Move Over, Darling (1963)

 

Move Over, Darling - 1963

Coming up next is 1963's "Move Over, Darling", a remake of 1940's "My Favorite Wife", in which a woman previously thought dead makes a reappearance to the consternation of her husband, who has just remarried.

The film's cast includes Doris Day, James Garner, Polly Bergen, Thelma Ritter, Don Knotts, Edgar Buchanan, John Astin, Alvy Moore, Chuck Connors, Fred Clark, Max Showalter, and Bess Flowers.

In California, Nicholas Arden is petitioning the court to have his first wife, Ellen Wagstaff Arden, declared legally dead after being lost at sea five years previously.

A noisy lady in the courtroom interrupts the proceedings, which annoys the judge.  "Your interruptions have been prolonging this case and causing me extreme mental and physical discomfort!" he rebukes.

However, after Ellen is declared legally dead, Nicholas surprises the judge by wanting to marry the noisy lady, Bianca.  Grudgingly, he agrees.

What Nicholas doesn't know is that that very morning, Ellen has been discovered by the US Navy on a desert island in the Pacific.  She has returned to reclaim her life on the day her husband has had her declared dead and has married another woman!

Not knowing any of this, Ellen returns to the family home and becomes reacquainted with her children, who do not remember her, as they were very young when she disappeared.

She also meets up with her very shocked mother-in-law, Grace, who tells Ellen the whole story and advises her to get up to the honeymoon location and break up that celebration.

Ellen is just in time.  Nicholas and Bianca have just registered at the hotel and are on their way up to the honeymoon suite!

Eventually, Ellen catches Nicholas's attention, and he is absolutely shocked to see his presumed dead first wife.

Nicholas breaks away discreetly from Bianca in order to be reunited with Ellen.  Their reunion is sweet, but that still does not solve the problem of Nicholas's second marriage.

Bianca is left in the honeymoon suite alone wondering what on her earth could've happened to her husband.

Nicholas returns to the room to try and explain to Bianca that Ellen has returned.  She is completely oblivious to his wanting to tell her something.  She wants to get on with the honeymoon.  Ellen watches horrified from the room next door.

She does everything she can think of to interrupt the Nicholas and Bianca, even knocking on their door and completely annoying the bride.

Nicholas decides to come up with a way to not have to say anything just yet.  He invents a back injury which keeps him out of commission.  Bianca takes him home.

Giving Nicholas time to tell Bianca the truth, Ellen poses as a Swedish nurse/masseuse named Gretta Svenson.  She is not kind to Bianca, who unknowingly disparages Ellen during their conversation.

With Bianca still knowing nothing about Ellen's reappearance, Nicholas finds out that Ellen was not alone on the island.  She had been marooned on the island for five years with a very athletic looking guy named Adam, which does not make Nicholas happy at all.

Matters come to a head when Nicholas (still not having told Bianca about Ellen) is arrested for bigamy, having been reported to the police by his own mother.  Grace is completely frustrated with her son, saying that if he can't set things right, maybe the courts can.

They are all hauled before the same judge who married Nicholas and Bianca, and who declared Ellen legally dead.  Everything is straightened out, though Ellen is no longer certain that she wants to stay married to Nicholas.

The judge wants to hurry and get things finished up legally.  "I'd like to tell my wife about this.  She thinks all my cases are dull.  This one's a doozy," he says, dismissing everyone from the courtroom.

All's well that ends well.  Bianca and Nicholas's marriage is annulled, and she leaves the courtroom with her analyst.  Nicholas and Ellen come together and give their married life another go.

Cast rundown:

   Doris Day......................................Ellen Wagstaff Arden

   James Garner................................Nicholas Arden

   Polly Bergen..................................Bianca Steele Arden

   Thelma Ritter.................................Grace Arden

   Don Knotts....................................Shoe Clerk

   Edgar Buchanan.............................Judge Bryson

   John Astin.....................................Clyde Prokey

   Alvy Moore....................................Room Service Waiter

   Chuck Connors...............................Stephen Burkett

   Fred Clark......................................Mr. Codd

   Max Showalter................................Hotel Desk Clerk

   Bess Flowers..................................Seymour's Wife

And that's it for Move Over, Darling.  After "My Favorite Wife", this was partially remade as "Something's Got to Give" in 1962.  It starred Dean Martin, Marilyn Monroe, and Cyd Charisse.  The film was abandoned after Monroe's death in August of that year.

