The Gay Bride

Gay Bride, The (1934)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A gold-digging chorus girl (Carole Lombard) decides to the only way to get rich is by marrying gangsters and hoping that they get killed so that all their money will go to her. She finds one dimwitted gangster (Nat Pendleton) to marry her but his bodyguard (Chester Morris) can see right through her. This comedy has some truly great moments in it but overall there aren't enough constant laughs to make it a complete winner. I was surprised to learn that this was the only film Lombard made for MGM but she turns in a fine performance. Her role isn't the greatest but the screenplay does offer her plenty of nice one-liners and for the most part she hits everyone of them. Pendleton is also very good as the dumb gangster who can't see that his wife is just after his money. It's Morris who steals the show however with his perfect comic timing. The screenplay does his character more justice than anyone else and Morris uses it to his advantage with countless great lines and some truly hysterical moments including a scene at a will reading. Zasu Pitts is wasted in her small role of Lombard's friend. The screenplay doesn't have enough laughs to carry the 80-minute running time but if you're a fan of the two stars then the film should keep you entertained.

Gold-digging chorus girl (Carole Lombard) marries a dim-witted gangster (Nat Pendleton) for his money. His gangster cronies are jealous and scheme against him for a shot at Lombard. Kind of gross, right? Meanwhile, bodyguard Chester Morris has been protecting Carole and she starts to fall for him. Unbelievably, Chester is supposed to be honest and decent, despite working for gangsters. Weird.

Carole's gorgeous and has fun banter with Chester Morris. Nice supporting cast including Zasu Pitts, Sam Hardy, and Leo Carrillo. Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson has an uncredited bit part. Funny gangster screwball comedy. Lombard's only movie for MGM and reportedly the movie she considered to be her worst. I can't see why. It wasn't her best but I thought it was fun.

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.

Easy to see why Lombard was the highest paid actress in Hollywood at one time. Breathtakingly beautiful and with a wonderful sense of humor. That said, The Gay Bride is a fun movie but very much on the modest side. An amusing trifle about a heartless, gold-digging chorus girl bent on marrying one gangster after another, only to see them wiped out before she can get her hands on the cash. Chester Morris, a gangster's book-keeper, the one true love interest - whom of course she despises because he has no money. Amusing sparks struck between the two that provides the main thrust of the comedy. The great Zasu Pitts in a wisecracking supporting role. Not a great movie but a few good laughs - and a chance to see Lombard at her most luminous. Worth the time.

Carole Lombard came over from Paramount to star in this MGM film The Gay Bride with Chester Morris. This is a part that fits her like OJ's glove should have fit OJ, a nice wisecracking chorus girl who makes no bones about the fact that she wants a hefty bank balance for her husband.

As chorus girl you don't get to meet the cream of society unless they are out slumming. And speakeasies she frequents usually means gangsters who had the money during Prohibition.

Her cap is set for Nat Pendleton though personally she can't stand him. Pendleton is his usual amiable lug who can't resist giving her anything. Muscle he is, brains he's not.

Lombard who winds up with the only tangible assets when Pendleton is killed has to still go through Sam Hardy and Leo Carrillo before she winds up with Chester Morris, Pendleton's sharp assistant who knows that there is a limited future when Prohibition is repealed.

Morris and Lombard play well off each other. Laughs come in The Gay Bride at the expense of Nat Pendleton. Also from Lombard's sidekick Zasu Pitts who is great at being Zasu Pitts.

This is a good screwball comedy in the Carole Lombard tradition.