And I am just finding out now.

As you can see, we (you and I) are in our holiday movie vibe. First, it was Strange Days and now it is The Preacher’s/Bishop’s Wife.

This post is going to be about the Novella, the 1947 film and the 1996 film. To make it easier to navigate, there would be a table of contents.

So…

The Bishop’s Wife – A 1928 novella by Robert Nathan

Excuse me but WTF?!

Julia and Angel Michael were committing adultery and fornication in this book.

Even the Bishop was shocked that his wife was no longer interested in him.

Oh, they didn’t but they were so close to doing it.

An angel already breaking the 10th commandment “do not covet thy neighbour’s wife”

Julia wants to stop but Angel Michael is like, “nah… this adultery must be committed.”

Can God please just send thunder to fire this angel? What in the actual hell?

Julia said what they were about to do was a sin and Angel Michael replied “Please don’t ruin the mood. Stop talking about sin. Talk about joy.”

Yo! Angel Michael is THIRSTY!

I can’t believe what I am reading.

Angel Michael told his professor friend that he was in love.

In the end, the Angel didn’t sleep with The Bishop’s Wife.

The Bishop’s Wife – 1947 film

I don’t know whether to drag her or judge her silently. She left her baby in a stroller to roll away.

and she was saying “oh my baby” When you left said baby to roll because you were carrying their sibling. Thank God for this guy, who I am guessing is the angel for saving her baby.

Also, wasn’t she scared of kidnappers? Well, I guess I live in a different time where the world is so evil and corrupt.

Is this “Julia”?

Mr Angel appears to be enamoured by her.

Yes, she is Julia and the Professor is also here.

Not the Angel being a liar.

Bruv, that man has never seen you. Why are you lying?

Henry (the Bishop i.e. Julia’s husband) is trying to raise money to save the church. In the book, Henry wanted to build a cathedral.

One difference I have noticed from the book is that this story starts with the angel already having an interest in Julia. In the book, Henry wished/prayed to God to send him an angel.

They are really setting the scene to give Julia a reason to cheat on her husband. Look at his face when she walked in.

Oh, he still wants to build the cathedral.

I hate Mrs Hamiliton already. Her ego needs to be checked.

The cathedral is a place of worship, not somewhere she can use to feel important.

This gem of a line “I appreciate your appreciation”.

The first time I ever heard this line was in Rebel Ridge.

He needs 4 million dollars to erect the cathedral.

1947’s 4 million in 2024, adjusted to inflation is 57 million dollars. No wonder Mrs Hamilton is acting like a deity. She’s a super-rich bitch.

Their dog is HUGE.

What were they feeding this canine ancestor?

Bishop Henry felt bad for snapping at Julia and suggested that they do something together.

I like that he felt bad but I doubt he would actually go through with this plan.

What did I say? He is already distracted.

Some Mr Trevor wants to speak to him on the phone and he leaves his wife to go talk to the man.

I’m not saying that he shouldn’t work, he should. However, he needs to set boundaries. Mr Trevor needs to know that dinner time remains uninterrupted.

The date he planned with his wife is cancelled.

So he asked God to help him but didn’t ask for an angel. In this movie, the angel is already on earth and is mesmerised by his wife.

In the book however, he asked God to send him an angel.

God gave him a sign. The cathedral’s picture lit up.

Oh no. This man is going to ignore his wife even harder now.

It was the angel.

Alright, maybe it won’t be so bad.

Bishop Henry made a very reasonable request.

Because I would have asked for the same thing. But the angel said that Henry couldn’t just let it be known that he was visited by an angel.

Why not? Wouldn’t that make the people believe in God quicker?

So it’s not Angel Michael, it is Angel Dudley… or Dudley for short.

Henry tried to tell Julia that Dudley was an angel but Dudley lied to stop Henry.

Isn’t lying a sin?

Dudley disappeared.

Well, that’s enough to convince someone that he is otherworldly – either an angel or a demon – but certainly not human.

Dudley is back the next morning but this time he uses the front door like a normal human being.

Both women are shocked that he knows their names.

If I were them, I wouldn’t be. I would have thought that the Bishop briefed him on who is who.

Interesting VFX/animation for the 1940s.

I like it.

Is it just me or is Matilda enamoured with Dudley?

