Main Cast: Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Walter Pidgeon, Betta St. John, Eduard Franz
Release Year: 1953
Country: US
Run Time: 101 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
Clemson Reade (Cary Grant) is the kind of man who wants to marry an old-fashioned girl, one who will stay home and take care of her husband. However, he's fallen in love with Priscilla "Effie" Effington (Deborah Kerr), who has an exciting career with the State Department that she has no intention of giving up. Clemson has the poor timing of proposing marriage to Effie just as she's in the middle of trying to resolve a major political crisis with the Middle Eastern nation of Bukistan; the United States wants to stay on Bukistan's good side, thanks to their plentiful reserves of oil. Tired of waiting for Effie, Clemson decides that he needs to find a potential bride who will follow his lead instead of her own, and he soon meets Princess Tarji (Betta Saint John), daughter of the King of Bukistan, who has spent her life learning to faithfully serve her man. Clemson half-seriously sends a telegram proposing marriage to Tarji, which touches off a political tempest in a teapot when Tarji responds by visiting the United States. The State Department decides that someone should look after Tarji while she's in America, and who should be given the assignment but Effie; to Clemson's chagrin, Effie uses her time with Tarji to enlighten her about the more liberated status of women in the West. By the way, don't bother looking for Bukistan in your atlas, the country doesn't really exist. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Dream Wife is hardly a dream movie. Indeed, it can be argued that any romance-based comedy in which Cary Grant gives a poor performance has something seriously wrong with it. Grant certainly had been in this type of film before (and would be again), but most other times he had the benefit of a sturdy script and good direction. Both are woefully lacking in Wife, which has a premise that was growing tired in 1953 and is positively wearying today. The bickering between Grant and co-star Deborah Kerr is irritating, and Grant's character in particular comes off as spoiled and obnoxious -- even with Grant's natural charm. The dialogue is weak when it's not inane, and very few of the set-ups have any pay off. As director, Sidney Sheldon is hopelessly at sea, unsure of what tone to set, how to handle his actors and at times even where the proper focus of a scene should be. Without a seasoned hand at the helm, Grant overplays in a way that is quite unusual for this normally excellent farceur. Kerr does somewhat better (Although she's far from her best), and there is a certain chemistry between them -- but it keeps getting shoved aside for their senseless quarrel. Walter Pidgeon has some good moments, and there are a few scattered laughs here and there. Helen Rose's costumes are quite marvelous (although they cry out for color), and there's some nice lensing. But for the most part, Dream Wife has little to recommend it. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Buddy Baer - Vizier; Don Randolph - Ali; Bruce Bennett - Charlie Elkwood; Richard Anderson - Henry Malvine; Dan Tobin - Mr. Brown; Movita - Rima; Gloria Holden - Mrs. Landwell; June Clayworth - Mrs. Elkwood; Dean Miller - George; Steve Forrest - Louis; Jonathan Cott - Marine; Patricia Tiernan - Pat; John Alvin; Jean Andren - Bit; Dan Barton - Sailor; Faire Binney - Mrs. Parker; Marie Brown - Miss Temple; Steve Carruthers; Edward Cassidy - Customs Official; Maria [Movita] Castaneda - Rima; Jack Chefe - Captain; Lillian Culver - Woman at Airport; Donald Dillaway; Kathleen Freeman - Chambermaid; Bernie Gozier; Dabbs Greer - Elevator Boy; Aram Katcher - Bukistanian/Messenger; Mary Lawrence - Mrs. Malvine; Alphonse Martell - Headwaiter; Bert Moorhouse - Attlow; Jimmy Moss - Small Boy; Virginia Mullen - Annie; Forbes Murray; Robert Nichols - Elevator Boy; Dick Rich - Delivery Man; Vernon Rich - McBride's Assistant; Gordon Richards - Sir Cecil; Kay Riehl - Woman; Perry Sheehan - Evelyn the Receptionist; Charles Sullivan - Truck Driver; Les Tremayne - Ken Landwell; William Vedder - Old Man; Gayne Whitman - Men at Airport; Gail Bonney - "Mommy"; Jack George - Clarence; William Hamel - Reporter; Hassan Khayyam - Bukistanian Priest; Marjorie Liszt - Woman Cab Driver; Rudy Rama - Servant; Dorothy Kennedy; Beryl McCutcheon; Allen O'Locklin - Clerk; Jim Cronin; William McCormick; Harry Stanton
The character of "Princess Tarji" was slightly resurrected in one of Sidney Sheldon's I Dream of Jeannie TV episodes, "This Is Murder" (4/9/66), portrayed by Gila Golan.
Plot summary
Businessman Clemson Reade (Cary Grant) breaks his engagement with workaholic U.S. diplomat girlfriend Effie (Deborah Kerr) for an adoring "old-fashioned" girl from the fictitious country of Bukistan, Princess Tarji (Betta St. John). Reade believes that he wants a wife who can "just find having babies and taking care of a man" pleasurable. While Reade tries to get closer to his bride-to-be, Effie, who has been assigned by the State Department to see that the marriage does not affect a major oil deal with Bukistan, muddies his every step, all the while educating the bride about Western ideas of the role of a wife.
