Blu Ray Review: The Bride Comes Home (1935)

After her massive success in It Happened One Night (1934), a film she didn’t want to do, Claudette Colbert was placed in romantic comedies by her own studio, Paramount. The Bride Comes Home, recently released on blu ray by Kino Lorber, is a good example.

Colbert is Jeanette, a formerly wealthy socialite whose family went broke after the stock market crash. She wants a job, and goes to a friend, Jack (Robert Young), who just inherited 3 million dollars and owns a magazine. She wants a job on the magazine, and is given one. The editor, Cyrus, (Fred MacMurray) balks at the inexperienced woman being his assistant. There are wisecracks, romantic situations, and a brisk pace from director Wesley Ruggles.

For those of us at a certain age, Fred MacMurray and Robert Young are especially noteworthy due to their later television work. It was after we were quite familiar with shows like My Three Sons, Father Knows Best, and Marcus Welby MD that we realized the versatility of both men by watching their movies on the late show. So after screenings of films like Double Indemnity and Maid of Salem, we aren’t surprised that MacMurray can play a tough no-nonsense editor who spits out his dialog and likes to fight. And imagining the benevolent father figure and understanding doctor figure that Young played on TV could extend to a pleasantly sloshed, frolicsome, irresponsible young man, is also no surprise. Both men own their roles in this delightfully breezy comedy.

Claudette Colbert was unhappy with being banished to Columbia by her home studio of Paramount, back when she made It Happened One Night. But after it broke box office records and won all of the major Academy Awards -- including a Best Actress one for her -- the studio realize where Colbert's strongest talents lie. In only her second or third film after It Happened One Night, Claudette Colbert is a comic delight.

All three of the leads are attractive and engaging, and the supporting cast is filled with welcome veterans like Donald Meek, Edgar Kennedy, Tom Kennedy, Richard Carle, Johnny Arthur, and Ed Gargan.

Kino Lorber’s blu ray includes a commentary by the always interesting Lee Gambin, who gives us a lot of fascinating background information on the actors and filmmakers involved.

This film is recommended and can be ordered at this link: BRIDE COMES HOME