Move Over, Darling: The Take Two Blogathon

Get in, friends, we're talking about comedy remakes today!

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Before we get started, this post is part of Hometowns to Hollywood's 'Take Two' blogathon. Head over to her blog and make sure you read all of the entries!

When I saw Annette's blogathon announcement, I knew which movie I wanted to focus on: Move Over, Darling. This swinging '60s comedy features Doris Day at her box office best, and add in James Garner, and how can you fail? 

Move Over, Darling is a 1963 remake of the sleeper comedy My Favorite Wife, which was released in 1940 and starred Cary Grant and Irene Dunne (a pairing that truly can't go wrong).

Here are the IMDb plotlines for both: 

My Favorite Wife: Missing for seven years and presumed dead, a woman returns home on the day of her husband's second marriage.

Move Over, Darling: After being lost at sea for several years, a missing wife thought long dead returns just after her husband has remarried.

(Since the names are unchanged, Ellen and Nick, I'm going to stick with the actor names to avoid confusion.)

The premise is the exact same for each: Doris Day and Irene Dunne are both lost at sea and their husbands, James Garner and Cary Grant, want them declared legally dead so that they can finally move on with their new loves (Polly Bergen and Gail Patrick, respectively). 

In the original, Irene's character's ship is lost; while Doris is lost at sea when the plane they're travelling on goes down. 

Both survive on tropical islands for the next seven years, but unbeknownst to their husbands—and to us until the second act reveal—they weren't alone on the island. In each film, the wife spends the seven years with a hunky man whose real name is Stephen but is called Adam (as in Adam and Eve). 

In both, Irene and Doris arrive home on the date of James's and Cary's remarriage, surprising them at the honeymoon hotel just as the husbands are heading up to consummate the marriage, and we're treating to one of my favourite visual gags:

via madeline-kahn

via madeline-kahn

What follows is hijinks, pratfalls, and mayhem as the husbands attempt to keep their new wives away from Irene and Doris. And once 'Adam' is discovered, the wives each rope in short, mousy men to pretend they're him, but the husbands both figure out who the real Adam is. 

Finally, the husbands are both reported to the police on charges of bigamy, and both films end with all the players in court trying to explain to a very confused and blustered judge just exactly what's going on. 

I won't spoil the ending(s) for you, but both are worth your time!

What I love about Move Over, Darling is how bright and splashy and dishy it is. This is Doris Day at the height of her career; and James Garner handles the comedy of the role so well. 

Another favourite part of Move Over, Darling, is when Doris is roped into giving Polly a massage (this is before Polly knows who she is) and she makes a callback to the original My Favorite Wife: 

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Ellen: When I was a little girl in Sweden, I went once to the movies. Poor Cary Grant thought his first wife was dead, so he married another lady, but Irene Dunne, who was the first wife, she come back.

Bianca: Movies! When do movies ever reflect real life?

Ellen: Ja, but suppose Mr. Arden's first wife was to come back like Irene Dunne done... did.

There's also the catchy theme song, 'Move Over, Darling', which you can listen to here:

Move Over, Darling was a bonafide box office hit, earning $12,705,882. My Favorite Wife, also well-received, earned $2,057,000. 

In both cases, there were interesting backstage stories about the making of each: Move Over, Darling was originally supposed to be a Marilyn Monroe vehicle called Something's Gotta Give, but she was fired from the production for repeated delays and only shot about 30 minutes of footage. Sadly, Marilyn died before this reworked version was released. In My Favorite Wife, once shot, the production realized they needed to rework the story to avoid a second act lag, so they roped in Gail Patrick (who was starring as Bianca), to help work out the legal portions of the story and to tighten it up. (The more I learn about Gail Patrick, the more I love her). 

As for which is better? They both great in their own ways: one stars two of the biggest stars of the '40s; the other stars two of the biggest stars of the '60s. They're both hilarious, box office hits, and despite being the same story, they both have wonderful takes on them that separate the story. 

Enjoy!