Graceless, unfunny, illogical, frustrating dumb movie. Ann Sheridan marries a 'Frenchman' after WWII and can't seem to get the bureaucracy to enable him to leave Europe to move to the States as her husband. War brides aplenty, the female war brides, of course had little problem being brought back in triumph by their US military husbands. War 'grooms', such as Mr. Grant, had a hard time of it. However, that is really neither here nor there. This movie is not very amusing, I found it silly, witless, and very disappointing considering the cast. Cary Grant is wonderful in anything, but he goes through much trial and trauma here. Ann Sheridan has about as graceful and romantic as an old, grizzled drill instructor. She is so bossy, mean, witless, and graceless on wonders WHY these two ever got married. As for the Male War Bride bit, there are about 10-15 slightly amusing minutes of Mr. Grant, looking ridiculous in a hideous wig and blouse and skirt. Haw haw. Disappointing, though apparently some love this movie and consider it a classic.

This is an enjoyable and somewhat interesting movie, for two reasons. First is the obvious hilarious performance by Cary Grant with all the mishaps that occur to him. Most are due to Ann Sheridan, his provocateur. Some are of his own making. Second is the picture we get of the war devastation that remained in Germany four years after the end of WW II. Grant plays a French Army captain, Henri Rochard. Sheridan plays a U.S. Army WAC, Lt. Catherine Gates, who serves as a German interpreter. Their work is to retrieve stolen art works, documents, etc. that were taken by the Nazis. The film is based very loosely on a book by Henri Rochard, the pen name of Roger Henri Charlier. He was a Belgian Army major and wrote about his experience with red-tape in order to marry an American nurse after WW II and travel with her to the U.S. "I Was an Alien Spouse of Female Military Personnel Enroute to the United States Under Public Law 271 of the Congress," was published in 1947. The difficulties getting married and traveling to the U.S. are the only parts of the film that resemble the book. All of the rest of the hijinks and mishaps are fiction. A condensed version of his story appeared in the Baltimore Sunday Sun of Sept. 28, 1947 ("I Was a Male War Bride").The real Charlier's story would make an interesting movie itself. A native of Antwerp, he was highly educated and spoke four languages. He served in the Belgian Army until its defeat and then worked for the Allied resistance. He was captured and spent some time in a P.O.W. camp. After the war, he returned to duty as a Belgian liaison officer for the Nuremberg Trials and the Dachau War Crimes Trials. Charlier was hit by a car and taken to a U.S. Army hospital. That's where he met Catherine, a U.S. Army nurse. He later was discharged from the Belgian Army and went to work as a civilian for the U.S. War Department. He and Catherine became engaged. That's where the movie begins to borrow from his story. It took a few months to get permission for their marriage from the U.S. Army. Then it took four months to be cleared by the U.S. Consulate. Only the real Rochard (Charlier) did not dress in drag to get on the ship. In the end, Dr. Roger Henri Charlier became an American citizen. He earned four doctorates, and was professor of geography, geology and oceanography at Northeastern Illinois University. Much of the movie was filmed on location in Germany. This was 1949 and the war devastation is clear in the opening scene as Rochard's taxi drives through areas of rubble in Heidelberg. We see more devastation as Rochard and Gates start on their 75-mile (120 km) drive. But, the town of their destination, Bad Nauheim, was not bombed or shelled during the war. It is a world-famous resort, known for its salt springs. Franklin Roosevelt visited several times as a child with his father who went there for hydrotherapy treatments. And, it has more interesting history.English author and publisher Ford Madox Ford wrote his famous 1915 novel, "The Good Soldier," in and about the town. A movie by the same name was made for British TV in 1981. General George Patton was head of the 15th Army headquartered there in 1945 when he died after a road accident in December. In 1959, Elvis Presley lived there with his family while he was stationed in the U.S. Army at nearby Friedberg. And, Bad Nauheim is where 115 Americans from the Berlin embassy were interned after Hitler declared war on the U.S. on Dec. 11, 1941.The American civilians were put up in the Grand Hotel which, then, was anything but grand. When Germany went to war, tourism ended in 1939. The Grand Hotel was closed and all the staff dispersed. Pipes broke and the hotel fell into disrepair. That's how the Americans found it the winter of 1941. With no heat it got down to zero in January. The Americans had poor rations. Finally, with complaints lodged through Swiss emissaries, rations and conditions improved. In May 1942, the Americans were repatriated by train to Lisbon, Portugal, and then by ship to New York. At the same time, the German diplomatic corps and press were freed by the .U.S. to return to Germany. Now, back to the movie. Some viewers think of this as a screwball comedy. But its dialog is devoid of the repartee that is a major part of screwball comedy. It more resembles an Abbot and Costello comedy, where Grant is the buffoon to whom everything happens, and Sheridan is the straight man. It reminded me of Lucille Ball's slapstick comedy in her long-running TV show, "I Love Lucy." Everything happened to her. Most of the screwball comedies I've seen have good portions of humor happening all around – with slapstick and dialog. Some reviewers saw a "chemistry" between Grant and Sheridan. Well, I remember chemistry class and that if we mixed some of the "wrong" things, we could wind up with a small bomb or a stinker. So, all chemistry isn't good, and there certainly isn't any in this movie between Grant and Sheridan. I have watched this film three or four times over the years, and I never could see a spark of love. Grant's Rochard seemed open to romance at times (not love, romance), but Sheridan's Gates was cold and aloof. With no spark of love, the marriage just wasn't probable. I too believe that laughter is a cure for many ills. But, I wonder how much people enjoyed this movie in 1949. Especially those who had served in the war and those living in Europe then.

