lasttimeisaw A post-WWII Howard Hawks screwball comedy transpires in the Allied-occupied Germany, Cary Grant plays a French Army Captain Henri Rochard, who is teamed up with American Lieutenant Catherine Gates (Sheridan) in his last mission before bowing out of military service once and for all. It starts as a typical ill-matched pair reluctantly bundled together (even sharing the same bed one evening), who are constantly at each other's throats through comedy of errors, more often than not, at Henry's expense, but, improbable to audience, a budding romantic is bound to emerge from both sides and by the end of their task, they are going to tie the knot. Honestly, the first half is very pleasurable with Grant adopts his tried-and-tested winning formula to juggle goofy, loosey-goosey innocuousness with snit-driven prolixity, meanwhile a proactive Ann Sheridan pulls no punch to prove that as a woman, her Catherine is no lesser to any masculine peer of hers, she can operate a spanking vehicle as competent as fast-tracking their mission. In truth, it is this conformity-defying, role-swapping gender politics that gingers up the film right out of the box, however, in the second half, when the narrative is mired in overwrought red tapes, only to put the newly weds in the quagmire of a repeatedly deferred marriage consummation, and laboriously plays up the same source of amusement that Henri must apply as a war bride in order to be emigrated to USA as Catherine's spouse, the film's allure starts to pall, and its objectionable ethnocentric overtone doesn't help either. When the plot reaches that mane-clipping, nurse-impersonating climax, it only leaves a first-time viewer gobsmacked, not by the plan's wits but the whole idiocy which Hawks condones, maxing out Cary Grant's belabored discomfiture but largely relegating Ann Sheridan on the sideline, an utter betrayal to its promising premise. Another Golden Age Hollywood crowd-pleaser doesn't come through the test of time, as at one point Henri jests that woman is, au contraire, not the weaker gender to man since they are blessed with more sleep, the joke is in fact on the film and Hawks himself, a blatant tokenism in addressing gender equality, but cranked out inside a masculine hothouse, it is the same old blarney that now borders on offense.

treeline1 In post-war Germany, a WAC (Ann Sheridan) and a French Captain (Cary Grant) fight like cats and dogs, quickly marry, and then face endless red tape when he tries to immigrate to the US with his new bride.Wow, did I hate this movie. It wasn't funny, it was horribly miscast, and it felt like it would never end. Grant inexplicably plays a Frenchman, even though he uses his trademark Cary Grant accent. Since he sounds American, the whole premise doesn't work. His dialogue is inane and I'm sure he was embarrassed to make this movie. Sheridan is as sexy and alluring as Ma Kettle and talks to Cary like his football coach; there's no love or chemistry and they make an off-putting couple. Katharine Hepburn would have been better for this part with perhaps Charles Boyer in Grant's role...someone, anyone, who could convince us he's French.The endless paperwork required by the Army for an alien husband to enter the U.S. with a WAC sounds believable and this was based on a true story, but the whole thing is tedious, boring, and disappointing.

dglink Although the film shows hundreds of American female military personnel stationed in Germany after World War II, apparently few were interested in the local men. According to Howard Hawks's "I Was a Male War Bride," only the male soldiers wed Europeans, and the military bureaucracy and red tape were stacked against American women marrying European men. With that premise, an American Lieutenant, Ann Sheridan, falls for Frenchman Cary Grant, and the couple resort to extraordinary ploys to both comply with and circumvent the rules to marry and bring Grant to the U.S. as Sheridan's "bride." Although Grant is about as French as Big Ben and looks as feminine in drag as Sylvester Stallone, Cary is Cary and brings charm and charisma to his improbable role of Captain Henri Rochard. Tough and sexy Sheridan is better cast, but the sum of the two stars exceeds either apart. Cary and Ann have chemistry and work well together in a plot that could have easily fallen apart with a less skilled team of actors and director.Grant plays the patient and suffering spouse, who must endlessly explain that he is married to an American soldier and entitled to shelter and transportation in a system that does not recognize his gender as compatible with his situation. Throughout, Grant's face and body language speak volumes about the frustration of dealing with bureaucracy and filling in forms in triplicate. Although at times Sheridan seems oblivious to the depth of Grant's problems, her performance is fine, and she convincingly captures the transition from an initial loathing of to an eventual attraction to Rochard. Shot on location in post-war Germany, the black-and-white photography captures the beauty of the countryside and the devastation of the cities with documentary like precision. Hawks keeps the proceedings well paced, and, while rarely laugh-out-loud funny, "I Was a Male War Bride" and its megawatt stars provide excellent entertainment.

DKosty123 This screwball comedy is not one of Howard Hawks best films but it is still very watchable. Grant is the focus of the film and carries it pretty much alone as much as his carrying hidden stuff in his suitcase.While Grant did a lot of Comedy films of this nature, this one is the one where he is the center of this film. There are others where Grant is good too but since he is the center of this movie, it is his personal best.The sexual tension presented in this film is very much the type of tension that existed in the late 1940's but has changed much since then. Still this film is very good and runs on TCM on occasion.