The Doctor Takes a Wife

The Doctor Takes a Wife

25/4/1940 1h 28m 6.4/10

Overview

A best-selling author of women's issues and a medical academic find it is to their mutual advantage to falsely claim that they are married.

Director

Alexander Hall

Top Billed Cast

Ray Milland

Ray Milland

Dr. Timothy Sterling

Loretta Young

Loretta Young

June Cameron

Edmund Gwenn

Edmund Gwenn

Dr. Lionel Sterling

Gail Patrick

Gail Patrick

Marilyn Thomas

Reginald Gardiner

Reginald Gardiner

John Pierce

Frank Sully

Frank Sully

Slapcovitch

Reviews

CinemaSerf

CinemaSerf

6/5/2025

6/10

“June” (Loretta Young) is searching for material for her follow-up book to her successful tome extolling the virtues of spinsterhood and illustrating that women don’t need a man in their lives at all! Meantime, university professor “Tim” (Ray Milland) happens to encounter this woman whilst he is trying to make a long distance phone call and next thing he is giving her a lift, ends up with a broken nose and a five dollar bar credit in her living room! Before they know it, her publisher (Reginald Gardiner) arrives whilst “Tim” is only semi clad, hungover and people are soon starting to make outrageous assumptions about their fledgling relationship. What now ensues does rather follow the established pattern as the two vacillate between loathing and intolerance to, well you can guess that bit… Young had good timing and was quite efficient at delivering the odd barbed remark and she does so well here whilst reinforcing the story’s underpinning point about independent women. Milland, doesn’t fare so well here though as his part is boxed in by the slightly screwball nature of the comedy and the predictability of the plot as it races at break-neck speed towards it’s obvious conclusion. Edmund Gwenn pops up now and again as our hapless academic’s father and Gail Patrick manages to keep a straight face as his affianced “Marilyn” and with some of the humour just a little close to the bone than in many similar enterprises, this has a sharpness at times that makes it just about worth a watch.

Similar Movies

Meet Joe Black

7.4

Meet Joe Black

1998

Brief Encounter

7.7

Brief Encounter

1945

The Wedding Planner

5.9

The Wedding Planner

2001

The Lake House

7.0

The Lake House

2006

Stranger Than Fiction

7.3

Stranger Than Fiction

2006

A Hologram for the King

5.9

A Hologram for the King

2016

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

7.6

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

1967

Man with the Screaming Brain

5.1

Man with the Screaming Brain

2005

Swept from the Sea

6.4

Swept from the Sea

1998

Love's Last Resort

5.8

Love's Last Resort

2017

Carry On Doctor

6.5

Carry On Doctor

1967

He Loves Me… He Loves Me Not

6.7

He Loves Me… He Loves Me Not

2002

Die Aufschneider

6.1

Die Aufschneider

2007

Praxis Dr. Hasenbein

6.3

Praxis Dr. Hasenbein

1997

Von Mäusen und Lügen

3.4

Von Mäusen und Lügen

2011

Wendy's Palace

3.3

Wendy's Palace

1971