When a novel is turned into a film, several things can happen:
The novel source material is often better than the film, as the story on-screen misses nuances or thoughts portrayed in a book.
Other times, the film and book are so similar that they complement each other.
And occasionally, you wonder how such a lovely film could have come from the original book.
A photo of my copy of The Bishop’s Wife by Robert Nathan
That is how I felt while reading Robert Nathan’s 1928 novel, “The Bishop’s Wife.” The brief 192-page novel isn’t bad; it’s just quite different from the 1947 film it was transformed into, starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young and David Niven.
The nuts and bolts are there: there is a bishop, Henry Brougham, who is fundraising to build a cathedral; his wife, Julia Brougham, their daughter; and an angel who comes to visit them.
In the beloved holiday classic films, the story follows the Bishop, played by David Niven, who feels he must build the most spectacular new cathedral the city has ever seen. As he fundraises and rubs elbows with the rich (such as Gladys Cooper’s character), the Bishop loses sight of what’s important about his religious role and alienates his family. His wife Julia, played by Loretta Young, longs for when they were happy and in love and first married, living in a less wealthy part of town. In an answer to his prayer for guidance for the chapel, an angel named Dudley, played by Cary Grant, visits the Bishop. The Bishop is constantly annoyed by Dudley and his perfection, but mainly because Julia enjoys Dudley’s attention, and Dudley seems to be falling for his wife. Dudley helps Julia see the simple pleasures of life, like buying a new hat or going ice skating, while showing a less-willing bishop that a cathedral is not what he needs.
In Nathan’s 1928 book, similarly, everyone is dissatisfied and looking for something, but in a different way.
The Bishop, Henry Brougham, is looking for a new archdeacon and a way to build a new cathedral. But the book — as the title alludes — is really about the Bishop’s wife, Julia. As a young girl, Julia imagined what she would feel and learn in marriage and the love she would feel, but that’s missing. She’s a perfect wife but feels no love or passion in her marriage. In the book, what is missing from Julia’s life is mainly that she is sexually dissatisfied. On their wedding night, the Bishop indicated that sex was “an act of hygiene” and not necessary to their love, as the Bishop feels he has to have pure and moral thoughts. In the book, Julia is much more meek and mild than Loretta Young’s character in the film, who seems kind and intelligent but weary.
Since she finds no love from Henry, Julia throws herself into her work as a dutiful wife and pouring affection over their little daughter Juliet, named for the tragic love of “Romeo and Juliet.”
Even young Juliet feels things are missing from her life, as she feels that she needs to be loved and adored by all her friends and adults.
Cary Grant as Dudley the angel, David Niven as the Bishop, and Loretta Young as Julia (the Bishop’s Wife) in the film version of Robert Nathan’s book, The Bishop’s Wife
And then there’s the angel named Michael in the book. He’s philosophical, and instead of trying to halt the cathedral like in the film, he helps ask wealthy individuals for even more money. Michael makes Julia feel a longing she had kept buried, and Michael too longs for his past and a home.
In the film, Dudley shows Julia affection and love through simple pleasures, and in the book, Michael and Julia embrace at the end and they hear heavenly music. In both, Julia becomes frightened and sends the angel away.
Professor Wutheridge’s character is also in the book (played by Monty Woolley in the film), but he isn’t an old friend of the Bishop and Julia. The professor makes his first appearance in Chapter 9 (of 19), and he is a scholar who attends the Bishop’s services and has philosophical conversations with Michael. Michael even tells the professor he’s an angel, but this is the only person he tells besides the Bishop. In comparison, no one but the Bishop knows Dudley is an angel, but the professor figures it out in the film.
Monty Woolley and Loretta Young in the 1947 film, The Bishop’s Wife
Chapter 9 is our first introduction to the topic of Christmas in the book.
While I type this review, I’m wondering if you may think, “Well, these do sound fairly similar!” and on paper, they do. But while reading the novel, you are struck by how different they are.
In 1928, the book received praising reviews.
“I know of no other contemporary American writer of fiction who is quite like Robert Nathan. His new book The Bishop’s Wife will give those who admire this highlight individual writer a chance to read him at his best,” wrote Arnold Mulder in his Oct. 8, 1928, review in the Post-Crescent.
The Oct. 14, 1928, review in The Los Angeles Times notes that the book is full of “charm, quiet humor and wisdom that it must prove a delight to every man who loves subtlety, sweetness and a dash of the devil.”
Again, while I didn’t dislike the book, the charm and humor were lost on me here as I compared it to the charming and magical 1947 film. While I watched the movie after I finished reading the book, I wondered, “How did they create this lovely story out of the book?”
Elsa Lanchester and Sara Haden admiring Cary Grant’s Dudley in the film version of The Bishop’s Wife. Screenshot by Comet Over Hollywood
There are so many wonderful, new scenes in the film that make the story for me. For example, when Dudley the angel goes to the wealthy, miserly Mrs. Hamilton (Gladys Cooper) and finally breaks her cold exterior. Or how the Bishop’s secretary (Sara Haden) and the family’s maid (Elsa Lanchester) can’t stop craning their necks at the extremely attractive new visitor, Dudley, and how they both start wearing flowers in their hair around him.
Gladys Cooper and Cary Grant in the film version of The Bishop’s Wife
There is also no confrontation between the angel and the Bishop telling him to leave. Instead, Michael departs on his own without much fanfare. The Bishop is much less vocal or powerful in the book, and in the end, everyone is largely left the way they were. In the novel, the Bishop never does anything to make his wife happy, not on his own, at least because Julia decides what will make her happy: another child to love.
While Robert Nathan’s “The Bishop’s Wife” was quite different, it’s interesting to read the source material for a favorite film and marvel at the work of screenwriters and how they can transform a 192-page stale novel and transform it into a beautiful film.
Comet Over Hollywood 