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Rear Window (1954)

Rear Window - 1954

Our next film is 1954's "Rear Window", which follows the story of a man who is wheelchair bound with nothing to do but look outside at the neighbors.  When something happens to one of those neighbors, he must find out what happened to them.

The film's cast includes James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Thelma Ritter, Raymond Burr, Judith Evelyn, Frank Cady, Jesslyn Fax, and Gig Young.

"Jeff" Jeffries is a photographer who was injured on the job.  Because of his broken leg, he's wheelchair bound and he's got nothing to do but stare out of his windows at the neighbors.

And it's quite the assortment of neighbors, too.  There's an acrobatic dancer, a songwriter, a squabbling husband and wife, a lady who is hard of hearing, and a woman who is desperate for romance in her life.

The few visitors that Jeff does get are his nurse, Stella, and his girlfriend, high society girl Lisa.

Beautiful Lisa and the slovenly Jeff make for an unlikely couple.  Lisa wants to marry Jeff, but he doesn't think that their lifestyles will mesh.

She gets upset when Jeff tells her about what his life is like when he's on an assignment and how it wouldn't be agreeable to her.

When he's all alone, Jeff notices that the squabbling husband and wife seems to be now just a husband.  The apartment is completely closed up, and the husband is keeping odd hours.  Jeff thinks that the man has murdered his wife and is disposing of her somehow.

When he tells Lisa of his suspicions, she thinks he's lost his mind.  (FYI: this is the only film in which Grace Kelly appeared smoking.  She refused to be seen with a cigarette in all her other films.)

However, once the apartment windows are opened and they see the man tying up a large trunk and the mattress on the bed has been rolled up, Lisa begins to see things Jeff's way.  "Tell me what it is you saw and what you think it means," she says.

Even Stella gets in on the action.  She's constantly theorizing how he could have murdered her.  The case seems to fascinate her.

However, when Jeff and Lisa bring the case up to the police, they are disappointed when the police tell them that there is no case.  Everything with the man's story checks out.

Not content with letting things go, Jeff, Lisa, and Stella take matters into their own hands.  This includes anonymous letters and phone calls to the husband.  Lisa even breaks into the apartment to find evidence.

She finds the evidence but is caught by the husband in the process.  She tries to get Jeff's attention.  The husband notices this and now he knows who has been sending him the notes and making the phone calls.

This, of course, puts Jeff's life in danger.  Jeff finds himself hanging onto his apartment for dear life when the man makes his way there and decides to get rid of Jeff.

Don't worry.  Jeff doesn't get killed.  He does, however, break his other leg, which means he's now got two casts instead of one.

He's also got Lisa.  She's traded her fancy clothes for more sedate blue jeans and a blouse.  She watches lovingly over Jeff while he sleeps.

Being dressed down doesn't mean that Lisa has lost her love of high fashion.  Once she's sure Jeff is asleep, she trades her novel for a copy of Harper's Bazaar.

Cast rundown:

   James Stewart...............................L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries

   Grace Kelly....................................Lisa Freemont

   Thelma Ritter.................................Stella

   Raymond Burr................................Lars Thorwald

   Judith Evelyn.................................Miss Lonelyhearts

   Frank Cady....................................Man On Fire Escape

   Jesslyn Fax....................................Miss Hearing Aid

   Gig Young.....................................Jeff's Editor (voice only)

And that's it for Rear Window.  Of the four movies he made with Alfred Hitchcock, James Stewart always said that this was his favorite.  In 1998, it was included on the American Film Institute's list of Top 100 Greatest American Movies.  And it has also been included on the list of greatest movies of all time.

True to form, director Alfred Hitchcock made a cameo in this film.  He appears about half an hour into the movie, where he winds a clock for the songwriter.  Another piece of trivia: the songwriter is Ross Bagdasarian, who created Alvin and the Chipmunks.

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