"I am an alien spouse of female military personnel en route to the United States under public law 271 of the Congress."
—Henri Rochard
A 1949 Screwball Comedy directed by Howard Hawks, starring Cary Grant and Ann Sheridan.
Captain Henri Rochard (Grant), of the French army, and First Lieutenant Catherine Gates (Sheridan), of the American, are assigned a mission together to stop a German high-level scientist in postwar Germany. Through a wacky series of misadventures, they fall in love, and encounter various bureaucratic hassles in trying to get married.
When Catherine's army unit gets recalled back to the USA, things get worse: the only way they have to stay together is by invoking a law allowing the spouse of American army personnel to enter the country—the War Bride's act. Zany gender-confusing antics follow.
This film contains examples of:
- Acronym and Abbreviation Overload: Henri approaches the guard post at an Allied armed forces office building in post-war Germany. He asks the guard for directions to the "OICAMGWAC". (Being Cary Grant, he reads it rhythmically and deliberately so it sounds like "O.I.C. - A.M.G. - W.A.C.") Directed to the first floor, he finds office doors labeled "WAIRCO" (which he reads as "War Administration Industrial Relations Coordinator's Office") and "SOSDPPDD" ("Service of Supplies Displaced Persons Property Disposal Department") before finding the ladies restroom. He begins to misinterpret this as "Labor Administration Department Inter..." when a WAC (Women's Army Corps) tech corporal exits. She directs him across the hall to yet another door labeled "CDMTWR". The meanings of the first and last acronyms are not explained.
- Armed Farces: It's a story about the incredible heights (or depths) military bureacracy can reach, only slightly exaggerated.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: The first half of the movie is basically one extended vitriolic argument between Henri and Catherine, right up until they confess their love.Catherine: He's a lot of fun to fight with.
- Butt-Monkey: Henri, who spends the whole movie as the butt of the joke, continually being laughed at, mocked, and put in embarrassing situations.
- Cock-a-Doodle Dawn: A rooster is shown crowing, and waking Henri, after he has spent an uneasy night sleeping in a chair after accidentally locking himself in Catherine's room.
- Comforting Comforter: How can you tell that Henri has genuine feelings for Catherine? He doesn't just tuck her in when she falls asleep, he closes the windows, and tilts the lamp away so that it isn't shining at her.
- Cue the Rain: It's dark, Catherine and Henri are lost, and they are struggling to figure out which road leads to their destination. Just to make things worse, rain starts pouring as Henri has shimmered up a pole in order to read a road marker.
- Disguised in Drag: Henri resorts to dressing as a woman to get on the ship with his wife.
- Inevitable Waterfall: Henri and Catherine borrow a rowboat to make it to their destination because the roads are blocked. What do they run into? A waterfall, of course. They barely avoid going over when a man on the bridge above throws them a rope.
- Leg Focus: Catherine gets a cramp after they get out of the rowboat, which naturally leads her to hike up her pants and expose a bare calf. Henri is very interested.
- Lingerie Scene: For the wedding night Catherine puts on a peignoir that was about as daring as it got for 1940s Hollywood under the Hays Code. (They soon get interrupted.)
- Noodle Incident: When Catherine suggests that she and Henri try and be friends, she specifically suggests forgetting about "what happened in the wine cellar."
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Cary Grant doesn't even try to fake a French accent, but it's slyly camoflauged as his character having a perfect American accent.
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: The film was adapted from a memoir by the real-life Henri Rochard, a Belgian and former POW who married an American nurse he met in the hospital after getting hit by a car while serving as a liaison officer during the Nuremberg trials.
