As Dudley the Angel, Cary Grant is remarkable in “The Bishop’s Wife.” In lesser hands, what could’ve been a fairly bland do-gooder role, is turned into a complex character with a real emotional life thanks to Grant’s extraordinary ability to plumb the depths of his well-known persona (watch Grant react, it’s the best part of his performance here). Think about it: He’s an angel sent from God to help Bishop Henry Brougham (David Niven) find his way, and what does Dudley go and do? He falls in love with the bishop’s wife, Julia (Loretta Young).
That’s pretty complicated stuff, especially in 1947 before blasphemy and defiling God became a Hollywood resume enhancer. But nothing about this lovely Christmas film with a great big spiritual heart seems complicated at all thanks to a deft script that gives each of its characters a simple dignity, and Grant, who effectively adds a subtle layer of darkness to Dudley that works almost on a subconscious level.
And what a wonderful film to spend a couple of hours with. Photographed by the legendary Gregg Toland, the holiday spirit leaps from the screen in every snow-covered scene. Christmas shopping, ice skating, choirs, churches, decorations, and the time-honored tradition of buying a tree. You don’t watch “The Bishops Wife,” you visit for a couple hours as you’re transported — not to the way life is or was — but somewhere better: the way life ought to be.
The cast is the likes of which we will never see again. Monty Woolley oozes warmth as a sweet old history professor feeling his age, tired of hollow intellectualism and looking for faith. The always delightful James Gleason is just as memorable as Sylvester, the gruff cabbie brought back to life on a pair ice skates, and Elsa Lanchester manages to steal most of the big laughs as Matilda, the bishop’s nervous, scattered housekeeper.
As Dudley’s prickly, difficult charge, Niven deserves credit for managing to not get lost playing straight man to all of this, and the luminous Young is just as impressive as Grant playing a faithful wife and mother drawn to the attentive, somewhat roguish Dudley.
Magical, charming and ultimately bittersweet, in the end, “The Bishop’s Wife” is not about the power of angels or spirits from on high. It’s about the power of the human spirit and how true monuments to God aren’t built from brick and mortar, but in how carefully we tend to our relationships with the people we love.
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