The Gay Bride (1934)

Brilliant and touching

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Chester Morris is "Office Boy," a sort of assistant to Nat Pendleton's head gangster. Pendleton has the hots for chorus girl Carole Lombard and is eventually persuaded (not easily!) to marry her.The relationship between Office Boy and Lombard's Mary hovers between unfriendly and hostile for the majority of the picture, and is well summed up by the wedding gift with which Office Boy presents her: a chisel! Yes, Mary is strictly out for the money, and poor boy Morris—a loyal employee but nobody's fool—lets her know that he sees through her phony hysterics and overblown romantic antics. –Well, it's pretty obvious from this point that the situation, shall we say, is bound to develop.The plot isn't much. Lombard's character is unsympathetic, at times downright annoying. The supporting cast frustrates, too: Leo Carillo's Greek gangster butchers English pronunciation but is more irritating than funny or sinister, and Zasu Pitts is only given one good scene in what could have been an ideal role for her as Lombard's friend and confidante. Pendleton is energetic but dumber than you'd think a mob boss could possibly be.So when things really do start to pop, it's difficult to throw your sympathies, much less belief, behind what's happening. However, Carole Lombard successfully pulls it off: her early hamming is only a setup for her excellent late scenes in which her character's genuine warmth pushes aside the cold-hearted faker previously on display. We can almost believe that Morris's character would actually fall for her. Morris, by the way, is excellent throughout—a straight man among caricatures, he holds his own and is never overshadowed. It's kind of a silly movie, certainly uneven and not close to entirely successful in the way it veers back and forth between comedy and melodrama. But as a fan of both Lombard and Morris, I wouldn't want to miss it. Ultimately, neither star disappoints.

The movie was preposterous, but some fun. Lombard was her typical luminous self in a role that i could have seen Harlow and/or Monroe play in later years. To me, the most satisfying part of this mish mash was Chester Morris. He was so natural an actor and wondered why he never reach super stardom at that time. I seem to recall in his later years as "Boston Blackie", in a "B" series...what a wasted. BTW, Lombard made more than one movie with MGM...she made one with Clark Gable, her future husband. I guess she was a free lancer in those days..didn't get stuck with 7 year contracts as most actors did in those days, and regretted it.

Possible Spoiler."The Gay Bride" is one of Carole Lombard's most graceful & scintillating vehicles. An MGM property directed by Jack Conway, "Gay Bride" works like a playful blend of wisecracking screwball comedy, crime drama, and romantic melodrama. Lombard is superb as the bubbly, gold-digging chorus girl turned bride. She marries a gang leader ‘Shoots', played by Nat Pendleton ("Slight Case of Murder"), only for his money but soon loses both. Chester Morris as the concerned mechanic James aka 'Office Boy' has a pleasing presence throughout. Zazu Pitts as the Mirabelle is amusing as always. Leo Carrillo is also great as Mickey.What's so interesting about Lombard's character is the range of qualities and emotions she displays throughout the movie. First, Mary is depicted as whiny, cynical gold digger with a penchant for one-liners. Then she learns to be serious and behaves well in a dangerous situation involving murder & extortion, then she becomes truly & madly in love with Morris' Office Boy. In the final moments, where Lombard shows us how loving, passionate and committed she can be, there is an aura of delicate, almost mystical romanticism that redeems the wildness & implausibility of the previous scenes.

Carole's busy cleaning out her new husband, the always oafish Nat Pendleton, under the watchful but none-too-concerned eye of 'Office Boy' (who makes these names up?) played energetically by Chester Morris. You don't have to be a neurosurgeon to see how this one ends up. Several of her husband's cronies have eyes for her and Chester pretty much sits back and makes with the Jimmy Cagney-type wisecracks until he's inevitably needed to save Carole from the mess she's created. Car nuts will like the scene at the Mercedes dealer where she's buying a 1934 540K Roadster (deliberately paying too much) and cringe over Pendleton testing the bulletproof aspects of his armored limo. Made at the dawn of the infamous Production Code, THE GAY BRIDE is a lot like Warner's pre-code program entries only with MGM's added element of class. Carole's a pro and Chester Morris rates an 'A' for effort.