Wooley's Professor Wutherington to be fairly compelling where they talk about outer world beings and what they need to be happy in fact if one character changes the most for me it was Wutherington. Overall the ensemble cast, with the exception of Grant, probably make the film what it is with Young also doing what is needed of her which is mainly smiling and looking beautiful. It is nice to look at as well seeing the city all done up for Christmas but the finish is almost too neat as Dudley heads off once again. I really can't cast my mind back that far to remember if Whitney and Denzel did a better job but I can't imagine they did, they certainly didn't get an Oscar nomination that's for sure.
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