The Bishop’s Wife Synopsis: A debonair angel comes to Earth to help an Episcopalian bishop and his wife in their quest to raise money for the new church.
Director: Henry Koster
Writer: Robert E. Sherwood, Leonardo Bercovici
Released: December 9, 1947
Runtime: 109 minutes
Rated: N/R
The Bishop’s Wife introduces us to Bishop Henry Brougham, who has plans to build a grand cathedral but has trouble getting the proper financing. It’s affecting his marriage to his wife Julia, so he prays to God for help. Shortly after, a man named Dudley appears, claiming to be an angel sent to help Henry find his way. Dudley’s presence charms everyone, including Julia, but Henry is skeptical of Dudley and is not convinced that Dudley’s motives are as pure as he claims.
Reading that Cary Grant was initially set to play the Bishop was a bit baffling to me, and honestly, I’m relieved that he ended up in the role of Dudley. I find David Niven to be a fine actor, and he played Henry wonderfully, but it’s the charming, slightly mischievous Dudley who is the movie’s real star. It’s undoubtedly the meatier role, and Cary Grant carries the charisma needed to make Dudley appealing to… well, just about everyone.
Loretta Young is just as excellent as Henry’s long-suffering wife, Julia. She comes alive when she’s with Dudley, so much so that it wouldn’t have been surprising had she chosen to run off with him in the end – and could you have blamed her?
What amused me so much about The Bishop’s Wife is that while watching it, I seriously began to question if Dudley was, in fact, an angel. Perhaps Henry’s prayer had been answered by something down below? Yes, Dudley is handsome and charismatic and performs a few very subtle miracles, but there is an edge to him as well, especially when provoking Henry. He’s there to help Henry in his struggles, yet he spends most of the film with Henry’s wife, being precisely the kind of man Julia wishes her husband would be (again).
He playfully taunts Henry as well, even though it’s pretty clear Henry is not pleased with the amount of time the angel spends with his wife. It certainly made for an interesting situation, but you can’t tell me that Dudley is all tender and kind when he obviously falls for the Bishop’s wife. I suppose I could have misread the situation, but that’s how I felt walking away from the movie.
The Bishop’s Wife is a lovely film with plenty of humor, and I can see why people enjoy watching it around Christmas. It’s a movie that speaks to one’s faith, and I don’t necessarily mean religious faith. Yes, Henry is a Bishop looking to build a large Cathedral… he prays to God for guidance. And guidance comes in the form of an angel (… right?), but it’s not to show Henry the way to money and prominence. It’s to show him what he has in front of him in the form of his old church, wife, and daughter.
Dudley performs a few divine miracles throughout the film, but except for maybe one, I don’t think any of them were necessary. He could easily be a man, interjecting himself in the Bishop’s life to charm those around him until Henry finally comes to his senses. But I’m probably overthinking it. At the end of the day, The Bishop’s Wife is a heartwarming holiday film I would recommend watching around this time of year. In 1996, Whitney Houston and Denzel Washington starred in a remake called The Preacher’s Wife, and while it’s entertaining, it doesn’t come close to touching the charm of this film.
Watched: 11.27.2021
The Bishop’s Wife Notable Song: Noël by The Mitchell Boychoir
