Wife, Husband and Friend (1939)
*** (out of 4)
This is a rather bizarre comedy from Fox, which has Loretta Young playing the wife, a woman who thinks she has a great voice and would make a terrific star but she doesn't realize that she's rather mediocre. Warner Baxter is the husband who hates music until one day he realizes that he's got a great voice and goes out on tour behind the wife's back. The friend (Binnie Barnes) brings on all sorts of problems with her greed and jealousy. WIFE, HUSBAND AND FRIEND is a good movie thanks in large part to a terrific cast but I honestly can't remember a comedy from this era that had more unlikeable characters. In fact, I'd say all of the characters here were quite ugly all around leading with the wife. She's so self-centered, rude and spoiled that you can't help but not like her and especially after a breakdown scene she has towards the end. Baxter's character really isn't much better and there's no question that the Barnes diva is annoying and a real jerk. The shocking thing is that all three actors are simply wonderful with their performances and especially Young during that breakdown scene I mentioned. Baxter really gets to shine with some of the comedy early on and we get strong work from Cesar Romero, George Barbier and Eugene Palette. The film isn't as funny as one would have liked but there are enough laughs to keep it going and there's no question that the cast is in fine form.
