The Gay Bride (1934)

Please don't spend money on this.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

A lot of fun.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

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.

Chester Morris is "Office Boy," a sort of assistant to Nat Pendleton's head gangster. Pendleton has the hots for chorus girl Carole Lombard and is eventually persuaded (not easily!) to marry her.The relationship between Office Boy and Lombard's Mary hovers between unfriendly and hostile for the majority of the picture, and is well summed up by the wedding gift with which Office Boy presents her: a chisel! Yes, Mary is strictly out for the money, and poor boy Morris—a loyal employee but nobody's fool—lets her know that he sees through her phony hysterics and overblown romantic antics. –Well, it's pretty obvious from this point that the situation, shall we say, is bound to develop.The plot isn't much. Lombard's character is unsympathetic, at times downright annoying. The supporting cast frustrates, too: Leo Carillo's Greek gangster butchers English pronunciation but is more irritating than funny or sinister, and Zasu Pitts is only given one good scene in what could have been an ideal role for her as Lombard's friend and confidante. Pendleton is energetic but dumber than you'd think a mob boss could possibly be.So when things really do start to pop, it's difficult to throw your sympathies, much less belief, behind what's happening. However, Carole Lombard successfully pulls it off: her early hamming is only a setup for her excellent late scenes in which her character's genuine warmth pushes aside the cold-hearted faker previously on display. We can almost believe that Morris's character would actually fall for her. Morris, by the way, is excellent throughout—a straight man among caricatures, he holds his own and is never overshadowed. It's kind of a silly movie, certainly uneven and not close to entirely successful in the way it veers back and forth between comedy and melodrama. But as a fan of both Lombard and Morris, I wouldn't want to miss it. Ultimately, neither star disappoints.

This is a seriously flawed movie and I won't try to say it's not. However, it IS, despite its many problems, an enjoyable film--provided you can look past some seriously silly characters.Carole Lombard plays one of the most unlikable characters I have ever seen her play. Her goal in life is to get rich and she is more than willing to marry a mobster (Nat Pendleton) in order to achieve this goal. A flaw in the way her character was written is that it's TOO obvious she could care less about the guy and just wants his money. Some more subtlety about this would have improved the film. Plus, they made her fiancé too dumb--someone that thick-headed would probably never become the boss of any mob (well, perhaps for a very stupid one). She spends tons of his money and socks a lot of it in safety deposit box.During all this time, she is often in the company of Pendleton's body guard (Chester Morris). Now Morris is an odd and inconsistent character. On one hand, he's an important man to Pendleton YET (and I found this hard to believe) he's honest and has nothing to do with the mob's business. He simply is a paid body guard and is able to compartmentalize this part of his life. So, despite working for scum, he feels comfortable looking down on them--and especially looking down on the stone-hearted Lombard. Despite this, you KNOW that according to screen cliché #32 that by the end of the film Lombard and Morris will be head-over-heels in love--this is not in question.When Lombard actually married Pendleton (and this surprised me that the marriage actually took place), it was soon clear that Pendleton was MUCH stupider than you thought! He spends practically everything he has (or, rather, he lets Lombard spend it all) and shows so much weakness that you are sure someone will knock him off sooner or later. The only question is who! Eventually, Daniel Dingle (who?!) kills Pendleton and now Dingle is 100% dead-set on marrying the new widow himself. However, you can also see that Leo Carrillo might just bump off Dingle, as he, too, wants Lombard. Once again, the film is weak here. No one is THAT desirable and it's just too obvious that she is a money-grubber--yet all three men MUST have her. However, even after more killings occur, Lombard, out of the blue, decides she doesn't want this life and announces she's fallen for Morris! This is a surprise based on their interactions throughout the film (where Morris always treats her with contempt) but the cliché demands this. How can Morris and Lombard manage to avoid getting killed or going to jail so that they can eventually marry? Tune in and see for yourself.The film has some oddly unsatisfying characters and an occasionally dumb scene (like a poorly rear-projected chase scene) but despite all these problems the film STILL is fun. I think most of this is because Lombard and Morris were just such good actors that they could make this all work. Plus, their banter was great--I loved hearing them snipe at each other. Plus, although occasionally ludicrous, the film was entertaining and fast-paced. Not great...but fun.

Possible Spoiler."The Gay Bride" is one of Carole Lombard's most graceful & scintillating vehicles. An MGM property directed by Jack Conway, "Gay Bride" works like a playful blend of wisecracking screwball comedy, crime drama, and romantic melodrama. Lombard is superb as the bubbly, gold-digging chorus girl turned bride. She marries a gang leader ‘Shoots', played by Nat Pendleton ("Slight Case of Murder"), only for his money but soon loses both. Chester Morris as the concerned mechanic James aka 'Office Boy' has a pleasing presence throughout. Zazu Pitts as the Mirabelle is amusing as always. Leo Carrillo is also great as Mickey.What's so interesting about Lombard's character is the range of qualities and emotions she displays throughout the movie. First, Mary is depicted as whiny, cynical gold digger with a penchant for one-liners. Then she learns to be serious and behaves well in a dangerous situation involving murder & extortion, then she becomes truly & madly in love with Morris' Office Boy. In the final moments, where Lombard shows us how loving, passionate and committed she can be, there is an aura of delicate, almost mystical romanticism that redeems the wildness & implausibility of the previous scenes.