In postwar Germany, French captain Cary Grant is assigned to work on a mission with American lieutenant Ann Sheridan. The two have a past that we're never completely clued in on but it leads to them bickering for the first half of the movie. While struggling through a series of misadventures, the two eventually fall in love. But the misadventures are only starting as they soon discover when they try to get married and have to contend with bureaucratic hassles and headaches.According to Robert Osborne on TCM, Cary Grant considered this his best comedy. Given how many classic comedies he was in, it's hard to see why. This is good but it's not THAT good. The film reunites Grant with Howard Hawks, with whom he made some great films years before. It's also Grant's only film with Ann Sheridan, whose career seemed to take a nosedive after this. She's fun here although her character is a little grating at first. Cary does most of the heavy lifting on the comedy front. He's as charming as ever. It's a funny enough comedy helped by the likability of the two stars. The most famous part of the movie, where Grant dresses in drag (and makes for one ugly woman), doesn't occur until near the end and is only good for a chuckle or two. Fans of Hawks and the two leads will want to check it out and decide for themselves.

Set in Europe at the end of World War II, War Bride is a romantic comedy detailing the travails of a dueling french captain (male) and an American lieutenant (female) forced to work together. The story is that of two journeys: a professional mission from army headquarters to Bad Nauheim and a personal mission from love towards marriage and togetherness, (impeded by army regulation and societal expectation).The title suggests a broad, slapstick farce. But while the film has slapstick elements, it's actually a lighthearted romantic comedy that wrestles thoughtfully with changing gender roles during the World War II era . Sheridan is an absolutely modern woman here, even by today's standards. An army lieutenant working in translation, she's direct, capable, good- natured and inventive. She pilots a motorcycle and speaks multiple languages. She wears both skirts and pants with equal aplomb (though never an evening gown). Her army co-workers, male and female, treat her with evident respect (gender doesn't seem to be an issue in this version of the army). And the best part is that she falls into none of the current tropes of the professional woman-- she isn't lonely, uptight, workaholic, or controlling. Instead she is warm, funny Ann Sheridan, whose big, sensual laugh punctuates the film. That laugh could serve as a Howard Hawks emblem- a sexy open-hearted guffaw in the face of each frustration and trial, reminding us of Hawks ethos: Do your duty but never take anything too seriously--- not work, not romance, not regulations.Cary Grant is equally likable and compelling. And he is the hinge of the piece, the character who must face the most discomfort and do the most changing. It's difficult to imagine any other actor making this part so believable and so sympathetic. Cary Grant's filmic masculinity is varied and fluid. He is libidinous, virile, blundering and boorish. He is also elegant, sly, sensitive and sheepish. He is, perhaps, a masculine version of the fluid eternal feminine, perfectly suited to a film that eventually suggests male identity need not be absolute. Grant's masculinity can tolerate being humbled and changed without being denatured.