Well, I can officially say that this isn't the best Christmas movie with an angel in it.
Dudley (Cary Grant) comes back to Earth to make Bishop Henry Brougham (David Niven) realize how lucky he is. But Henry is determined to build a new cathedral and is pandering to his wealthiest client, Mrs. Hamilton (Gladys Cooper) who is a nasty, bitter woman lording her money over people so they will obey her every command. And he ignores his wife, Julia (Loretta Young), which is never acceptable. He has no time to visit his old parish nor his friends and then Dudley comes along. Dudley is supposed to make Henry's life easier though he doesn't really do that; instead, he spends time with Julia and finally gets Henry to see her as a person again and gets people to open up and repent or admit the truth about themselves. In the end, everything works out and Henry starts to love his wife all over again. Sure, no new cathedral, but is it really needed? I never thought so, when renovating the existing one would be a better idea instead of naming of an unremarkable, rich dead man.
While Cary Grant is a delight, it is also weird seeing not getting the girl, though he couldn't, as he isn't alive and Julia's married to someone else and with Hays code, she had to stay with her husband. Still, the film was packed wall to wall with talent and the characters are interesting and some scenes had good banter, the film just fell flat to me as I didn't find Henry a character to root for. So, this will not be added to my Christmas movie rotation. Grade: B
Side Notes:
-Two children actors from It's a Wonderful Life make appearances here: Bobby Anderson (little George Bailey) is a leader of a snow ball gang and Karolyn Grimes (Zuzu) is Debby Brougham, the delightful daughter of Julia and Henry.
-Oscar-nominated Elsa Lanchester, Monty Woolley and James Gleason all also have supporting roles.
-The dog, Queenie, is huge.
-Donating money is never a bad thing and yet, it oddly feels that way in the case of this film.
-There is no way Young and Grant performed all those ice skating moves themselves.
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