June Bride

As a Hoosier who has lived most of my life in New York, who enjoys both Bette Davis and Robert Montgomery, and was in the mood for a romantic comedy (my local theater had sold out on the Bullock-Grant comedy this evening), I thought this was good. There are a number of funny scenes (including the mistaken understanding regarding the "bust").

I do grow a little tired sometimes of the absurdity of everyone marrying within a few hours on seeing someone they like - very much a 1930s-1940s movie fiction (and never reality) - yet I kind of hoped it would happen here.

In reference to the comment below about Robert Montgomery taking a 15 year old over his lap - she's actually supposed to be 18! And I therefore thought he had mixed feelings in doing it!

The dialogue here is often very extraordinary - the writer goes on flights of fancy that will make you want to rewind! This is also not a movie whose ending will please the feminists - but that's life.

All in all, a good movie with a good plot, fine performances, and enough quite funny scenes to make it enjoyable.

This movie surprised me. Typically, although I adore Bette Davis in dramas, I don't usually care for her in comedies. And, I don't care for Robert Montgomery at all...but I liked him very much here. But to me, this is not a comedy per se, although there is a lot of humor in it.

Robert Montgomery plays a foreign correspondent who reluctantly accepts a job under his former flame -- Bette Davis. He still loves her, she doesn't still love him...at least not at first. They go to Indiana to cover a "typical American wedding," but it turns out not to be quite so typical.

Another thing I rarely find funny in films are drunk scenes. Here, however, Robert Montgomery is hilarious as a drunk.

Aside from strong performances by Davis and Montgomery, this film has an extremely strong cast. Fay Bainter is wonderful, as always, although I would have wished her part was more substantial. You'll recognize Tom Tully, but perhaps for his roles in John Wayne-type films...much different here as the father of the bride(s). And you'll recognize Mary Wickes and Marjorie Bennett.

While this won't find a place on my DVD shelf, I did truly enjoy it. I think you will, also.

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.

Pleasing, breezy comedy loosely in the "screwball" style has Davis as a women's magazine editor, and Montgomery her writer. The pair of ex-lovers heads to the heartland of America to do an article on a wedding -- but complications, of course, arise. Davis and Montgomery have fine chemistry, but Montgomery's character smug mannerisms get annoying. Not too much of note here, but there are worse ways to pass the time. Will please most fans of the star duo looking for something a bit different from their usual 40s fare.

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.