[4] It stars Monty Woolley and Gracie Fields, with Laird Cregar, Una O'Connor, Alan Mowbray, Franklin Pangborn, Eric Blore, and George Zucco in supporting roles.

Priam Farll is a famous English painter and recluse who has been living in seclusion somewhere in the tropics for 25 years with solely his valet, Henry Leek, for company.

Farll sneaks into the funeral service, but is ejected for causing a commotion and is only saved from arrest by the arrival of Alice Chalice, a widow with whom Leek had been corresponding.

Impressed by her cheerful nature, combined with her practicality and quick thinking, he marries her and settles in Alice's comfortably large home in Putney.

When Alice's stock dividends are unexpectedly cut off, Farll tries to calm her worries about her mortgage by telling her that he can sell his paintings for thousands of pounds.

Clive Oxford, Farll's art dealer, recognizes his work, buys the paintings cheaply, and resells them for an enormous profit.

One frequent buyer, Lady Vale, learns that her most recent purchase shows an omnibus that only went into service years after Farll supposedly died, and takes Oxford to court for fraud.

"[7] Rights to the book were purchased by 20th Century Fox in September 1942, and Monty Woolley was immediately cast to star in the picture.

Bosley Crowther, writing in The New York Times, called it "a most delightful union between [Monty Woolley] and Gracie Fields", and said it was "a charming picture which is full of sly humor.

Film historian Tony Thomas wrote: "The humor of Holy Matrimony stems not only from the grand performance of Monty Woolley, but also from the offbeat casting of Gracie Fields as the warmhearted wife.

[18] Historian of LGBT culture Eric Braun said Holy Matrimony was the "most charming yet low-key comedy" of Woolley's career.

[19] Film historian Peter Cowie praised Laird Cregar's "distinguished performance ... as the effeminate art dealer Clive Oxford".