The Bride Wore Red (1937) User Reviews

A Darker Social Climber

[nycritic · 7/10 · 5 September 2004]

The 1930s were the years that Joan Crawford came into her own as a star, and by 1934 her movies were a must-see. She had already charmed audiences in the previous decade by playing increasingly endearing performances in silents, breaking out as a jazz-baby right at the brink of the stock market crash, and moving into talkies.

In those days, an actor was given the roles the studio believed he or she could play best in order to maintain a level of success in the box-office. Joan, unfortunately, worked at MGM, and Norma Shearer was the indisputable Queen of MGM by marriage to Irving Thalberg: hence, she had the choice roles to play, and Joan Crawford got only the rejects that Shearer refused to make. Somehow, she managed to make the best of her roles, but they were always a slight variation on the same the same theme -- the young, aspiring secretary/shop girl/heroine who wants to find love, rebukes the attention of one man for another one who will give her a more financial position. The lead frequently was Clark Gable; the second lead an equally secondary movie star -- Robert Young, Franchot Tone.

Once the formula began to wear itself to shreds, Joan tried to get better roles but only got the same material. This is one of the clones of her movie roster of the 30s, complete with a heavy melodrama and Adrian gowns which make their required appearances and further his reputation. One thing must be said, though -- Crawford for once is unsympathetic from start to sappy finish. Here she is pretty hell-bent on marrying rich and continuing her ruse albeit the circumstances, which seems to foreshadow the kind of power driven roles she would play in the early 50s.

The movie is in its entirety decent (and Dorothy Arzner must have really been fond of Crawford as she photographs her strikingly well), the plot is unbelievable, and Crawford's do is one solid page-boy, refusing to get mussed up even after a fall from a (relatively short) cliff after a verbal tangle with Tone.

Cinderella With The Clock Ticking

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 25 July 2010]

The Bride Wore Red is based on an unpublished Ferenc Molnar play which he probably couldn't get anyone on Broadway interested in. So for a reduced rate he sold the property to MGM which gave it the usual lavish MGM treatment.

American accents which bothered some other reviewers didn't bother me. Sometimes they stand out, sometimes they don't. In this case Joan Crawford was cast in a role she played dozens of times before as the poor girl given a chance at riches and does she grab.

This variation on the Pygmalion theme starts in a café in Trieste where Crawford sings and presumably will do other things for her supper. It's in the red light district of Trieste. Count George Zucco hires her on a whim to prove that clothes and manner do make the individual. Zucco showers Crawford with a new wardrobe giving her the chance to show off those Adrian gowns and gives her two weeks at a resort in the Tyrol where the high society pleasures itself.

To make this last though Crawford has to land a husband and she lands on Robert Young. But he's slightly engaged to Lynne Carver, a sweet young thing. They're traveling with friends Reginald Owen who is a foxy old rogue and married to Billie Burke who has to watch the fox like a hawk.

The local postman Franchot Tone is interested in her, but Crawford figures to do better than him. Her only friend is a former café colleague in Mary Phillips who is working as a maid in that hotel. Though the experiment is Pygmalion like, Crawford feels more like Cinderella with the clock inevitably ticking towards midnight.

I think you can probably figure out where this all ends if you're any kind of film fan and Crawford fan. Dorothy Arzner's direction sharpens the character that Crawford created in Grand Hotel as an anxious to rise stenographer taking her couple of steps lower in society and seeing if she can make the climb.

Franchot Tone who was married to Joan Crawford at the time got a break of sorts in this film. Normally he'd be the society guy who Crawford is trying for. As the common, but somewhat erudite postman for once he's not in formal wear in a film.

Another surprise is Billie Burke who together with Mary Boland and Spring Byington was busy playing delightful airheads in her film. She's quite serious and quite good, but inevitably went back to being typecast after this film was completed.

The Bride Wore Red will please Joan Crawford fans immensely and this is a most typical example of the kind of character she played in her years at MGM.

Love in red

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 23 August 2020]

The plot may not be a novel one, but the title was appetising and so were the cast. 'The Bride Wore Red' was seen as part of one of many completest quests (seeing as many films not yet seen of the person in question as possible), this one being for Joan Crawford. As well as Crawford, we have other talented performers in Franchot Tone, Robert Young, George Zucco and Billie Burke. All of whom are great when with good material and in the right roles.

Although 'The Bride Wore Red' is not among the best of all involved (all have also been far worse served) or one of the best of the genre, it is still well worth watching and has a lot of positive traits. It didn't deserve to be a flop. As far as Crawford's 30s films go, which were a mixed lot in quality, 'The Bride Wore Red' somewhere around solid middle, and anybody that loves romance and comedy individually and together are likely to (not guaranteed as not everybody has the same tastes for everything) find a lot to enjoy. The case with me.