Dudley wants to go to Michel’s with Julia. The same restaurant she and Henry planned on going to before Mr Trevor botched their plans.

Dudley is thirsty and needs to learn boundaries. How is him dating Henry’s wife going to help Henry’s marriage?

These women saw Dudley and Julia at Michel’s and they are already gossiping.

Word is going to get around quickly. Who knows, it might negatively affect the donations for the cathedral.

Nah, that didn’t happen. Dudley was able to convince the women sit down with them.

Henry cancelled his afternoon appointment to spend time with Julia.

Aww that is so sweet. He really loves his wife.
Too bad his wife is having a swell time with Dudley which upset him.

Henry was about to say that Dudley was an angel to Julia when Dudley used a bump to stop him.

I don’t get why Dudley doesn’t want Julia to know. She already suspects that he isn’t ordinary.

Henry is so desperate for donations, he has bent to the will of Mrs Hamilton.

That is so sad. The cathedral is now going to just be a centre for idolatry in honour of Mrs Hamilton’s husband.

This Mrs Hamilton is not right in the head.

She might as well erect a statue and tell all the congregants to bow to it before entering the cathedral.

So Henry asks to leave so that he can spend time with Julia but Dudley has made the chair stuck to his butt.

Dudley… what are your plans with Julia? Why are you stopping Henry from leaving? That would just disappoint Julia.

Dudley is talking like he had nothing to do with it.

Dudley is trifling. He glued Henry to a chair so that he could have the time of his life with Henry’s wife.

Henry is catching on that Dudley is preventing him from being with his wife.

He needs to pray to tell God to collect his angel. This one is already committing the sin of coveting another man’s wife.

Can you imagine Dudley rejecting Henry’s request for him to leave because of Julia?

Angel has missed road.

Henry sent Dudley away but Dudley came behind his back and burnt Henry’s sermon.

Why?

Oh, he has his own sermon he wants Henry to give.

What was wrong with Henry’s?

Finally, Dudley is doing his job as an angel. He has gone to see Mrs Hamilton.

After Dudley had a conversation with Mrs Hamilton about the true love of her life, she was more cheery and less dreadful to Henry and Julia when they came to visit her.

I guess she just needed someone to talk to. Someone to relieve of the guilt she felt being the sole beneficiary of the wealth of a husband she never loved.

Dudley came to say his goodbyes to Julia but said he didn’t want to go because Julia knew how to make heaven on earth.

Bro, you are an angel. Take your thirsty self back to heaven.

Finally, Dudley is going back to heaven and he doesn’t want to come back to them again because he is envious of Henry.

This was such a cute moment between Henry and Julia after Dudley left and erased their memories of him.

Henry is loving his wife the right way, AS HE SHOULD.

The Preacher’s Wife – 1996 film

This is already a different feel. They are starting INSIDE the church.

In the 1947 film, they only showed the inside of the church during choir practice and at the very end of the film.

Now I get it. They can’t have Whitney Houston in the film without using her voice.

She is THE VOICE.

Oh, and she is Julia.

The story is also told from the point of view of Henry and Julia’s child who in this movie is a boy, not a girl (Debbie).

This is our Henry in this movie:

There is a grandma in this movie.

Isn’t she too young to be a parent of either Henry or Julia?

I don’t think Henry is fond of Julia and the choir providing backing vocals to his sermon.

He wasn’t, so Julia had to stop.

He is Jeremiah

The church offerings are not enough to run the church and the youth centre is shutting down. Henry is overwhelmed and so he asks God for help.

Pretty much like the book and the previous movie.

This time around, the angel came from heaven.

He wasn’t just existing in the streets and thirsting for Julia, waiting for a chance to strike like in The Bishop’s Wife.

This angel is way too happy to be on earth.

In this movie, it is a MR Hamilton and he is a real estate developer, helping to gentrify the neighbourhood a.k.a a capitalist.

One thing certain in both movies is that a Hamilton will always be rich AF.

The angel met Henry outside the youth centre Hamilton wants to tear down and turn into God knows what.

The angel is Dudley in this movie as well.

In the 1947 movie, Dudley had it easy. However, in this one, Dudley is having a tough time getting through to people. Henry thought Dudley was pranking him while a man at a pizzeria told him to get out and never come back

Poor 1996 Dudley.

