Rating: 
Summary: Classic Cary Grant
Review: I saw this movie on TV for the first time a couple years ago. I have been looking for a copy of it DVD ever since. Thank goodness it's finally out.
When I saw this movie for the first time, I laughed harder than I had for any other Cary Grant movie (Or any classic movie for that matter). This movie is seriously funny and I would stack it up against any comedy by any actor to date. I will admit that it isn't Grant's best performance. He has done so many great movies that a lighthearted comedy like this isn't going to go down as another of his oscar-caliber performances. All that aside, this is a hilarious movie and well worth the purchase.
The storyline for this movie is just terrific. It gives Grant plenty of room to be flustered. Being flustered is something that Cary Grant does better than any other actor in the history of film. If you thought you had seen the best of it in "Bringing up Baby," you really need to take a look at this one. Cary Grant endures every imaginable calamity with his classic poise.
If you want to see Cary Grant endure abuse from a woman he can't stand (ie Father Goose, Bringing Up Baby) only to fall in love with her in the end, this is your movie. I know that might sound a little formulaic (especially for a Cary Grant movie) but this one is a cut above the rest. As stated before, this isn't going to be remembered as one of the greatest movies of all time, but for a movie that you can just sit down and enjoy, this is one of my favorites.
Rating:
Summary: I Was a Male War Bride
Review: Plot: Henri is a French captain and Catherine his assistant, an American WAC. They fall in love and get married. Catherine wants to return to America, but Henri will only be permitted immediate entry to the states if he becomes a "war bride". Then the fun starts! In this wonderful film which is based on a true story, and set in Germany just at the end of WWII, Cary Grant plays slightly cranky, but ever so charming French Army officer Henri Rochard. Ann Sheridan plays the American Army Lieutenant Catherine Gates who is sent on several assignments with him for the French Economic Mission. They have a seemingly hate/hate relationship (on a previous occasion she pushes him into a vat of blue dye - in fact some part of him is still blue, but we are not told which part!) In true screwball comedy fashion they set off on a motorbike on their mission and it is only after they end up in the middle of a haystack that they admit their true feelings. Having decided to get married, they discover that they are tied up in a whole roll of military red tape, and have to forego their wedding night to travel back to the States. BUT - the only way Henri can gain entry to the States is as a warbride - well, you can imagine the comic possibilities to be made out of that one! He is unable to get on the boat until he dresses up as a female American Army officer, complete with a very fetching bob made out of a horse's tail. He makes a horrible woman, but oh what a gorgeous man! I loved this film. It is a brilliant, sparkling comedy that leaves you with a big smile on your face for ages afterwards. The barbed banter between Cary Grant and Ann Sheridan is spot on. Some of my favourite scenes - Henri trapped in Catherine's bedroom and how awkward and uncomfortable he looks trying to sleep on the chair (he never seems to be able to get a decent bed for the night!), the scene where he is filling out the form which is patently designed for female warbrides - the question "Any female trouble?" is met with a terse "Nothing but, sergeant"! Oh, it was so good, I'm off to watch it all over again!
Rating: 
Summary: Government forms are the same every where
Review: The time, just after WWII. The place Occupied Germany. After two people that clearly dislike each other have been forced to work together, French Capt. Henri Rochard (Cary Grant) and U.S. Lt. Catherine Gates (Ann Sheridan) they decide the only thing the can do is get married. All this would be fine except for one thing. The U.S. government forms for bringing a spouse back to the U.S. assumes the spouse is female (hence bride.) After several attempts to correct this oversight it is apparent the there is only one way to get on board the ship. A horse is missing a tail and a lanky spouse is having problems with high heals. Will this work or is it just the beginning?
There are many great one-liners. Also misinterpretations and some slapstick moments. Through all of this you get the Grant expressions. The film itself was made in 1949 in several locations in Württemberg, Germany.
Rating:
Summary: Howard Hawks' Best Comedic Effort
Review: They don't make 'em like "I Was a Male War Bride" anymore. Hawks made this wonderfully silly flick when such masters of comedic direction such as Billy Wilder, Preston Sturges and George Cukor were at their peak; the great Ernst Lubitsch had passed on just the year before.