Is 'The Bride Wore Red' perfect? No. The story, despite the premise actually being good, has few surprises and can be very silly with some suspension of disbelief needed at times later on. Also felt that the start was on the dull side but once the main plot kicks in properly there is a lot more energy.

Do agree that Anni's conflict with what she wants and what she has to give up could have gone into more detail, that could have been a fascinating angle and added so much to Anni's character and given her more heart.

Crawford, looking stunning, however gives it her all without over-acting to the point of overbalancing the rest of the cast or film. She doesn't phone it in either once the plot gets going, despite being on the cold side at the beginning. Tone has one of the more likeable characters and is charming and suave. Young has some of the more juicier lines and brings a nice edge and sophistication to them. Zucco is convincingly decadent and Burke is in an atypically shrews viper sort of role and plays it to the hilt.

Found the script to be amusingly droll and that it did sparkle. The story wasn't perfect but it had energy and charm and the chemistry between the cast was beautifully pitched, the three leads work more than convincingly together. 'The Bride Wore Red' looks great, especially Crawford's wardrobe and the luminous photography. Franz Waxman's score is sumptuous without being too loud or melodramatic. Dorothy Azner's direction is a bit bland and slow to begin with, but becomes more assured as the film goes along.

Summing up, nice enough if not mind-blowing. 7/10

Underrated and deserves better than it got...

[wrk6539 · 16 September 2001]

Well, you can't blame Joan for trying. Always wanting to go beyond that glamorous clothes-horse/shopgirl-makes-good mold in which MGM so successfully cast her throughout the 1930's, she was always attempting to outreach her grasp. When Metro's Austrian star Luise Rainer backed out of making a film of Molnar's THE GIRL FROM TRIESTE, a dark photoplay about a prostitute sent on a masquerade in the Tyrolean Alps, Crawford grabbed it, hoping to get her teeth into a meaty role. Imagine her chagrin when Metro executives "improved" the piece to be more suitable for Crawford's image, taking the meat and guts with it. What emerged was an uncomfortable picture built on compromises in an attempt to graft a typical Crawford/Cinderella plot onto what is basically a nasty, mean little story. Registering far below the Crawford usual at the paybox, THE BRIDE WORE RED started her career to skid.

A closer look, however, reveals that not all of the edge has been softened from the piece. I wholeheartedly agree with the reviewer who calls this Joan's most underrated performance, and there is a reason we do not sympathize with this Cinderella. Crawford's Anni is cold and snappish, and has the potential to do real harm to some nice, decent folk. The film plays like the dark side of all of those rags-to-Adrian gown stories Crawford played in the Metro phase of her career, and CRAWFORD IS FULLY AWARE OF THIS. Although seemingly played straight, there is an irony underneath that tells us Crawford herself isn't crazy about Anni either. It's understandable that 1937 audiences did not warm to a Joan they couldn't root for (even her hair is cut into a severe, but stunning, pageboy), but it deserves real recognition now that we are removed from the era and have seen ALL the phases of Crawford's career. In many ways, it's a harbinger of the darker, icier roles she was to play at Warner Bros. and throughout the 1950's.

The performances are uniformly good, with George Zucco strong as the decadent, evil Machiavelli who sends Anni on her masquerade, but Crawford, for the most part, is the standout. Only in the early scenes of the film, when she attempts to portray Anni as a world-weary honky tonk singer (in what must have been the cleanest, most glamorous "dive" in all of Trieste!!) does she fail to convince.

(Ironically, Crawford's next film, MANNEQUIN, released early in 1938 and co-starring Spencer Tracy, was a strictly paint by the numbers Rags-to-Adrian tale, inferior to this, that found great favor with the movie-going public.)

Crawford in her familiar '30s venue

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 9 August 2010]

Joan Crawford stars in "The Bride Wore Red," a 1937 MGM film based on the play by Ferenc Molnar. Here, it's directed by Dorothy Arzner. Arzner was a fascinating woman - a female director amid a sea of men - very much ahead of her time in her dress, profession, and lifestyle, and highly intelligent. Was she a great director? Hard for me to say. I don't think she always got the best scripts. And in Crawford, she had a headstrong star as well.

