There Goes the Bride

Jessie Matthews was a very talented actress, singer, dancer and comedienne whose career in the limelight of films was short. She made 14 movies in the 1930s, most of which were very good and showcased her diverse talents. The rest of her 33 film and TV credits are spread out and spaced over five decades. For some reason for which I have yet to read a reasonable explanation, her popularity ended with World War II, and she never had another comedy or musical vehicle to star in or even have a significant part in.

Matthews did entertain Allied troops at home during the war, and she continued stage and local performances after the war. In the 1970s, she found some success in TV series and shows. But that was mostly in acting and voice work that didn't use her many talents.

I have watched several of the films that Matthews made, and she is very good in each one - superb in some. But not all of the films themselves have been that good. "There Goes the Bride" is one of those. Without Matthews, this would be a total flop. The plot is very simple, but the screenplay is very weak and the rest of the entire cast are poor. Owen Nares, who plays the male lead, Max, is so wooden that he often seems to be walking on stilts in the slightly jerky motion when he moves. His character is so indecisive most of the time, that one looks to Matthews' Annette Marquand for the sparkle and life in any and every scene.

While the movie is clearly meant to be a comedy, it has dark overtones in its stagy appearance. So much of the story takes place in Max's home, and with just the two characters, that the mostly despondent-acting Max drags the film down. The rest of the cast are mostly forgettable. Carol Goodner plays Cora, Max's fiancé. Jerry Verno plays Clark, his chauffeur. Winifred Oughton is the housekeeper, and Lawrence Hanray plays the police chief. David Niven, Basil Radford and George Zucco have bit or uncredited parts such that I didn't notice or recognize them.

Matthews has a couple of good songs, including one toward the end with full orchestra, that liven the film up some. But for her, this film wouldn't rate more than three stars. Nor would it be a comedy. About the only people who would stay with this film very long would be fans of Jessie Matthews and die-hard old-time movie buffs (such as me, in both instances).

Here are the best of very few lines of any consequence in this film.

Max, "Well, if you're a thief, I'm a fool." Annette, "You could be a fool without my being a thief." (The very next line spoken by Max is an example of the poor script for this film - it should end with her comment there, but instead, Max has another lame line.) Max, "That's very, very true. But I don't want to be one."

Annette, "What are you doing?" Max, "Now, you're going to remain in here. I'm not going to let you loose again. I have a moral responsibility - to the public."

Cora, to the police chief, "She stole my dress." Police Chief, "Where is it now?" Cora, "Where I left it." Police Chief, "Where you left it?" Cora, "She stole my fiancé." Police Chief, "Well, that's not a crime. That's a woman's business."

How times have changed: probably nobody back then batted an eyelid at Jessie Matthews and Owen Nares getting together even though he was old enough to be her father - and looked like he could be her grandfather! Owen Nares was certainly a man of his time - he seems so natural with the rest of the cast who all seem to be members of the English (or inexplicably in the film, French) upper echelons of society. With the exception of the late Queen Elizabeth, these people along with their bizarre accents mysteriously ceased to exist after the war.

Nares is definitely not someone you think you'd warm to but he's surprisingly perfect in this. Were this an American film, one could imagine Carey Grant playing his character who's ordered life is turned upside down by the arrival of the whirlwind that is Miss Matthews. Again, were this an American film she'd be Katherine Hepburn - I could imagine these two in BRINGING UP BABY, very similar humour.

This film gives a beautiful glimpse into a long-gone world inhabited by a species who looked a bit like us but behaved, thought, spoke and indeed loved very differently. It's not however just a fascinating snapshot into a distant far away planet, it's actually a really fun film. Honesty, I was not expecting this to be as entertaining and enjoyable as it was. OK, it's not Monty Python or even Will Hay but it is genuinely funny - I have to confess to succumbing to a couple of laugh out loud moments as well.

Gaumont-British were one of the classier studios of the 30s but even so I was surprised at just how well made this picture was. Absolutely first rate acting - even from the minor characters, good direction, camerawork and lighting - it's even got a full musical score running through it which wasn't that common in 1932 - not just here but in the US as well. Besides being well made, what elevates this to something special is that it does magic to you!

Somehow by some strange magic, this picture makes you smile from beginning to end, you cannot help it. Well it's not magic, what makes you smile is simply the presence of Jessie Matthews - I have no idea how she does it, she just does. In her later Victor Saville musicals in the mid-30s, she is considerably more glamorous and very sexy. In this however she's as un-sexy as anyone can be and yet (even with the weird accent) she's utterly adorable and simply lovely. She's just so likeable that she makes this whole film likeable as well - you will enjoy this.

This is Jessie Matthews second sound film.Whilst she exhibits much gusto and enthusiasm she rather overacts at time and her technique is lacking.I was fortunate enough to see her give a lecture with Michael Balcon at the NFT some 40 years ago.She explained that it was Victor Saville who had helped to give her the confidence to appear in front of the cameras.Anyway having said that she is rather oddly matched with a rather stuffy Owen Nares who was 17 years her senior at the time.Nares was a popular leading man of the 20s and 30s and who was by this time heading into the twilight of his screen career.There are some enjoyable,if unmemorable musical numbers.There is only one brief dance from Jessie.This film was issued as part of the "British Classics Collection" some years ago,and is still to be purchased second hand.If you are a fan of Jessie Matthews or of 30s films it is worth seeing,if only to observe a talent in embryo

There Goes the Bride is a story about a rich, young woman who runs away from her father and her fiancé; then when she's on a train, she gets robbed and is forced to seek refuge with a perfect stranger, with whom she bickers and subsequently falls in love. Does that sound familiar? Too bad for Henry Koster, Wolfgang Wilhelm, and W.P. Lipscomb, because their movie went completely unnoticed, and two years later, It Happened One Night swept the Academy Awards!

It's a very similar movie, except this one has British actors in it and a side plot involving a misidentify instead of a hitchhiking scene. Jessie Matthews is the adorable lead, and she sings the song "I'll Stay with You", whose theme is repeated throughout the film, making it a delightful old movie to watch. I happen to think It Happened One Night is overrated, as there were dozens of romantic comedies at that time which were just as cute if not cuter.

I only came across this forgotten film because it was David Niven's first movie, and it's become a bit of a challenge to watch his early films and try to spot him among the extras. I wasn't successful, since the movie's loaded with crowd scenes. Still, I'm glad I watched it, and if you like watching obscure very old movies, you might want to give this one a try, too.

The perky and thoroughly charming Jessie Matthews is being sold off in marriage by her parents to Basil Radford, so the sensible French girl runs off to Paris, where everyone speaks like stage English people. Her purse is stolen and she winds up in the hands of a suspicious Owen Nares, who has a suspicious fiancée, for whom Miss Matthews is naturally mistaken by his gullible and mostly drunken friends.

Miss Matthews sings two songs, dances almost not at all. Like many of Miss Matthews' leading men, Mr. Nares seems frightened of women. David Niven is credited as an extra in what is supposed to be his first appearance onscreen, but I didn't spot him. Henry Koster is co-credited with the script in which the idiot plotting is barely justified and then ignored. I enjoyed it.