Yet, Hawks had a sense of comic timing that probably died with him as a trade secret: You don't even need to see the titles to a Howard Hawks picture -- his fingerprints are all over the pacing, the quick banter and the editing. Even in such diverse movies as "The Big Sleep" (film noir melodrama) and "El Dorado (Western), Hawks always directed with the light touch: Never imposing, but always keenly felt. "I Was a Male War Bride" is no exception.
The screen chemistry between Cary Grant as the French Army officer Henri Rochard and Ann Sheridan as American Lt. Catherine Gates is electric, even better than Grant and Hepburn in "Bringing Up Baby."
The ridiculous plot was conjured by two of screwball comedy's great screenwriters, Hagar Wilde ("Bringing Up Baby," 1938) and Charles Lederer ("His Girl Friday," 1940), both of which were directed by Hawks. Still, this movie is so deftly made that audiences can't get enough of the attraction masquerading as repulsion sexual tension between the love-struck leads.
This movie is also a real hoot for anyone who's ever served in the Army in Germany: It was shot on location, and watching Cary wade through the military acronyms and red-tape in triplicate rings true.
If you want to forget your troubles for a couple hours and take a fun romp through postwar Europe, this is your ticket. Ann Sheridan is hot, and there's a cute scene where Cary massages her shapely gams for that nice gratuitous touch Hawks always gives. Sure, casting Cary Grant as a Frenchman is even more of a stretch than watching Chuck Heston play a Mexican in Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil," but so what! There never has been any actor who could touch him with a ten foot pole in the screwball movies. He was a great physical comedian and watching him get flustered is always priceless.
Rating:
Summary: Great in Black and White; Probably Better in Color
Review: This farce comedy takes place in Europe immediately after the end of WWII, with Cary Grant playing an (accentless) French officer assigned to find a German technician who wants to end up in America rather than Russia. Grant gets unexpectedly (and unwantedly?) paired up with American officer Ann Sheridan, who is a translator. The two have worked together before, and have the scars (and blue stains - see the movie to remove confusion) to prove it. They clearly hate each other and are destined to end up in love. The first part of the movie covers their misadventures finding the German technician, with Grant and Sheridan constantly getting in each other's way (on purpose?) and sabotaging each other's efforts. They succeed nevertheless and, of course, gradually acknowledge that they belong together. The second part of the movie covers their efforts to get back to the United States. The problem is that, while the U.S. Army has made ample arrangements for male soldiers to bring back their European brides (like my own parents), there is no arrangement for female military personnel to bring back European husbands. This forces Grant to masquerade as a "war bride" (remember the worst blind date you ever had? now you're close to Cary Grant in drag). There are no surprises or complexities about the plot, but the performances are excellent and the comic banter between Grant and Sheridan is on a par with Dick Powell and Myrna Loy in the "Thin Man" movies, which is pretty elite company to keep. Unfortunately, the copy I have is in Black and White, and the scenery lends a drabness that doesn't fit the tone of the movie. Some B&W movies are fine in B&W; others would be hurt by being colorized; this one needs it. Amazon lists a color version and I'm tempted to buy it. In color, this movie probably approaches five stars, as it is about as good as comedy farces get, and is on a par with "Bringing Up Baby".
Rating:
Summary: Terrific Comedy by master Hawks starring Grant & Sheridan
Review: This film was destined to be a "classic", after all Howard Hawks had been responsible for both, Cary Grant's masterpiece of the screwball comedy "Bringing Up Baby" (opposite Kate Hepburn) and one the fastest-paced-dialogue-comedies ever, the great "His Girl Friday" starring Grant and Rosalind Russell.
It's a pity that Cary Grant and Ann Sheridan weren't ever teamed up again, because it's such a wonderful and great chemistry that develops between these two stars!; I'm short of words in praising their talent, especially since at the beginning of the picture they have to "work-out" this weird "love & hate relationship".
Grant plays a french captain on duty in Germany, after World War II, who's had shared too many missions and lots of "experiences" together, with American lieutenant (Sheridan), but in this last mission together, they're going to have (unknowingly) one of the greatest adventures of their whole lives, with exhilarating results!!!
It had been a time since I had laughed so loudly with a movie, `cos, especially, the second half of the movie is plain "irresistible", if you don't get a kick out of this film you might be well dead. I cannot praise enough this pic!
The Copy of the dvd is good indeed, at least it looked OK in my 34" TV Set.
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