The Bishop's Wife


If you want an hour and a half of pure old fashioned Christmas Bliss
go to the BBC iPlayer, like I did when I was cooking supper.
There I found a classic 1940s propaganda movie
titled The Bishop's Wife, which I watched as I was mixing a tuna bake.
It's a lovely movie which has affable angel Cary Grant gate crashing the slightly sad home of overworked Bishop 
(David Niven) and his tired wife ( Loretta Young) in order to teach them what the important things in life are.
Of course all this is done over a Hollywood kind of Christmas, with 1940s studio snow,
Cute old duffers, singing choirboys, and miracles that warm the cockles of 
of the Scrooge-iest of viewers! 
Loved it





31 comments:

  1. Yes, this is a great old movie that takes one to fantasy land.....in a good way.

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  2. I bought this on dvd pre Christmas last year, as I am a sucker for anything with Cary Grant in it and love David Niven too. Thoroughly enjoyed it, and it's now a festive staple in our house.

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  3. My favourite has disappeared. "The Holly and the Ivy". It had it all. Ministers, fallen women, Christmas.

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  4. Hello Johnny (my apologies if for some reason you hate that name). Just dropping by to check in on the estate, glad to see you still puttering around in the kitchen, doting on Winnie and sharing wonderful stories. Merry Christmas season to you and yours!

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  5. Thanks for reminding me of that classic movie. If the BBC allowed us overseas folks to look at the BBC telly shows, I would definitely take advantage.

    Good news is that we do have all sorts of great radio programs available...snd they are wonderful to hear while one is painting or knitting, or even baking Christmas cookies.

    What besides tuna was in your tuna bake?

    Best wishes.

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  6. Just my kind of Christmas movie John... I have discovered a love for old movies in recent years...maybe because i too am getting older... Have you seen Arsenic and Old Lace?? Not a Christmas movie but i did like it and love the Title.. lol A favorite Christmas movie of mine has a very young Charlie Sheen called Courage Mountain... I guess its not technically a 'Christmas' movie but the ending deals with Christmas so i always watch it this time of year... The 'just' of the movie is Heidi and her Grandfather...that may make you think its a childrens movie but i don't think so.. Gorgeous scenery and some wonderful actor..although i cannot remember their names.. they are well known... I hope you check it out.. Hugs! deb

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  7. All we have to do is check in on your blog for our daily dose of adorable and sweet.

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  8. My favorite Christmas movie is A Holiday Affair with Robert Mitchum and Janet Leigh and the most adorable little boy actor.

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  9. My earliest movie memories were my mom taking me to an afternoon cinema with her sisters. I learned to be "quiet as a mouse" and saw a lot of movies over the years. Lucky me, my husband loved the cinema .. he was older than I so he introduced me to actors and films that I never knew about.
    Loretta Young was one of my favorite film stars.

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  10. Propaganda Movie??? Really? Major stars, story line timeless, typical of the time, drama and humor and happy ending?
    Surely you are not that cynical.

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    1. Actually it was designed as a propaganda movie...! Family values, the Christian way, altruistic, all American !
      I still loved it though

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  11. That is my second favorite Christmas film, the first being, A Child's Christmas in Wale.
    Denholm Elliot's voice is one of them most beautiful I ever heard and that of Mathonwy Reeves as the little boy with his charming lisp is about as cute as it get.
    Thanks for reminding me of both of them!

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    1. good god, I can not spell tomight!!

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  12. Holiday Inn, child's Christmas in Wales, bishop's Wife, White Christmas, and Holiday Affair are on DVD and I watch them every Christmas.

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  13. I know the film well. Heartwarming and Christmasy.

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    1. p.s. I missed your yesterday's post. Back in the early 60's I heard someone on the radio referring to 'a 16 year old man'. I was 16 at the time and hadn't previously considered myself a 'MAN'.

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  14. I have this on DVD and have watched it every Christmas for at least ten years, if not more. I can probably recite the dialogue from memory. Cary Grant is the ultimate.

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  15. I adore 'It's a wonderful life'. Will I like this one just as much? xx

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  16. Cary Grant is the angel - well that's enough to make me watch it!

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  17. I've never seen the film, but in real life I've polished off a bottle of scotch with the help of a bishop and a night club owner.

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  18. I will have to seek this one out. My sister always used to 'accuse' me of fancying David Niven - not sure why even now!

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  19. Absolutely one of my top 10 films of all time. Yes, there are many more movies that are better... but none that make me feel what this one does.

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  20. This sounds like my kind of movie and I totally love David Niven, a whole lot :D

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  21. With a cast like that, what's not to love?

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  22. I don't know if I'd consider it propaganda. The movie actually takes a sly dig at organized religion. Remember, the bishop of the title is concerned only with building a cathedral, something the angel finds rather unimportant. I thinks the film's kind of subversive more than anything else (a films of that era often had to be, due to the onerous Hay's Code.)

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  23. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  24. now there's a coincidence ~ I caught most of this very film the other day on TV (can't remember the channel now). I missed the beginning so had to work out what was going on but I really enjoyed it :-)

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  25. I LOVE this movie. We just watched it last night. It's on my "must view for Christmas short list" along with most versions of A Christmas Carol during which I cry at exactly the same scene every time...When Scrooge asks Marley's ghost "Jacob, why are you laden down with chains?" Marley responds "I wear the chains I forged in life. I made them link by link. Gladly I made them and gladly I put them on". It sends a shiver down my spine every time and makes me wonder how heavy and ponderous my chains are, and I have labored on them since. What great writing to make me cry every time and for those words to haunt my life.
    So, here's our "must watch" list:
    The Bishop's Wife
    Pee Wee's Christmas Special
    Judy Garland's Christmas Special
    A Christmas Story
    A Christmas Carol - the older the better
    Babes in Toyland (Laurel and Hardy)
    I can take or leave It's a Wonderful Life and this year it's leave.
    Holiday Inn - 1942 version with the black face scenes that make us squirm in embarrassment

    I also enjoy vintage holiday cartoons from Warner Bros, Fleischer Studios (Betty Boop, Popeye)Disney etc.

    Something about Monty Woolley who played the cranky, old professor. He was Cole Porter's lover in real life. Cary Grant played Cole Porter in a biographical film that ofcourse touched on nothing about this side of Cole Porter (and possibly Cary Grant it is said).

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  26. Monty made it for me too!

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  27. My husband and I love The Bishop's Wife along with Christmas in Connecticut, A Christmas Story, Holiday Inn, and A Child's Christmas in Wales with Denholm Elliot. Also Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, John, Chris, Winnie (love her), Albert, Mary, George, William and the regal Camilla!

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