June Bride

This is a delightful film, one of my favorites. There is a brief scene that is not to be missed, between Bette Davis (as Linda), Mary Wickes (as Rosemary) and Tom Tully (as Mr. Brinker), in which Linda and Rosemary are discussing "Mrs. Brinker's bust" as Mr. Brinker looks on. The audience knows what they're talking about, but poor Mr. Brinker does not, and his expressions and reaction are hysterically funny. The whole film is definitely worth seeing. Robert Montgomery drunk on cider is also not to be missed.

June Bride has some fine moments, but it never really gets going as a first-rate comedy, mostly because of Bette Davis' stiff and somewhat dour performance. She and Robert Montgomery have very little chemistry. Poor Bob has to do all of the work, which leads to an exaggerated performance at times, but at least he brings some energy to the film and saves it from being a complete disaster. Davis looks like she didn't want to be making the picture. Unlike Stanwyck or Hepburn, she seems incapable of moving back and forth between drama and comedy. If Montgomery had been teamed with one of those two, or with Jean Arthur, Claudette Colbert, or Myrna Loy, this could have been a small classic. The writing is very smart at times, even though the story itself is fairly predictable and a bit too cute. There are some excellent comic moments, including two great ones with Tom Tully's Mr. Brinker. The film has a good pace, apart from Ms. Davis' leaden performance, and the direction is efficient and sensible. Given the number of great comedies from the 30s and 40s one can live without seeing June Bride, but it can suffice in a pinch.

I found this film quite interesting, especially given the current mania for home makeover shows on TV. Bette Davis plays a magazine editor who, for each monthly issue, completes a home makeover for one lucky family. For the June issue, she will make over a family home in Indiana for their daughter's wedding. The catch - her writer is a new hire and a former lover, played by Robert Montgomery. Looking for a "scoop," he uncovers the real romance his goal-oriented editor misses. There's a wedding alright, but not necessarily the one that was planned...

Despite an odd pairing of Bette Davis and Robert Montgomery (which still sort of worked for me somehow) and a very disappointingly engineered ending, I quite enjoyed this film, especially Bette Davis' portrayal of the middle aged career woman.

A rare Betty Davis film that's funny. She works well playing off of Robert Montgomery. Biting, witty, satirical dialogue is very funny between the two. I would never imagine these two actors together, but in this film, it works! Could have been a cloying, icky sweet film but isn't. Wonderful supporting players (Mary Wickes, Sandra Gould, Jerome Cowan, Fay Bainter). Wish someone would write films like this again, films for smart people. Alas, we are left with monosyllabic grunts most of the time. For a break, rent this film!

I have just lost a review I have just written about this film, so I will attempt to recapture some of it. Bette Davis looks elegant and beautiful in this fluffy comedy and it is her delivery of sometimes very witty lines that makes this scenario work so well. She is the editor of a magazine, strong willed and good at her job and as she says in one scene not short on male company. Then an ex-lover needs a job and reluctantly accepts to work for her. Despite my not liking much Robert Montgomery as an actor he delivers well and with near equal wit, but it is Davis who rules. That is until the final scene which I found threw away a lot of what went before, and my reaction to it is so strong that I have to give this film a 7 and not a 9 which I would have liked. No spoilers except to say Davis and her co-workers go to a small town far from New York to cover the ' story ' of a June bride wedding. The twists and turns here are well directed and well acted by all. Fay Bainter stands out, as Davis's female assistant and Tom Tully is excellent as the father of the bride. I could name them all, and there is not a trace of bad or poor acting anywhere. Some critics consider it as a minor Davis film but I disagree. As if rehearsing for ' All About Eve ' to come two years later it just shows that with good direction and fine acting no film is minor. Pity about the final scene and in my opinion another kind of scenario could have been written. But then the roles of women, especially forceful ones were perhaps unable to totally succeed and win alongside men back in 1948. Not in Hollywood anyway.