The Bride Came C.O.D.
by William Keighley
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bette Davis, Eugene Pallette, Jack Carson, James Cagney, Stuart ErwinDirector: William Keighley
Brand: WARNER HOME VIDEO
Cinematographer: Ernest Haller
Producer: Hal B. Wallis
Producer: William Cagney
Writer: Julius J. Epstein
Writer: Kenneth Earl
Writer: M.M. Musselman
Writer: Philip G. Epstein
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 92 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-04-24
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of The Bride Came C.O.D.
Movie Review: Bette and Cagney in comedy mode
Summary: 3 Stars
Have you ever wondered what would happen if The Public Enemy and Jezebel got together to make a movie? The outcome would be something like THE BRIDE CAME C.O.D., an uneasy comedy featuring the unlikely combo of two of Warner's premium stars of the period, Bette Davis and James Cagney.
The two had previously co-starred in JIMMY THE GENT in the 1930s. It wasn't an instant love-fest. Davis was quoted as saying during the shoot that Cagney's haircut was "cut too close to the scalp and gives me the creeps". There was no love lost between them when THE BRIDE CAME C.O.D. came along in 1941. To Davis' chagrin, the film would be made on location; and adding insult to injury was Cagney's brother William who produced the film. Davis suspected that Cagney used his influence to change things in the script. "I'm sorry I never thought to fix it so my sister could produce pictures...perhaps if I did I could change scripts too..."
When oil heiress Joan Winfield's (Bette Davis) engagement to publicity-hungry bandleader Allen Brice (Jack Carson) is announced over the radio, her furious father (Eugene Pallette) makes a deal with cash-strapped pilot Steve Collins (James Cagney), whose been assigned to transport the happy couple to the justice of peace: ditch the groom and he'll pay Steve the going freight charges to take Joan back home instead! So begins the battle of wills and wits as Steve and Joan are forced to crash-land in the desert and fend for themselves...
Scripted by frequent Bette Davis story scribes Julius and Philip Epstein, THE BRIDE CAME C.O.D. must have come during a period when studio head Jack Warner wanted to "punish" Davis in some way (possiby because of having to loan her out to Goldwyn for THE LITTLE FOXES); there's no other way of imagining how she could have ever consented to be a part of it. This was also the year that Davis appeared in THE GREAT LIE, and she was just getting ready to play Maggie in THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER.
She's a lovely presence any way, and her professionalism shines through whatever misgivings she personally harboured. Her chemistry with Cagney is fine; and it's a first-rate screwball comedy when all is said and done.
Warners have done their usual stellar job with the DVD release, furnishing the film with a Warner Night at the Movies programme (including the stunning Technicolor short "Carnival of Rhythm" featuring the Katherine Dunham dance company), plus other year-specific trailers, shorts and cartoons; allowing you to spin the movie out into an entire evening of entertainment. An essential title for Bette Davis fans.
Summary of The Bride Came C.O.D.
Oil heiress Joan is going to elope with bandleader Allen whom she's known four days. Out-of-money pilot Steve is going to fly them to Nevada but makes a deal with her father to deliver her home unmarried. He flies off with her, an apparent kidnaping, but is forced down in the desert. The bandleader arrives with a preacher, but their marriage (in California, not Nevada) is not valid. Pilot Steve will marry her because her father is a millionaire.Two big stars, a fine supporting cast, and plenty of snappy dialogue make The Bride Came C.O.D. a real treat for fans of screwball comedy. Granted, this isn't exactly a classic of its kind, but the second and final teaming of James Cagney and Bette Davis (their first was in 1934's Jimmy the Gent) offers plenty of star power, with Jimmy and Bette nicely matched as strong-willed adversaries who inevitably grow fond of each other as the comedy plot unfolds. Cagney plays Steve Collins, a wiseacre pilot who thinks he knows all the angles (especially when they're on a good-looking female) but he gets more than he bargained for when he "kidnaps" 23-year-old Texas oil heiress Joan Winfield (played by then 32-year-old Davis) at the request of her father, who wants to divert her from an ill-advised elopement with an obnoxious bandleader (Jack Carson). After a forced landing in the desert of Death Valley, California, Cagney and Davis proceed to bicker like would-be lovers (for additional comic relief, she has a knack for falling into cactus bushes) before they're taken in by the sole occupant of a ghost town (wonderfully played by Henry Davenport). Add some misadventures in an abandoned coal mine, a frothy Max Steiner score, smooth direction by William Keighley (who'd made The Fighting 69th with Cagney a year earlier), and a zippy script by Casablanca writers Julius and Philip Epstein, and you've got plenty of lightweight fun that moves right along. Available separately or as part of the James Cagney Signature Collection, this easy-going comedy comes with a variety of Warner Bros.' "Night at the Movies 1941" bonus features, including two Oscar-nominated shorts (the musical featurette "Forty Boys and a Song" and the Merrie Melodies cartoon "Rhapsody in Rivets"), a vintage newsreel, 1941 movie trailers, and more. --Jeff Shannon
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