--- title: "The Bishop's Wife" year: 1947 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-bishops-wife" fi1m_score: 74 critics_score: 71 critics_reviews: 8 published: "2026-09-20T01:42:01.744772+00:00" updated: "2026-09-20T01:42:01.989162+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Bishop's Wife (1947) Directed by Henry Koster · 1h 49m · MPA NR · Comedy, Fantasy, Drama, Romance **Fi1m score: 74** · Critics 71 from 8 reviews *In a sentence:* Heaven sends a bishop an angel who turns out to be Cary Grant, and the bishop is right to worry > Cary Grant plays an angel far more interested in the bishop’s wife than in the bishop, and Henry Koster’s Christmas comedy is at its best when it admits as much. Sweet, well acted and a little thin, with David Niven doing the hardest work. ## Synopsis Christmas is a week away in an American city, and Henry Brougham (David Niven), newly made a bishop, has stopped noticing his wife. Every waking hour goes on the cathedral he means to build and on the widow paying for it, Mrs. Hamilton (Gladys Cooper), who wants a monument to her late husband and will pay for nothing else. Julia (Loretta Young) and their daughter Debby (Karolyn Grimes) eat dinner without him. Henry prays for guidance and a stranger named Dudley (Cary Grant) walks into his study, announces that he is an angel and appoints himself the bishop’s assistant. Within a day Dudley has charmed the maid Matilda (Elsa Lanchester), refilled the sherry of Professor Wutheridge (Monty Woolley) and taken Julia out for the afternoon she has not had in years. ## Review Henry Koster’s *The Bishop’s Wife*, from a Robert Nathan novel adapted by Robert E. Sherwood and Leonardo Bercovici, belongs to that run of 1940s films in which heaven takes a personal interest in one American household. A bishop who has lost sight of his marriage asks for help, and help arrives in the shape of Cary Grant, who does everything the bishop has forgotten to do, including paying attention to his wife. It is a charming film, easy on the eye and easy on the conscience, and it would be a better one if it were braver about the joke at its own centre. Grant is the reason to watch, and he knows it. He plays Dudley without wings, halo or any visible effect: a man in a good overcoat who is already there when you turn round, remembers everyone’s name and finds every chair comfortable. The small miracles are done with a glance. A sherry bottle in Monty Woolley’s study never runs dry. A Christmas tree decorates itself while a little girl watches. Grant does none of it with a flourish, and Koster is wise enough to let the camera find the trick a beat after he has done it. Niven has the harder part and gives the better performance. Henry Brougham is a decent man who has become a bore, and Niven plays him as someone who half knows it: fretful about the cathedral, stiff at dinner, sharp with his wife and instantly sorry. His scenes with Dudley are the film’s best writing, because he is the only person in the house who knows what Dudley is and cannot stand him. When Dudley pins him to a chair so that he misses an appointment and Julia goes out without him, we laughed, and then we found we minded on Henry’s behalf rather more than the film seemed to. The bishop is being taught a lesson; he is also being made a fool of, and Koster does not quite look that in the eye. Loretta Young has less to do than the title suggests. Julia is a good woman who is sad, and the script gives her patience and a new hat rather than a will of her own. What Young does with that is make the afternoons out with Dudley look like the first time in years anyone has asked her what she wanted. The skating sequence is the one everybody remembers. Sylvester the cab driver (James Gleason) is talked onto the ice, Dudley takes Julia by the hand, and for a few minutes the film stops being about a cathedral. Gregg Toland shoots it in black and white with a softness that will surprise anyone who knows him from [*Citizen Kane*](https://film.one/film/citizen-kane). The Brougham house is lamplight and dark wood; the snow outside is bright enough to make the windows glow; Mrs. Hamilton’s mansion is lit high and hard, so the widow (Gladys Cooper, formidable) sits in a room that looks like a bank. Adrian and Irene Sharaff put Young in soft wool and Cooper in black with jet at the throat. Hugo Friedhofer’s score leans on carols and a choir and lays the sugar on at every doorway. Monica Collingwood cuts at a steady walking pace, and 109 minutes is a shade long for the story. The second half takes a turn we will not describe. The film has a point to make about money and makes it in speeches; Cooper does more for it with a raised eyebrow than the script manages in a page. As for what an angel is doing spending his afternoons with a married woman, the film grows nervous whenever it comes close to saying. Against *It’s a Wonderful Life*, from the year before, this is the lighter film in every sense, and Koster wants it so. As a Christmas comedy it is better acted than most and gentler than nearly all. See it for Grant leaning in a doorway, for Niven’s misery, and for Gleason on skates. It carries a U certificate and can be watched with anyone in the house, which is more than can be said for its lead’s intentions. *Fi1m score 74, published 20 September 2026.