The Bride Walks Out (1936)

Truly Dreadful Film

Expected more

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

One of Barbara Stanwyck's lesser efforts, The Bride Walks Out gets in a few jabs about chauvinistic pride but with little velocity behind its screwball intent it never reaches home plate. Mike and Carolyn get hitched and he immediately puts his foot down about her working outside the home. As the bills mount she takes a job on the side to stem the tide of debt collectors but he finds out and the couple split. Miserable without each other they shakily attempt to reconcile.Save for the abrasive Gene Raymond as Mike, Bride fields a decent enough acting squad with Babs, Robert Young as a well heeled interloper and a broad comic support line of Ned Sparks, Helen Broderick, Hattie Mc Daniel and Billy Gilbert. But lightweight director Leigh Jason fails to get cast or tempo out of its lethargy and the Bride Walks Out deserves one itself.

New York model Barbara Stanwyck (as Carolyn) marries up-and-coming engineer Gene Raymond (as Michael Martin) and reluctantly gives up her career. The couple agrees to the "traditional" marriage, with the woman talking care of the house while the man works. When they are unable to make ends meet, Ms. Stanwyck offers to go back to work, but Mr. Raymond refuses. To complicate matters, Stanwyck arouses the interests of alcoholic department store owner Robert Young (as Hugh McKenzie)...Should Stanwyck try a relationship with the perpetually tipsy Mr. Young or stick with husband Raymond - only time will tell… Raymond gets deadpan comic support from Ned Sparks (as Paul Dodson) while Stanwyck converses with his wife Helen Broderick (as Mattie) and "mammy"-type maid Hattie McDaniel (as Mamie), who is scripted to foolishly mangle a quote from Abraham Lincoln. Billy Gilbert does his bit as an "Acme" furniture man and Charles Lane holds court, but nothing really lifts this comedy.*** The Bride Walks Out (7/10/36) Leigh Jason ~ Barbara Stanwyck, Gene Raymond, Robert Young, Ned Sparks

If you can get passed the far-outdated trappings (newlyweds in separate beds, and a wife who is forced to give up her well-paying job to live on her husband's measly salary), there are some laughs to be had in this charming romantic comedy from RKO. Screenwriters P.J. Wolfson and Philip G. Epstein, working from a story by Howard Emmett Rogers, manage to throw in some funny, sneaky little laugh lines, and the supporting characters add a great deal of bounce, including sidekick Ned Sparks (who talks like a Myna Bird) and Hattie McDaniel(s) as a sassy cook. The bride (Barbara Stanwyck, who never disappoints) does indeed walk out--into the arms of a millionaire!--and the way the plot is resolved is amusing and clever. **1/2 from ****

Comparing this film to THE PALM BEACH STORY is an exercise in ignorance. It's OK, but lacking in wit and spark. If anything, it's yet another example of how films of this era shot down women who had hopes of making something of their lives. For that, it is perhaps worth seeing. If you're looking for a sparkling, witty comedy, move on. Fans of Stanwyck will find her at her best, as always...but Gene Reynolds, as always, brings things to a crashing halt. Helen Broderick is at her wise-cracking best, but it's not really good enough to save what is basically a formulaic, Depression-era comedy...one with an all-too-familiar ending. Ho-hum, and all that.