Finally we have arrived at my favorite Christmas movie of all .… a grand old B&W from 1947 called The Bishop’s Wife starring the dashing Cary Grant, the exquisite Loretta Young and the suave David Niven.This is the plot:
A debonair angel named Dudley (Cary Grant) comes to earth to help Bishop Henry Brougham (David Niven) and his wife (Loretta Young) in their quest to raise money to build a new cathedral. Henry is skeptical, then annoyed when Dudley ingratiates himself into the household as his assistant — and worse, wins the attention of Henry’s long-suffering and kindly wife. When Dudley continues to intervene in Henry’s struggles, the bishop decides to challenge heaven.
This movie pushes all the right buttons; it’s charming, inspiring, melancholy, exciting and funny (the ice skating scenes had me LOL!).
Here’s something I learned after watching the movie: Cary Grant was originally cast as the bishop and David Niven as the angel. One day while going over their lines, Grant and Niven (who were also great friends) thought they were better suited for each other’s roles. The actors voiced their opinion to the director who decided to switch the characters. I can’t imagine the movie turning out as good as it did if the two actors hadn’t switched roles.
The Elephant's Trunk 