89 Days of Oscar Nominees – #9 – The Bishop’s Wife (1947)

In my attempt to have a more prolific repertoire of Oscar Nominated Films, I have taken it upon myself to watch 89 new Best Picture Nominees that I’ve never seen before between 1 Dec 2016 and The 89th Annual Oscars on 26 Feb 2017.

Here is my Ninth review of the 89 chosen Films…

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“Sometimes angels rush in where fools fear to tread. ” – Dudley

Number of Times Seen – 1 (7 Dec 2016)

Brief Synopsis – A good intentioned bishop is visited by an angel who tries to help him build a cathedral in his community and mend his rocky marriage.

My Take on it – This is a film that I cae across in my research for this series and was actually quite surprised that I had never even heard of it before because it has many themes in common with feel good Frank Capra films like It’s a Wonderful Life (1946).

The casting is superb here and although I can’t say I’ve ever been a huge fan of him, Cary Grant was perfect here as the angel.

David Niven and Loretta Young are also great as the Bishop and his wife who Grant has been sent to Earth to help out.

All three have great chemistry in their scenes together and it helps make things feel even more realistic because of it.

After having watched this, I can completely understand how a film like this could get a nomination for Best Picture because it is such a feel good movie with a pinch of magic to it.

At the same time though, I’m not at all surprised that it didn’t win because it just doesn’t have as much f a powerful impact that many of the winners have been able to bring forth.

Definitely an uplifting film and would be added to my list of uplifting Christmas (holiday) themed films.

Bottom Line – Love the tone of this film.  It has an aura to it like films in the vain of It’s a Wonderful Life (1946).  Grant is great in this and has great chemistry with everyone else included Niven and Young.  I can definitely understand how this could be a film nominated for Best Picture, but at the same time don’t really think it had much of a chance to win because of it’s demeanor. I’m extremely glad that I finally got a chance to see this film because it has such an uplifting theme to it. Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Originally Cary Grant played the bishop and David Niven the angel. When original director William A. Seiter left the film, Henry Koster replaced him and viewed what had been shot so far. He realized that the two were in the wrong roles. It took some convincing because Grant wanted the title role of the Bishop. He eventually accepted the change and his role as the angel was one of the most widely praised of his career. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy

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