.jeri.

In 2009 I watched a bunch of Christmas movies that I had never seen, just to see if they truly were classics that I would enjoy watching each year. Only some of them stuck with me this year, so I still had plenty of time to try out a few new-to-me features, one of which was The Bishop's Wife.

In this movie, a bishop is trying to raise money for a new cathedral for his parish. He spends so much of his time catering to his potential donors and focusing on fundraising that his wife is completely neglected, and when they are together, his attitude toward her has changed greatly compared to their early years of marriage. When the bishop reaches a point of desperation for his fundraising, he prays to God for help. God responds by sending an angel to him in the form of Cary Grant, whose name is Dudley.

Dudley has to convince the bishop that he is truly an angel, but once he does, the bishop is happy to have someone who will help him with his business. When Dudley starts paying a lot of attention to the bishop's wife and giving her the attention she needs from her own husband, the bishop is far from happy. What he doesn't realize is that God's plan is to give him the help he doesn't even know he needs. Dudley is there to help the bishop realize he has wandered off the path intended for him, both with his wife and with his priorities with his parish.

Cary Grant and Loretta Young are wonderfully cast in this movie. Grant has such charisma as Dudley, and he brings so much into the lives of the people he meets. I especially love his little moments with the bishop's daughter, such as when he tells her a Bible story before she goes to bed. Also, Loretta Young is perfect with him. David Niven does a great job as the bishop himself, being both sympathetic and flawed.

Overall, this turned out to be a really pleasant little movie that I will definitely watch again. I can't say it's full of Christmas themes, although it is prominently set during the Christmas season, but it certainly does bring the idea of faith and God's plan for one's life to the forefront, which is certainly something people tend to focus on during the Christmas season. I thought it was great.