Holy Matrimony

Gracie and Monty are a delight
What great casting for a delightful film that holds up as well today. Woolley plays a reclusive artist residing in India but is called back to London in order to be knighted. But on the way back his valet gets pneumonia and due to a misunderstanding the valet is identified as the well-known artist. Woolley with a twinkle in his eye decides not to tell the truth. The Valet had been corresponding with someone in London who turns out to be Gracie Fields and she and Woolley meet by chance. Complications follow but things turn out well by the end. Gracie Fields was to English audiences what Shirley Booth was to ours. I am delighted that Fox Cinema Archives has put this on dvd and one hopes their other film, MOLLY AND ME will turn up as well.

I love this film
"Holy Matrimony" existed for me only as legend for the longest time. My father's friend Bill Gitt (renowned projectionist and elder brother of film preservationist Bob) was a great fan of this and often spoke of it, though I can't recall ever seeing it as a young lad. But I searched long and hard and finally tracked down a DVD of it (not a bad print at all), and it is truly enchanting. Marvelous, marvelous performance by Monty Woolley, in a very understated mood -- those who know him only from "The Man Who Came to Dinner" will, I think, be quite pleasantly surprised by his work here and, from Gracie Fields, a miraculous one. The first time I watched it I thought, well, she doesn't do much. But then I wanted to see it again almost immediately. And it's true, she doesn't do much, but the little things she does are simply exquisite. A great, really subtle performance, not at all played for laughs, but funny all the same. Her delivery of the simple line, "That's it," is a lesson in...

What a fantastic & fun film
I absolutely love Monty Wooley movies and this one did not let me down. I will definitely watch it often.

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