June Bride (1948)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Expected more

Absolutely the worst movie.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

That's the way film critics would characterize "June Bride", but that doesn't give due diligence to a movie that's first class in several respects. The outstanding cast is what puts this picture over, and the pairing of Bette Davis and Robert Montgomery was inspired. Always thought Montgomery was one of our best actors, capable of drama, war movies or comedy and does not disappoint here. I liked him ever since "Private Lives" (1931) opposite Norma Shearer. Sophisticated and urbane, like William Powell.Bette Davis is a curious choice for the female lead as comedy was not her strong point, but she is good here and works well off Montgomery. Contrary to some reviewers above I thought the chemistry between the two was good. It also has an excellent supporting cast headed by Fay Bainter and Tom Tully. I thought the script was delicious and kept waiting for the next sharp riposte between the two principals, but the ending is unworkable in 2016 due to its chauvinistic tone. It worked in 1948, but how long ago those days seem now.

It's a battle of the sexes 50's style with the expected outcome but Bette Davis shows her light side ably supported by a stellar cast. Since comedy wasn't Bette's long suit Warners filled out the cast with some of the premier light comic actors in the business. Robert Montgomery is ideally cast in the sort of facile smart alack that was his signature in his MGM days. He and Bette have a sand-papery chemistry that works fine but it seems that she might have had more rapport with Cary Grant or Clark Gable, two other masters of this kind of breezy fare. She had actually requested either Jack Carson or Dennis Morgan to costar but both were tied up with other commitments, Morgan might have been a stretch but the part would have fit the great Carson like a glove. Surrounding them are two unique masters of the wry line reading-Fay Bainter and Mary Wickes. They add enormously to the film as do Tom Tully, as the bride's flummoxed father, James Burke as a photographer very fond of cheesecake snapshots and especially Betty Lynn in a scene stealing performance as mischief making younger sister Boo. She is an impish delight and handily takes scenes away from her more experienced cast mates. You have to keep an eagle eye out but during the pre-wedding scene Debbie Reynolds makes her wordless screen bow sitting on a sofa. Blink and you'll miss her.Spoiled somewhat by a cop out traditional ending that negates a great deal of what has come before but until that point this is a highly entertaining movie from Bette's late Warner Bros. period. Indeed in the dark days of Winter Meeting and Beyond the Forest this gives Miss Davis a breather to show off her new look hairdo and wardrobe in a slight but fun movie.

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.

want to get ill on apple cider. The movie itself is pleasantly entertaining, but the ending! Gak! Bette Davis gives it all up for Bob Montgomery! Why? He's sexy, yes, but where's he been for three years and what is he offering her? It was depressing to see her standing there nodding while holding the suitcases. It's the chauvinistic Production Code in full force. I think Mick LaSalle in Complicated Women described actress Kay Francis playing a scene that called for giving up one's career for a man as a "soul death." How right! In a pre-Code, Davis would have simply said, "Well, look me up when you're next in town and we'll hit the hay. Meanwhile, I have a magazine to edit!" (By the way, was anyone else as horrified as me to see Norma Shearer throw over suave Montgomery for dorkus supreme Neil Hamilton (the Comissioner from TV's Batman series, for cripes sake) in "Strangers May Kiss"? That aside though, a cute little film with lots of comedy with Davis and Montgomery interacting with the small-town Indiana family whose wedding they have come to cover for a women's magazine. The old man and his outdoor cider jug and Mary Wickes are among the highlights. Watch if you can ignore the silly ending.