pete36 Grant plays a French officer who constantly bickers with Sheridan, a US WAC officer in immediate post-WWII Germany, but they fall in love, marry and want to leave for the US. But US army red tape proves a serious obstacle to their plans.I am about the biggest Hawks fan there is but this is somewhat one of his lesser efforts, compared to his other outings in the screwball genre (His Girl Friday, Bringing Up Baby, Monkey Business, Ball of Fire,....). It still is OK to watch, if not only for the rather unusual setting of a still bombedout and devastated Germany (but the Autobahns seem intact). The Germans in this movie all seem to be very nice by the way but mainly consisting of females or elderly people as the young (males) were likely all dead or in a prison camp.There is a long trip through Germany with a sidecar which leads to some slapstick and pratfalls. But then they fall in love, marry quickly and the main problem becomes then the US army red tape.Grant is funny of course but is not exactly convincing as a French captain as there is no French accent all : even when a US captain starts to talk French to him it looks as Grant doesn't even understand him. Also he seems waferthin in this movie as his uniform and later his civil clothes seems a bit too large for him. He suffers quite a lot through the film at the point you really start to feel sorry for him. His new wife also doesn't seem to care much.It ends well of course but only when Grant has been thoroughly humiliated and having to dress up as a woman.So not the best of Hawks&Grant movies. But there might be some external reason for this : both Sheridan, Grant and also director Hawks became seriously ill during filming. It might explain (partly) the minor end result. With their next collaboration, Monkey Business, they were again up to their usual par.

dougdoepke I doubt that any movie has gotten more amusement from sheer frustrations than this one. Poor Capt. Rochard (Grant). If he's not getting dumped by a sidecar, or trying to get the better of the resourceful Lt. Catherine, or having to fill out one more bureaucratic form (Sheridan), he's having to dress up as a woman and call himself a "war bride". It's just one frustrating embarrassment after another, all done in exquisitely humorous fashion as only Grant can bring off. But don't count out Sheridan. Together, they play off one another splendidly.So is it love or hate between them. She's always got a better idea than he, as together they try to locate a German scientist in post-war Europe. But, he's the captain—shouldn't he be the master of situations, not she. No wonder he wants to wring her lovely, domineering neck. But then he decides kissing it would be more agreeable, and thankfully she agrees. After all, he is Cary Grant. Now all they have to do to get a wedding night and get to America, is get past a blizzard of red tape. That means getting married three times to please post-war authorities; then fill out a ton of forms to please the same authorities; and then get a quick sex change for the poor French captain since only war brides are allowed to immigrate to the US. Talk about frustrations!It's a delightful service-based comedy filmed in post-war Europe, so we get a taste of conditions there, circa 1948. It's not really madcap, though director Hawks keeps things moving in his usual knowing style. Then too the three screenwriters have come up with a great script that needs little embellishment. I do have to say that maybe Hollywood's handsomest man makes one homely woman. Plus, you have to get past Grant's playing a Frenchman yet speaking perfect English, not much of a chore as it turns out. Anyway, I gather this is Grant's favorite comedy among the many of his brilliant career. And I can see why.

dathilacha One of the reviewers above who mentioned Kafka had it right: the movie is an exercise in humiliation, and humiliation of Cary Grant, yet. Earlier Hawks movies like Bringing Up Baby are humiliating also, but are funny enough to soften an edge that here is just painful. The result has a real dramatic problem in that it's pretty hard to believe Grant and Sheridan would ever fall in love and marry--whereas his expressed desire never to see her again, on the other hand, is totally convincing. I watched pretty much without laughing, but the performances are great and the movie is grimly fascinating, like a fun-house-mirror reflection of a screwball comedy.

jc-osms Amusing, if not hilarious post-war "screwball" comedy reuniting Howard Hawks and Cary Grant in a farce which suffers from over-stretching its thin premise over the length of a whole movie.It starts with a great sight gag as Grant gets confused by a succession of acronym signs in a military building, but while there are a few more laughs and grins down the line, it never really crackles to life and stay in the memory like "Bringing Up Baby" or "His Girl Friday".The two leads, Grant and Sheridan are pleasant enough and have a decent rapport, but it doesn't help that the great man doesn't even deign to speak a word of his French character's language at any point, far less adopt a French accent. He of course looks as handsome as ever, although giving truth to the old maxim about the handsome brother having an ugly sister (which usually works both ways!), when we see him "dragged up" at the end. Sheridan is natural and feisty, although she gets less to do than obvious leading man Grant.Unusually for Hawks, the direction lacks pace and for every amusing scene or turn of phrase, there are about two that don't work and thus hold back the comedy. As you'd expect from the title, there's a fair bit of pre-Python nudge-nudge, wink-wink innuendo, put across in knowing style by all, but the same "battle of the sexes" motif palls a little as the film wears on. Of some historic interest, however, is the opportunity the film confers in allowing us to to see our frustrated couple motorbiking their way round actual battle-scarred locations in Europe.There are some decent laughs here but they're hardly thick and fast and certainly the movie lacks the razor-sharp banter of the two wonderful predecessors noted above. Other directors than Hawks would serve Cary better in post-war Hollywood, notably Hitchcock, but this amusing romp is still worth watching to see the master at work, albeit in cruise control only.