Main Cast: Ginger Rogers, Fred Allen, Victor Moore, Marilyn Monroe, David Wayne
Release Year: 1952
Country: US
Run Time: 85 minutes
Plot
Having supped full of success with the multi-storied O. Henry's Full House, 20th Century-Fox assembled another all-star "omnibus" film, We're Not Married. The unifying factor of this enjoyable seriocomedy is provided by justice-of-the-peace Melvin Bush (Victor Moore), who learns to his horror that his license is invalid. Bush and his wife (Jane Darwell) feverishly track down the five couples whom he has married "illegally" to inform them of the fact and invite them to renew their vows. Couple #1 is Fred Allen and Ginger Rogers, a husband-and-wife radio team whose huggy-kissy behavior on the air conceals the fact that they'd dearly love to cut each other's throats. Couple #2 consists of David Wayne and his contest-happy spouse Marilyn Monroe, who's just won the "Mrs. Mississippi" pageant. Couple #3, Paul Douglas and Eve Arden, ran out of things to say to each other long ago. Couple #4 is millionaire Louis Calhern and his avaricious young bride Eva Gabor, who intends to jilt the old coot and make off with his millions. And Couple #5 is young GI Eddie Bracken and his pregnant wife Mitzi Gaynor. When Bush delivers the news that these unions aren't legal in the eyes of the state, the results range from poignant to hilarious: particularly satisfying is Calhern's puckish revenge on his gold-digging wife. And yes, that is Lee Marvin as Eddie Bracken's army buddy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
“Omnibus” films of this sort are hard to pull off with complete success, for the simple reason that their episodic nature means that some sequences will almost certainly be stronger or weaker than others. By concentrating on five different couples, We’re Not Married also has to sacrifice a certain amount of depth – with so many characters to meet and so many stories to tell, there’s not much time for digging into the details of either the people or their situations. Married is also not helped by the fact that its screenplay is just not funny enough (although it certainly does have its moments) and that the basic premise, which was already familiar in 1952, is overly worn to contemporary audiences. That said, Married benefits enormously from a "humdinger" of a cast. Many will be drawn to the film by Marilyn Monroe’s presence; she looks sensational and delivers a finely-tuned performance, although she’s ultimately wasted in the role. (James Gleason, memorable as the hick promoting her, actually has more to work with than Monroe.) Ginger Rogers and Fred Allen turn in very good work, and Eddie Bracken is both touching and amusing. Eve Arden and Paul Douglas are solid, but their material doesn’t allow them to be as funny as might be expected of these two top comedic talents. Edmund Goulding’s direction is smooth but unexciting. Married was one of six (!) movies featuring Monroe to be released in 1952. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
