Coup de foudre

"Emergency Wedding" is a remake of "You Belong to Me"...a film I disliked. Why? Becauase the plot is very creepy and alarming! It's so alarming that I cannot imagine the film being made today.

When the story begins, Peter (Larry Parks) falls for a young woman he's just met! When he tells Helen (Barbara Hale) he wants to marry her, she oddly agrees! She also informs him she's a doctor and her practice must come first. Now here's where it gets VERY creepy. When he realizes she'll have male patients, he's suddenly insanely jealous and begins imagining all sorts of shenanigans. Part of this, undoubtedly, is because they barely know each other and trust hasn't been built. But most of it is just plain creepy...as Peter is very controlling and is the sort of husband that in real life might kill or physically abuse his wife. After all, he sneaks around watching her and even breaks into her appointments to make sure she's not cheating on him....the actions of a potentially dangerous jerk. Not surprisingly, Peter ultimately destroys his marraige due to his jealousy...but being Hollywood it's all supposed to be cute and he vows to reform. In real life, these sorts of guys sometimes kill...here it's all in good fun!

As a father of two grown daughters, this plot really bothered me. If they brought home a guy like Peter, I think I would call the cops....or 'accidentally' drop them off a cliff! And, I had a hard time looking past all this jealousy and enjoying the picture. Watch at your own peril, as the plot is ill-conceived and stupid.

On the face of it, this film is a bit ridiculous on just about every front. A millionaire playboy is involved in a minor car accident. Whilst he is being treated for the after-effects, he meets (chooses, more like) the doctor and next thing they have an whirlwind romance and are soon married. The thing is that she "Dr. Hunt. (Barbara Hale) is determined to keep on being a doctor, and although he "Kirk" (Larry Parks) has no objections initially, he soon becomes insanely jealous of the time his wife is spending with other men. Initially, this jealously is quite good natured and mildly entertaining, but as his behaviour becomes more obsessive, the jokes starts to wain and the film actually becomes just a little bit creepy as finally she has had enough - or has she? The scenarios recycle themselves far too often, and though the writing is amusing at the start, that recycles itself too often, too - by half way through, the film is actually beginning to get quite annoying. Alan Reed has a few fun scenes as his barber/confessor but sadly, the rest of this is just a bit of a one joke film that peters out quite quickly.

Emergency Wedding (aka Jealousy) (1951) [D: Edward Buzzell. Larry Parks, Barbara Hale, Willard Parker] Peter Kirk, bored young millionaire, tired of running his inherited business, takes to the road, is caught in a car crash, meets Dr Helen Hunt, woos and marries her, only to fall prey to jealousy when he discovers she treats male patients (one of whom wants the good doctor for himself). A few complications ensue, Dr Hunt leaves him, but all ends happily when he finds a good cause, and the usual Hollywood bromides work on the doc to prevent a divorce. A piece of silly fluff, made as a 75 minute 2nd feature. Competent in all respects, but the only reason to keep watching is to see what will happen next. The theme of Dalton Trumbo's story could have made for a more subtle exploration of the roles of husbands and wives, but this was 1950, and a mere nod at this tricky issue was enough. Not bad of its type, but the type was I think already past its sell-by date in 1950. *½

The way this film reads for me is as a sit-com or more specifically, a Larry David-style Curb Your Enthusiasm mayhem comedy. Enjoy.

The FBI analysis of this picture is, "Trumbo was one of the 'Hollywood Ten." and it got blackballed. I suspect very much that Hoover disliked a strong female protagonist.

J. Edgar Hoover grew up with his mother and lived with her for forty three years. Anna Marie was a strong disciplinarian.

In addition, J. Edgar Hoover's father, Dickerson Naylor Hoover, who was a map printmaker, suffered from severe depression to the point where he withered away in an asylum.

J. Edgar Hoover was well known to disfavor placing females in important positions in the government. You make the call. Oh yeah, the film is great comedy.

Did I say that? Pretty pretty pretty good.

Having been a fan of Larry Parks for over 60 years (I 'discovered' him in "Blondie Goes to College" in 1942!) , I have quite a collection of his films. Recently, I finally acquired "Emergency Wedding" and enjoyed it tremendously. Larry and Barbara Hale were a great team in "Jolson Sings Again" and once more, in this film they are wonderful together. It is a charming, and funny film about a lady doctor and her jealous husband (especially of her male patients) and Larry handles the comedy exceptionally well. Some of Mr. Park's 'post Jolson' films were disappointing, but this movie more than makes up for them. Perhaps it was because Edward Buzzell was always such a good director.