A young Bishop troubled by the complications of balancing his family and a drive to build a cathedral asks for guidance in a moment of weakness, he his answered when Dudley an Angel appears and takes the role of his new assistant. Dudley played by Cary Grant is charming and pleasant and easily enraptures all those around him except for Bishop Henry (David Niven) who through chance and his own choosing sees himself driven further away from the lives of his wife and child. Eventually he realises that the only thing really important to him his is family, not the cathedral or the bootlicking of the wealthy to obtain funding and at the moment Dudley reveals that guidance has been given and he leaves them never to return and with no memory of his visit.
The Bishops Wife was made in 1947 and at the time the cast were major "A" list which is surprising for what feels like a small movie but it's full of charm and warmth with a little bit of humour mixed in. Everyone puts on a good performance and even though I am not religious that story of a man losing faith not only in his higher calling but in the love of his family is a true tale of the season and we get the happy ending you would expect.
I imported the Blu-ray from the states, initial pressings had a video flaw but nothing evident in this copy and for an old movie it looked very nice indeed, the audio was very good and overall well worth owning on this format.
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