The Bishop's Wife is a 1947 Samuel Goldwyn romantic comedy feature film directed by Henry Koster and starring Cary Garnd, Loretta Young and David Niven. The plot is about
an angel who helps a bishop with his problems. Dejected by his efforts to raise money to build a cathedral, Episopalian Bishop Henry Brougham (David Niven) beseeches heaven for guidance and is visited immediately by Dudley (Cary Grant) who claims to be a debonair angel. Henry is skeptical then annoyed when Dudley ingratiates himself into the househould as his assistant and worse when the attentions of Henry's long-suffering and kindly wife (Loretta Young). When Dudley continues to intervene in Henry's struggles, the bishop decides to challenge heaven.
Dudley, the angel, comes to Earth to teach a thing or two to the people of this town or so it seems. He touches everyone he encounters in a positive way. The message is how we humans get so involved in things that are so unimportant that we miss the big picture. Dudley also turns everything he touches into a lesson on how to be kind. David Niven plays the preoccupied bishop who is trying to find the moneyed people of the town to his side in order to erect his monument to his own ego.
There is an ice skating sequence in the film that many feel is one of the best things of the film.
The Bishop's Wife was remade in 1996 as the Preacher's Wife starring Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston. The film was directed by Penny Marshall. Marshall was the nasal-voiced co-star of the slapstick sitcom, Laverne and Shirley with Cindy Williams.
Be Safe
Pat Locke
Maestro Muse
