Watchingwell 

                                                                              

                                                             Curated classic films

Wedding Season 

     Weddings are back. People are gathering again. Joy is commencing. But in the movies, wedding joy often has obstacles to overcome first. It's not too easy to get to happily-ever-after, because writers need the work.

The Bride Came COD (1941) directed by William Keighley, stars James Cagney as an out-of-work pilot who is hired by an oil tycoon to kidnap his heiress daughter, Bette Davis, to keep her from marrying a bandleader, a twist on It Happened One Night. The script needs more comedy energy than Davis gives it, but Cagney is never without energy.

 

While we’re on the subject, It Happened One Night (1934) directed by Frank Capra, stars Claudette Colbert as another thwarted bride whose father is against her marriage.  He imprisons her on his yacht. She runs away, or rather swims away, and meets reporter, Clark Gable, who agrees to help her get to her groom in exchange for the exclusive story. Unbelievably, Clark Gable beats out her original choice.

 

Then there’s The Philadelphia Story (1940) directed by George Cukor, and stars Katherine Hepburn as yet another socialite who has chosen a man who obviously will never survive to the end of the picture, in a competition with Cary Grant, her ex-husband and James Stewart, a reporter, who is there to cover the wedding. The script has not aged well, but the scene where Hepburn introduces herself to Stewart and Ruth Hussey is etched in my comedy brain. (Remade as a musical in 1956, High Society stars Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly and Luis Armstrong.)

The Bride Walks Out (1936) directed by Leigh Jason, stars Gene Raymond and Barbara Stanwyck as newlyweds who have difficulty living on his surveyor’s salary after she gives up her successful modeling career. She secretly goes back to work to supplement the family funds so excessively proud husband won't find out.  Good supporting cast makes this entertaining.

Double Wedding (1937) directed by Richard Thorpe, is
about business woman, Myrna Loy, who plans (as in controls) her sister, Florence Rice’s life down to every detail, including her wedding to John Beal. Finally, sister rebels and takes up with artist, William Powell, a free-spirit who lives in a trailer.  Loy and Powell are annoying to each other, as Loy tries to fix things, but not to us. Great fun.

Honeymoon in Bali  (1939) is directed by Edward H. Griffith. Fred MacMurray lives in Bali. While visiting New York, he falls for and proposes to Madeleine Carroll, an up-and-coming department store executive. She can’t give up her career and move to Bali, but when he leaves,  she has doubts. It’s not totally surprising but it does keep us guessing to the end.

Haunted Honeymoon (1940) directed by Arthur B.
Woods and Richard Thorpe (location), stars Robert Montgomery and Constance Cummings.  An adaptation of the Dorothy Sayers mystery, Busman’s Honeymoon, where Lord Peter Wimsey marries Harriet Vane and naturally finds murder at their honeymoon retreat. Book is better, but this is fun.

 

They All Kissed the Bride (1942) directed by Alexander Hall, and stars Joan Crawford who runs the family trucking firm.  She  meets Melvyn Douglas, a reporter who is doing a story on the firm while at her sister’s wedding. Of course she eventually realizes that running a company can’t really make her as happy as Melvyn Douglas.  A comedy.

 

The Bride Wore Boots (1946) directed by Irving Pichel,
stars Barbara Stanwyck, as a member of a country-club-horsey-set who marries Robert Cummings, a New York writer who hates the country and horses. Patric Knowles and Diana Lynn are their respective compatible matches who keep reminding Babs and Bob of their big mistake.

 

June Bride (1948) directed by Bretaigne Windust, with Robert Montgomery and Bette Davis as ex-lovers employed by a magazine on a photo shoot of a wedding in Indiana.  All does not go as planned.  In fact, nothing does. Not much chemistry between the stars, but Robert works the comedy better than Bette. The script has one of my favorite lines of all times, delivered perfectly by Montgomery.  See if you can guess which it is.

I Was a Male War Bride (1949) directed by Howard Hawks, starring Ann Sheridan and Cary Grant. I’m a great fan of Howard Hawks and also Cary Grant and Ann Sheridan, and some people really like this film, so I recommend a viewing.  My problem with it is I can’t laugh when normally competent people do things that are too stupid to be believable.  I mean, this is not a Laurel and Hardy film.

 

Father of the Bride (1950) directed by Vincente Minnelli, stars Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett and Elizabeth Taylor. All about the anguish of a loving family whose biggest problem is a dad who doesn’t cope well with change while planning their daughter’s wedding. You probably haven't seen this for a while. A classic.