Dream Wife

Dream Wife is a 1953 romantic comedy film starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Sidney Sheldon and produced by Dore Schary, from a screenplay by Herbert Baker, Alfred Lewis Levitt and Sidney Sheldon. The music score was by Conrad Salinger, the cinematography by Milton R. Krasner and the art direction by Daniel B. Cathcart and Cedric Gibbons. The costume design by Herschel McCoy and Helen Rose received an Oscar nomination. The film's secondary stars included Walter Pidgeon and Betta St. John, with supporting performances by Eduard Franz, Buddy Baer, Richard Anderson, Dan Tobin, Dean Miller, and Movita. Plot summary Businessman Clemson Reade (Cary Grant) breaks off his engagement with workaholic fiance Effie (Deborah Kerr), and becomes engaged to the adoring Princess Tarji (Betta St. John) from the fictional country of Bukistan, whom he sees as an "old-fashioned" girl. As Bukistan is in the midst of making an oil trade agreement with the United States, the State Department assigns a handler to Princess Tarji. Surprisingly, the person given the assignment is Effie. As Reade endeavors to get close to his fiance, Effie ends up educating the princess about Western ideas of emancipation and the modern role of a wife. Effie teaches Tarji the English language through books about important American feminists. While working with Tarjii, Effie comes to moderate some of her own ideas.