Paulene Kael was an interesting film critic, and occasionally did some first rate research - like her CITIZEN KANE BOOK, showing what the original screenplay was like, and what Herman Mankiewicz brought to the project. But she was not infallible. Her KANE BOOK actually seemed to belittle Orson Welles so much that many have suspected an secret motive to it. In one of her books of collected reviews she added a group of films she called "Guilty Pleasures", and she included this picture among them. She explained that they were not necessarily great movies, but she thought they were all worthy films that she enjoyed (for one reason or another). The films included many forgotten films like LAUGHTER IN PARADISE, an English Comedy about a will with strange bequests in it, or YOUR PAST IS SHOWING, another English comedy (with Peter Sellers, Dennis Price, Terry Thomas, and Peggy Mount) about a scandal sheet and blackmail. To be fair some of the films she lists are worth watching (catch, for example, THE GREEN MAN with Alistair Sim, Terry Thomas, and Raymond Huntley). But some are extremely odd choices. This is one of the odd choices.
When we hear "Screwball Comedy" we think of films with Carole Lombard like MY MAN GODFREY or TRUE CONFESSIONS. We recall fondly the weird situations involving madcap heiresses, dull heroes, and eccentric side characters. And many of these films do still hold up well...but not all of them. HE MARRIED HIS WIFE suffers from a plodding script with only one genuinely comic moment. It begins with McCrae dancing with Nancy Kelly, apparently having a good time, when a process server serves him with papers for failing to keep up with his alimony payments to her. I suspect the writers thought it a funny situation. It wasn't. It beggars the imagination that anyone owing alimony is going to take his or her ex-spouse out dancing. Where is the reality of that? From that false start it continues downhill. There is only one minor moment of actual hilarity in the film. While attending Mary Boland's weekend party, McCrae and Roland Young come across a moose call (a horn you blow if you wish to attract the attention of a moose while hunting). I don't remember why but first McCrae and then Young try blowing it, and we hear very weak efforts for their pain. Then, all of a sudden, we hear the horn blown properly and long. The camera pans back and we see a disgusted Mary Boland handing the device back to the crestfallen Young and McCrae, having demonstrated how to properly use it!
