I Married a Woman

I Married a Woman was made in 1958 at the height of George Gobel's career. George is playing his usual henpecked character from television with an overbearing boss, an interfering mother-in-law, a dissatisfied advertising client and a few other things that make his life an adventure. But if you were married to the statuesque Diana Dors, somehow a lot of those problems would seem small. They don't for Mr. Gobel.

Gobel was a very big name in television at this time with a Saturday night variety show for NBC at 10:00 pm. I still remember from my youth the booming TV announcer for NBC announcing their fabulous Saturday night line up of COMO, CAESAR, GOBEL. It was sure superior to NBC's line up now.

Watching George Gobel for me is a piece of nostalgia. And looking at the shapely Diana Dors in a tight dress is reason enough itself to watch this film. Gobel's humor doesn't quite translate to the big screen however. You get the feeling you're watching one long skit from his old TV show.

One of the gags that doesn't quite work is have John Wayne make an unbilled appearance as Diana Dors's idea of a romantic leading man. Romantic? John Wayne? Wayne makes two appearances in the film. In a movie theater where Gobel and Dors are watching the Duke and Angie Dickinson mouthing some meaningless romantic dialog with the Duke looking quite debonair.

I have to believe that this was a gag meant for someone like Cary Grant or Tyrone Power who were great romantics on the screen. The Duke just looks ridiculous doing this. Maybe that in itself was a gag.

I'll let you be the judge if you see this film.