Review of Father Takes a Wife

This is a favorite comedy of mine, and I hope it will become available on DVD very soon. In my first viewing, the title and plot of the film reminded me of the children's song, "The Farmer in the Dell." As everyone knows, "the farmer takes a wife" in the first verse, and in this film, "father takes a wife" with this act being the catalyst for the conflict and rising action in the plot. According to the children's song and the natural order of things, "the wife takes a child," meaning she wants or needs a child. In the film, the actress wants to mother some being who will compensate for the theatrical career she sacrificed for the marriage. However "father" and his actress wife, both well into middle age, are too old to have their own biological child. Adding to the disappointment, the father's biological children from his previous marriage are cold fish who do not accept his new wife and do not fulfill the wife's maternal needs.

When father and the wife find a stowaway singer, portrayed by Desi Arnaz, on their yacht, the singer becomes their child. Father and wife fulfill their desire for parenthood by becoming pseudo- parents in giving the young man a home and promoting his singing career. Like all idealistic newlyweds, they fail to see the downside of this "parenthood" until the singer keeps practicing the same concert song over and over and over. Like any annoying child who keeps repeating something, the singer drives them crazy.

I will have to see the film again to check for the disappointing elements mentioned by other posters, but this old classic still is one of my favorites.