The Bishop's Wife

[rosie23]

Every time I watch the movie I ask the same question...

did James Gleason, Loretta Young, and Cary Grant actually do some of the ice skating?

I can't distinguish if they did , or not...excellent editing , but it appears as they must have done some of it ? Or is this just the majic of movie production?

[joefilmone]

I'm sure that they used doubles in some of the shots but good camera work and editing can cover that trick- they also need to find a stunt person who matches the star. I recently was watching " Atlantis the Lost Continent" on DVD and during a climatic sword fight the hero was obviously replaced with a double. or in some of those late Roger Moore Bond pictures the stunt double was painfully obvious.

[rayallen]

I can't be sure, but while I would think doubles probably were used, something tells me Cary Grant could have done his own skating.

[rosie23]

to rayallen... I agree... Cary's face is clearly visible in several of the skating segments - more than the others. But all three of them are visible at times in the face.

It would be nice to know the back story to that scene.

[DownGoesFrazier]

Maybe that used Maurice (Rocket) Richard or Gordie Howe to do Grant's skating.

[bklynrose]

I'm glad you mentioned this movie I love watching it and do so every time it comes on, I just hope it doesn't go the way of "Its a Wonderful Life" my husband and I would look for it every day in December and would find it on some channel. Then NBC brought it and now its shows on 2 times and with so many commercials I don't know how people can sit through it. Shame on NBC for putings profits before Christmas memories.

cat

[Sprocket_Man]

> {quote:title=bklynrose wrote:}{quote}

> Shame on NBC for putings profits before Christmas memories.

> cat

 

Broadcast television is a business; were it not for the commercial time networks sell, they couldn't put on anything. In any case, when the film was presumed to be in the public domain, the countless local stations that showed it (in generally inferior prints and transfers) larded it with just as many commercials as NBC does now.

 

You and everyone else have every opportunity to see the film uncut and uninterrupted by spending the modest sum of money it takes to purchase a DVD or Blu-ray of the film.

[Tikisoo]

> {quote:title=bklynrose wrote:}{quote}

> Shame on NBC for putings profits before Christmas memories.

 

Imagine....TCM putting the spirit of Christmas before the commercial. I never watched TCM all that much before, but I'm going to be a regular viewer from now on!

 

[FredCDobbs]

> {quote:title=bklynrose wrote:}{quote}

> Then NBC brought it and now its shows on 2 times and with so many commercials I don't know how people can sit through it. Shame on NBC for putings profits before Christmas memories.

 

A few years ago, NBC aired "Schindler's List" with no commercials at all.

[Sprocket_Man]

> {quote:title=FredCDobbs wrote:}{quote}

> A few years ago, NBC aired "Schindler's List" with no commercials at all.

 

For the all-too-obvious reason that interrupting a story of the horrors of the Holocaust to sell soap (a particularly dreadful association, if you know what the Nazis did with the bodies of many of those they exterminated in concentration camps) and other products (many produced by U.S. companies that maintained business ties to Nazi Germany even during the War) would be far more costly to the network in bad publicity than the money they might forgo by not selling commercial time to advertisers.

[ValentineXavier]

> {quote:title=Sprocket_Man wrote:}{quote}

>... would be far more costly to the network in bad publicity than the money they might forgo by not selling commercial time to advertisers.

 

Not exactly the sort of exposure that most advertisers would want, either.

[traceyk65]

To go back to the original question, I found an interview with the woman who played the little girl Debbie in the Bishop's Wife (and also the little girl in It's A Wonderful Life) and she says Grant did do his own skating. Of course she was 7 then and is now 70, so who knows? Her memory may be off a bit.

[movieman1957]

I think Grant may have done some of the basic movies but you get into the more complicated stuff there seems to me enough difference that there was a double.

[JamesJazGuitar]

Yea it looks like a double since the flow of action isn't there when they do get to the more complex moves.

 

Great movie. Now if only I could get a bottle of wine like they had in the movie!

[joefilmone]

Love this movie - Grant is a perfect angel.

[ERROL23]

Cary Grant and David Niven traded parts at the last minute.

[fredbaetz]

If I'm not mistaken, Cary Grant was hired to play Dudley and Niven was recast as the Pastor.They didn't trade parts...

[joefilmone]

Grant had that movie star magic that was perfect for the part. I'm surprise this film was not remade as a musical in the 50's...

[C.Bogle]

The contention that the Nazis processed the bodies of many Holocaust victims

into soap is an old wives' tale, supported by the uncritical and unexamined

repetition of rumors and not by historical evidence. It's somewhat reminiscent

of the oft repeated, but false, statement that Hitler was elected leader of

Germany.

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/soap.html

[clore]

>>If I'm not mistaken, Cary Grant was hired to play Dudley and Niven was recast as the Pastor.They didn't trade parts...

 

It's true - Grant was originally hired to play the role that went to Niven. The parts were swapped and after a few days shooting, Grant was getting antsy and wanted to swap again, back to the role of the minister.

 

It was a very troubled production that saw the original director (William Seiter) as well as the screenwriter (Robert E. Sherwood) sacked. Plus, Grant and Young could both be rather demanding and setting up some scenes to accommodate each one's preference for a left profile proved trying.

 

Caught in the middle was David Niven, who was friends with his two co-stars and going through a rough period of his own as his wife had died in an accident just prior to production.

[DownGoesFrazier]

I believe this film was far inferior to the film which followed it on Xmas Eve, MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW.

[cujas]

All I can say is that *The Bishop's Wife* is one of the most beautifully photographed black and white films ever made.

 

Gregg Toland may have been the greatest Hollywood cinematographer of all time.

[DownGoesFrazier]

I'm still not convinced.

[JamesJazGuitar]

I have to admit I'm a sap for The Bishop's Wife. I'm not big on Christmas movies or organized religion but to me this movie has a very spiritual message without getting sappy or by preaching. i.e. the message can be understood and enjoyed by anyone of any religion or like me no religion.

 

So while I'm often a film noir type of hardass this movie gets to me.

[joefilmone]

I agree about the film's positive message- they really should have called it something else- the story is not just about the bishops or his wife but how the angel affects everyone he meets. It's truly of a perfect example of the golden age of Hollywood class, style and craft.