Holy Matrimony (1943 film)
| Holy Matrimony | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | John M. Stahl |
| Produced by | Nunnally Johnson |
| Written by | Nunnally Johnson |
| Based on | novel Buried Alive by Arnold Bennett |
| Starring |
Monty Woolley Gracie Fields |
| Music by | Cyril J. Mockridge |
| Cinematography | Lucien Ballard |
| Edited by | James B. Clark |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
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Release date
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August 27, 1943 |
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Running time
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87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1,250,000 (US rentals) or $1.5 million |
Holy Matrimony is a 1943 comedy film directed by John M. Stahl and released by 20th Century Fox. The screenplay was based on the novel Buried Alive by Arnold Bennett. It stars Monty Woolley and Gracie Fields, with Laird Cregar, Una O'Connor, Alan Mowbray, Franklin Pangborn, Eric Blore, and George Zucco in supporting roles.
Screenwriter Nunnally Johnson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay).
Priam Farll (Monty Woolley) is a famous English painter and recluse who has been living in various isolated places around the world with only his valet of 25 years, Henry Leek (Eric Blore), for company. In 1905, Farll reluctantly travels to London to be knighted. Upon their arrival, however, Leek becomes very ill. Farll summons Dr. Caswell (Melville Cooper), but Leek succumbs to double pneumonia. The doctor mistakenly assumes it is Farll who has died, and the publicity-hating artist is only too glad to assume Leek's identity.
When the King (an uncredited Edwin Maxwell) himself shows up to pay his respects, Farll learns that the body is to be buried at Westminster Abbey. Trying to end the masquerade, he only manages to convince his sole relative (Franklin Pangborn), a cousin he has not seen since childhood, that he is a lunatic.
Farll sneaks into the state funeral, but is ejected for weeping and is only saved from arrest by the arrival of Alice Chalice (Gracie Fields), a widow with whom Leek had been corresponding. It turns out that Alice had applied to a marriage bureau and had been put in touch with Leek. Since the photograph she was given shows both Leek and Farll, she too assumes that Farll is Leek. Impressed by her cheerful nature, combined with her practicality and quick thinking, he marries her and settles in Alice's comfortably large home in Putney. They are happy together.
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