Considering the star power of the three leads in this film, "The Bride Walks Out" is quite a lousy film. As several others have noted, the title is wrong - actually, it's a lie because it's backwards. One can't help but wonder if there hadn't been some real changes in the writing of this film and it was originally planned that way - for the bride to walk out rather than the groom. But the screenplay is so bad, and the direction is so lousy that three top stars of the day can't save this film.
Sure, Philip Epstein and P. J. Wolfson could write great screenplays, including comedies. This very same year they did the screenplay for "Love on a Bet" that starred Gene Raymond and Wendy Barrie. It had nowhere near the star power of this film, but was a very funny, smash hit comedy. And both were made by RKO. And the director, Leigh Jason, was the same for films. It should be noted that this film did make a modest profit for RKO, but it was far out of the top 100 films in box office for the year. More than four dozen comedies finished ahead of it.
Even with some comical one-liners, this film can't score as a very good comedy. So, what could be the difference if not the plot and the story itself? Here are some points that glare as awful or not good. Gene Raymond's frequent persona is a guy who uses short, snappy comments. They were tremendous in "Love on a Bet," and worked superbly with the other characters and their dialog. Here they are flat and seem to float off on their own. Others have noted the complete lack of chemistry between Barbara Stanwyck's Carolyn and Raymond's Michael Martin. Then they are the gaping holes in the plot. For instance, Carolyn had steadfastly refused Michael's proposals, and the next thing they are getting married. A script that had a little amour between the two might have helped some.
The deadpan humor off Ned Sparks as Paul Dodson and Helen Broderick as Mattie stands out in left field all alone. It's almost as though four or more writers were creating their own stories with no coordination in a plot, and then all four were just folded together.
Others have pointed out also some incongruities of the film - things that also make it less plausible and funny. How could Carolyn afford a maid (Hattie McDaniel), even though she had been making more money as a model than Michael was as an engineer?
I think someone was grasping at straws with this plot. Perhaps they rushed the story to include so many disparate characters that didn't play well off one another with the script they were writing. The rich Hugh McKenzie, played by Robert Young, is a good example. He's always tipsy and just pops in and out of Michael and Carolyn's life out of nowhere. But there's no comical dynamic to it. It's just an awkward piece of the plot in places.
Normally, I wouldn't give this much detail to a movie that's such a dud or turkey. But, with such a cast of top leads of the day and some of the best supporting cast, it's puzzling that the film should be so bad. There is no way to tell, of course, but I suspect that the tremendous cast was the draw with the public to see this film. But, if there had been surveys of moviegoers coming out of the theater, most would have given a thumbs down on this one. The star cast was enough to draw audiences for a few weeks, but there were few to no good comments passed on to friends and neighbors so this film didn't continue to grow at the box office like dozens of other comedies did that year.
My four stars are generous, but the supporting cast of those already named and the rest, deserve some credit - among them, Billy Gilbert, Willie Best , Irving Bacon, Ward Bond, and others.
Here are some lines from this film, which don't seem as funny as they should have been, because of what went before and after them.
Paul Dodson, "When I married you, you didn't have a rag on your back." Mattie Dodson, "Oh, well, I've got plenty of 'em now."
Paul, "Outside of my wife, I'm comparatively alone in the world. Even with my wife, I'm comparatively alone in the world."
Carolyn, "I asked you not to make me marry you. I begged you."
Carolyn, "How was breakfast, darling?" Michael, "Unorthodox. You toasted the eggs and scrambled the toast."
Michael, to a tipsy Hugh McKenzie, "What's the address?" McKenzie, "The Address?.. Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent...."
