The Gay Bride (1934)
THE SCREEN; Humorous Adventures of an Acquisitive Chorus Girl in "The Gay Bride," Now at the Rialto.
By Andre Sennwald
Published: December 19, 1934
Dropping the false whiskers for the moment, this corner wishes to report its unashamed merriment in the contemplation of a low comedy endeavor called "The Gay Bride." Although the Rialto's new film is probably pretty small pertaters according to the lofty standards of the academicians, it provides some unusually loud and vigorous laughter at the expense of the professional assassins of the underworld. It appears that "The Gay Bride" began its uncertain career as a detonating gangster story by Charles Francis Coe. Some one at the film studio, discovering that the theme was a trifle obsolescent for the screen, decided to make it into a comedy. Thereupon Bella and Samuel Spewack were summoned into consultation. They seasoned the narrative with wisecracks, peppered it with abdominal guffaws and revised the title. The consequence is a successful minor sortie upon what the academic critics refer to as the risibles.
This is the blissfully nitwit account of a chorus lady who makes a cold-blooded assault upon the pocketbooks of a group of scofflaws. Unaware that beer-running has ceased to be a profitable profession and that the gunmen are not the plutocrats they once were, she sallies forth to get her share of the loot. She begins by ensnaring the great Shoots Magiz, a naive and sentimental gang leader. She leads him forcibly to the altar and forces him to spend his wedding night drawing up his will. When Shoots is violently assisted into a better world, the wide-eyed damozel goes after his successor with the same acquisitive intentions. This sort of lunatic katzenjammer continues for some time, to the considerable humiliation of any realists who happen to be in the audience.
"The Gay Bride" goes briskly to pieces at the end, dismissing its sense of humor and degenerating somberly into routine heroics. Mary develops a sincere affection for the poor but dishonest trigger man for the gang, and together they seek to escape from the racket. The photoplay ends on a Mack Sennett chase-and-shoot climax over the hard-worked hills and dales of California. But since "The Gay Bride" never attempts to be anything but a journeyman exhibit, its penultimate collapse can be pardoned.
Carole Lombard enacts the rôle of the starry-eyed lady with a comic gravity which is decidedly effective. Her successive underworld admirers are portrayed with the proper lack of intelligence by Nat Pendleton, Sam Hardy and Leo Carrillo. Then there are Zasu Pitts as the lady's nervous accomplice and Chester Morris as the cynical gangster who ultimately wins the heroine's heart. "The Gay Bride" makes less sense than a blacklist and is twice as funny.
THE GAY BRIDE, adapted from the Charles Francis Coe story "Repeal" by Bella and Samuel Spewack; directed by Jack Conway and produced by John W. Considine Jr. for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Mary . . . . . Carole Lombard
Office Boy . . . . . Chester Morris
Mirabelle . . . . . Zasu Pitts
Mickey . . . . . Leo Carrillo
Shoots Magiz . . . . . Nat Pendleton
Dingle . . . . . Sam Hardy
MacPherson . . . . . Walter Walker
