Classic Pick: I Was A Male War Bride (1940)
Once you get past the slightly eyebrow raising title, Howard Hawks’ wartime comedy I Was A Male War Bride pays off as a charming and even daring story. Cary Grant plays Captain Henri Rochard, a French army officer sent into post World War II Germany to recruit a lens-maker for the Allied government. He’s assigned American Lieutenant Cathy Gates (Anne Sheridan) as his chauffeur, much to their mutual discomfort. The pair have worked together before and neither has any wish to repeat the experience. This being a screwball comedy, they start as antagonists and end by falling in love, ultimately leading to a marriage – three marriages, actually, as Army red tape forces them to undergo several ceremonies. When Cathy is ordered back to her headquarters and must return to America, the now decommissioned Henri is faced with having to act as a foreign spouse in order to emigrate to America – in other words, he becomes a war bride.
I Was A Male War Bride deftly plays with gender expectations and tropes. Henri begins life as a ladies’ man, utterly turned off by his counterpart’s military position, while Cathy finds his sexist ways rather repellant. Slowly the gender roles shift and switch, as Henri is forced to occupy the “feminine” role as the spouse of an officer. Grant’s leading man archetype is forced into situations where he behaves as a quintessential woman – unable to sleep in the same barracks as his wife, he has to turn to the sleeping quarters of other “war brides” and their families…where he’s not permitted to stay due to his gender. The climax of the film is particularly entertaining, given all that has gone before, proving that Grant really was more than just a pretty face.
While not quite as classic as other Hawks/Grant collaborations like Bringing Up Baby, I Was A Male War Bride is a fun and offbeat screwball comedy, the first half of the film playing along familiar (but enjoyable) lines, while the second half veers into the strange and subversive. The perfect film for a relaxing Sunday afternoon.