Too Many Husbands. Wesley Ruggles. 1940.
Hm… Did I see this before? I didn’t think so… Is it part of a box set I’ve bought some years ago?
*time passes while I rummage through the bookcase*
I dud have it! On “Icons of Screwball Comedy Volume One”. Well, this isn’t a very good track record for this blog series so far: I’ve seen 66% of the films previously.
Anyway, it’s a very high concept movie. A man was lost, presumed dead, and his wife remarried. Then he returns, and now she’s married to two people. Hilarity ensues.
There’s a lot of lines like “She’s our wife!” and people doing double takes. It’s fun! I, like, lol-ed out loud at bits. It dances around all the awkward bits and ends up being very modern.
But this isn’t exactly a masterpiece. I think it aims for madcap insanity, but it only achieves slightly bizarre quirkiness.
But it’s a great premise and they soldier through admirably. It’s from a veteran director, Wesley Ruggles, who’d made films from 1917 on.
Popular movies in March 1940 according to IMDB:
| Poster | Votes | Rating | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
91851 | 8.2 | Rebecca |
 |
220 | 7.4 | Drums of Fu Manchu |
 |
3004 | 7.1 | Road to Singapore |
 |
789 | 7.0 | Johnny Apollo |
 |
944 | 7.0 | Primrose Path |
 |
1581 | 6.9 | Strange Cargo |
 |
1598 | 6.8 | Virginia City |
 |
374 | 6.7 | It’s a Date |
 |
293 | 6.5 | The House Across the Bay |
 |
946 | 6.5 | Too Many Husbands |
This blog post is part of the Decade series.