* ### Reviews we read (8) - **The New York Times**, Bosley Crowther (90/100, inferred): The film comes very close to being the most enchanting picture of the year thanks to its simple, humble plane and sensitively handled whimsy drawn from human frailties. Henry Koster's direction elicits fluent, beguiling performances from Cary Grant as the angel and David Niven as the bishop, making it a warmly inspiring Christmas show. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1947/12/10/archives/the-bishops-wife-starring-cary-grant-david-niven-loretta-young.html) - **Los Angeles Times**, Mark Chalon Smith (70/100, inferred): The 1947 film is heavy with sugar glaze but has engaging performances, with Loretta Young standing out and David Niven showing the right amount of crankiness. Director Henry Koster opts for a soft, occasionally wry touch rather than melodrama, with the best moments coming from Niven's reactions to the angel. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-12-03-ol-2043-story.html) - **The Guardian** (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the 1947 Christmas fantasy comedy beguiling and charming despite some inhibition, calling it classic yuletide comfort food. The skating sequence is singled out as a little gem. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/dec/07/the-bishops-wife-review-cary-grant-and-david-niven-shine-in-cosy-christmas-comedy) - **Time Out** (70/100, inferred): The review finds the film a pleasant enough Goldwyn-produced whimsy capitalizing on the success of other 1940s angelic fantasies. Cary Grant's charm works effectively on audiences, and his relaxed wit combined with Loretta Young's delicate loveliness creates a frothily touching comedy. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-bishops-wife) - **Variety**, Variety Staff (70/100, inferred): While a fantasy, there are no fantastic heavenly manifestations, and the humanness of the characters, even the angel, beguiles full attention. Henry Koster's sympathetic direction deftly handles the warm humor, with Cary Grant never appearing to greater advantage and strong contributions from the cast and crew. [Read](https://variety.com/1946/film/reviews/the-bishop-s-wife-1200414994/) - **The New Yorker**, John McCarten (40/100, inferred): Cary Grant as the angel behaves much as he did in mortal roles, creating uncertainty whether he will return to heaven or stay with the bishop's wife. The bishop and his spouse seem to have a trapped look throughout the proceedings. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1947/12/13/1947-12-13-095-tny-cards-000023515) - **Collider**, Kelcie Mattson (80/100, inferred): The critic praises the film as a charming holiday classic with old Hollywood magic and a strong anti-materialism message. They single out Cary Grant's against-type performance as the angel Dudley for its warmth, subtlety, and earnest longing. [Read](https://collider.com/cary-grant-the-bishops-wife/) - **Film Stories**, Sarah Cook (80/100, inferred): The critic praises it as a delightful Christmas film held together by strong performances from Cary Grant, David Niven, and Loretta Young, highlighting the enchanting angel magic and ice skating sequence, while noting its lighter tone compared to It's a Wonderful Life. [Read](https://filmstories.co.uk/features/old-movies-the-bishops-wife/) ## Details - **Director:** Henry Koster - **Director:** Henry Koster - **Screenplay:** Robert E. Sherwood, Leonardo Bercovici - **Novel:** Robert Nathan - **Cinematography:** Gregg Toland - **Editor:** Monica Collingwood - **Music:** Hugo Friedhofer - **Costume design:** Irene Sharaff, Adrian - **Producer:** Samuel Goldwyn - **Cast:** Cary Grant as Dudley; Loretta Young as Julia Brougham; David Niven as Henry Brougham; Monty Woolley as Professor Wutheridge; James Gleason as Sylvester; Gladys Cooper as Mrs. Hamilton; Elsa Lanchester as Matilda; Sara Haden as Mildred Cassaway - **Runtime:** 1h 49m - **Certificate (MPA):** NR - **Release (the US):** 16 February 1948 - **Genres:** Comedy, Fantasy, Drama, Romance - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgb6ZRNQTv8 ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: streaming - The Roku Channel: free, hd - Tubi: free, hd - Pluto TV: free - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $9.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-20.* Also available in: AU, CA, DE, ES, GB, IE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1948: Best Director (nominated); Best Film Editing (nominated); Best Original Dramatic or Comedy Score (nominated); Best Picture (nominated); Best Sound (won) ## If you liked this - *A Matter of Life and Death* (1946), Fi1m 92: Heaven’s bureaucracy meets an English airman; the same year, far bolder and stranger. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-matter-of-life-and-death.md) - *It's a Wonderful Life* (1946), Fi1m 91: The angel film with real despair in it, and Karolyn Grimes again as the daughter. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/its-a-wonderful-life.md) - *Here Comes Mr. Jordan* (1941), Fi1m 77: A boxer sent back from the afterlife in the wrong body; brisk and drily funny. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/here-comes-mr-jordan.md) - *The Shop Around the Corner* (1940): Lubitsch’s Christmas romance about two people in love with the wrong idea of each other. - *Wings of Desire* (1987), Fi1m 88: Angels over Berlin in black and white, one of them tempted by a trapeze artist. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/wings-of-desire.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-bishops-wife