This lying, racist motherfucker just said somebody else stole from him just because both the thief and the innocent boy are black.

Why would the person who robbed you just stand there so casually?

Now I get why Dudley was so happy to be on earth. He used to be human but died when he was young.

This is most certainly a different take from the book and the first movie.

Another thing about this remake, the angel tells Henry about the three rules he needs to abide by while doing his job on Earth.

The last rule is the same as what Dudley-1947 told Henry.

Another thing, Dudley 1996 respects freewill. If you don’t want to do it, he won’t force you. This means that there won’t be any “glued to a seat” situation in this movie.

These people are basically on fire and they are singing even louder.

Hmm, aren’t they worried about their safety?

The church’s boiler combusted.

She is Beverly, Henry’s secretary. They gave her a name change. Henry-1947’s secretary was Mildred.

I am guessing they swapped the maid Matilda for Julia’s mother Margueritte.

Dudley is so odd.

Henry has accepted the gentrification of his neighbourhood because all the long throat church elders were present and he gave in to peer pressure.

Henry submitted his wife to Dudley.
Dudley told Henry to go out dancing with his wife and Henry surrendered his wife to the angel.

This Henry was lucky it wasn’t Dudley-47. That one would have married her without hesitation.
Dudley-47 was always looking for loopholes to swoop in and be Julia-47’s knight in shining armour.

Dudley is such a goofball. When they asked him what dance is this:

He said it was the “Popeye”.

The jazz club, Jazzies is the Michel’s restaurant of this remake and the owner is this guy, Bristloe.

He is the Michel of this story. I am still wondering who the professor is.

See Dudley begging Henry to have time for his wife.

If this was 1947’s Dudley, he would be thanking God for giving him a wife. Book Angel Michael will just kiss her fast-fast.

Ice skating makes an appearance here too.

Yay!

Wait a damn minute, did Dudley put Henry in traffic so that he could have enough time to skate with Julia?

Dudley is starting to fall for Julia.

Look at him struggling to hide his excitement.

Dudley uses handshakes to make people feel his power.

He shook Margueritte’s hand and she quit smoking.

So Joe Hamilton is a hybrid of Professor Wutheridge and Mrs Hamilton.

Professor never went to church while Mrs Hamilton went to church but was bankrolling the church and wanted the building to be in the image of her late husband.

I like the juxtaposition they gave Dudley in both films. In this film, he wears a hat.

Dressing up like a man from the past while the Dudley in the 1947 film didn’t wear hats. He dressed like a man from the future.

Ah, the infamous Hamilton visit and music playing.

I get that they didn’t want to be scene for scene like the 1947 film but the weird cut to this scene was not good. They didn’t set it up well, they just rushed in and rushed out.

I did however like that we got to know was in Henry’s Christmas Day sermon in this film, unlike the 1947 film where we never knew what Henry wrote.

Each movie had its pros and cons.

Hamilton is in church.

The ending of this movie does not give that warm fuzzy feeling the first movie gave. I don’t know but I have this feeling of this film being rushed over for some reason.

They did try to show that Henry now has a new revived sense of adoration of his wife.

Okay, when Henry talked about the angels coming down to help each and every one of them; and Dudley did this:

It warmed my heart a little bit especially because Henry had become a little more confident in giving his sermon. He now gives it with conviction in his heart.

Dudley is a cheeky troll.

God didn’t find his trolling funny so Dudley had to apologise.

They don’t remember Dudley anymore.

Uh-oh. Plot twist. The kid didn’t forget Dudley.

and as the last film, Dudley made the Christmas tree look phenomenal.

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed both movies and the book. However, I wished the movies were as scandalous as the book was but I get that they didn’t want to offend Christians which is valid.

I do wonder if that was why Angel Michael was changed to Dudley.

I think the 1996 movie was more of a musical because they made sure to squeeze out as many musical numbers as they could from Whitney Houston.

Hamilton-47 was better than Hamilton-96. We knew why Mrs Hamilton was a terrible person. We never got that with Mr Hamilton. I wished Mr Hamilton was more refined.

So yeah, I am done and my ratings were:

Goodreads: 3 over 5
Letterboxdfor The Bishop’s Wife: 3.5 over 5
Letterboxd for The Preacher’s Wife: 3 over 5