This just goes to show that having more than one wife is more than enough.
“Move Over Darling”, a 1963 film starring Doris Day and James Garner, is actually a remake of the 1940 comedy, “My Favorite Wife.” The original film was in black and white and starred Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. Both films have the same story-line, but Doris Day and James Garner approach it a little differently from the original cast. Doris gets a bit more angry in situations where as Irene typically handles things with more humor. Don’t get me wrong, both films are comedy.
The original My Favorite Wife:
The original, “My Favorite Wife” with Cary Grant & two wives — Irene Dunne and Gail Patrick:
The remake of My Favorite Wife:
“Move Over Darling” with James Garner & two wives — Doris Day and Polly Bergen:
Doris plays Ellen Wagstaff Arden, assumed dead and drowned after a missing airplane crash. James Garner plays her husband, Nick, left at home to raise the babies. Ellen shows up five years later having been rescued, but finds Nick newly married that very day. It gets more interesting when Nick finds out his wife has been stranded on an island with one lone man, called Adam.
One of my favorite lines is when Ellen pretends to be the Swedish maid and gives Nick’s new wife a massage. That’s how two wives duked it out. Ellen weaves the story of what if …. what if Mr. Arden’s first wife were alive and not dead, like that movie, My Favorite Wife, what if…. it was like Irene Dunne done?Â
Stars Doris Day, Thelma Ritter, James Garner, Polly Bergen.
 The remake of My Favorite Wife that was never completed:
This film was a replacement for a film called, “Somethings Got To Give” starring Marilyn Monroe as Ellen and Dean Martin as Nick. The script is basically the same. The producing company, Fox, fired Marilyn Monroe, supposedly for not always showing up for filming (though her doctor said she was ill with sinusitis) and Dean Martin wouldn’t go on without her. The film was shelved. Unfortunately, Marilyn died shortly after this. In fact, this was her last film, unfinished.
 This film was a replacement for a film called, “Somethings Got To Give” starring Marilyn Monroe as Ellen and Dean Martin as Nick. The script is basically the same. The producing company, Fox, fired Marilyn Monroe, supposedly for not always showing up for filming (though her doctor said she was ill with sinusitis) and Dean Martin wouldn’t go on without her. The film was shelved. Unfortunately, Marilyn died shortly after this. In fact, this was her last film, unfinished.
The  unfinished “Somethings Got to Give” Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin:
 
A year later, the film was dusted off and renamed “Move Over Darling”, and they brought in Doris Day and James Garner to play Ellen and Nick. Doris’s blonde hair took over Marilyn’s. Doris Day played the part of Ellen in her style — feminine and smart. Marilyn’s footage shows her typical style:
Even more interesting about all of these films — is that the first one, “My Favorite Wife”, was based on a 1911 silent film called “Enoch Arden”. It was the reverse, the husband went out to sea and the wife was left home with the babes to marry a new guy just as the first husband finally returns, after being shipwrecked on a deserted island. She ends up with two husbands.  That silent film was based on a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson — “Enoch Arden” published in 1864.
Quite the saga.