The story concerns a poor girl, Anni (Crawford) who sings in a sleazy café (read: with prostitution as a sideline)in the red light district of Trieste. A count she meets believes that the only thing separating the rich from the poor is money - it's not class, it's not breeding, it's not education. To make his point, he sends Anni to a fabulous resort with beautiful new clothes for two weeks. Anni meets Rudi (Robert Young), from an excellent and wealthy family, but he's engaged. With time short, Anni decides that it's Rudi she wants, and is determined to stick it out as long as necessary to get him. But it's not only a lack of funds and Rudi's fiancé standing in her way - it's also the postman, Giulio (Franchot Tone).

Crawford is beautiful, and this was the type of role she played continuously in the 1930s with great success. Tone, Young, and Billie Burke give her good support.

What is this business with the "no European accents" that someone mentioned? Actors do not use European accents when portraying foreigners in their own country or a nearby country. The characters aren't speaking English with a foreign accent in Poland, Switzerland, or Italy. They're speaking another language. If accents were necessary, all Chekov plays would be done with Russian accents. They aren't.

I thought for what this was, the film took a little too long to make its point and was a bit slow in spots. It's not the best Crawford film, but she gives a strong performance as a willful woman determined to marry money. As for Arzner's direction, apparently she couldn't get anywhere with Crawford, so I'll withhold judgment.

Red? But the movie is in black-and-white!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 10 September 2016]

Ferenc Molnar's stage play, "The Girl from Trieste", was never published in a print edition, and this film version tells us why. Would you believe, it is yet another reworking of the Pygmalion theme? Alas. its weary plot is so studded with dull dialogue, it's no wonder that Franchot Tone and Robert Young hand in such indifferent performances.

On the other hand, however, although Dorothy Arzner's direction rarely comes to life, this movie is a definite must-see for Joan Crawford fans. Joan is exquisitely gowned by Adrian, beautifully photographed by George Folsey, and set against some stunning Cedric Gibbons backgrounds (although there are a couple of very obviously backdrops).

Definitely one for Crawford fans, but others beware!

Crawford Tone pair up nicely in The Bride Wore Red

[st-shot · 7/10 · 7 August 2011]

Jaded club singer Anni Pavlovitch (Joan Crawford) runs into a count who devises a plan to give Anni an opportunity to swing with the swells for two weeks in a rustic Italian vacation spot in the mountains. Anni is totally seduced by the lifestyle and with time running out moves in on Maddelena Monti' s well heeled beau Rudi Pal ( Robert Young) to try an insinuate herself into the jet set lifestyle on a more permanent basis. The local postman Giullio (Franchot Tone) has also taken a shine to Anni offering her an unencumbered down to earth existence in contrast but cynical Anni is tired of the hardscrabble existence preferring pampered materialism instead.

Under the rare oddity of a female studio film director (Dorothy Arzner) Crawford is allowed to stretch with more than satisfying results as she struggles with the conflict of hooking up for love or money. Arzner not only gets some impressive long takes out of Crawford but also softens her standard studio brusqueness with a touching sensitivity as her dream of easy street evaporates before her eyes.

Arzner also gets fine performances out of upper crusts played by Young and a beautifully smug performance from Billie Burke without being condescending to such easy targets. The real surprise though is the sophisticated Franchot Tone as Giullio the country postman. Playing it neither broad or passionate Tone subversively bides his time with a dignity and patience that gives The Bride Wore Red a nice subtle edge and a more touching denouement.

Very formulaic, but still well made and enjoyable

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 29 April 2007]

If you are a big fan of classic Hollywood films, then the chances are you've seen several Joan Crawford films like THE BRIDE WORE RED. MGM type-cast many of its stars during this period--Greta Garbo was the super-vamp, Jean Harlow the slut who used her body to sleep her way to the top, Myrna Loy was sweet and a bit kooky and Joan Crawford was a poor girl who THINKS happiness will be found by marrying a rich man. Of course, these stars did other films, but most of their films during the 30s were true to these images. As a result, while this Joan Crawford film is very good and very well made, it was totally formulaic--so much so that an astute viewer will not be the least bit surprised where it all ends.

Given that you can get past this, the movie is very good--sort of like an odd variation of the Cinderella story. An eccentric rich man (George Zucco), on a lark, decides to dress up cheap lounge singer Crawford and send her to the smartest hotel in order to fool his friends into thinking she's a rich society woman. Once there, Crawford fits in rather well and rich Robert Young is smitten. While she does not seem to love him, Crawford sees marrying Young as a way to leave her life of poverty--since Zucco will only pay for her to pretend to be rich for a short period of time. The problem is that Franchot Tone plays a sweet but poor guy she meets at the hotel and Joan finds herself falling for him but also wanting to marry Young for his money. How all this is resolved is pretty predictable but there is a certain beauty and glossiness to the production that help it still be quite watchable.

By the way, I was quite surprised to see Billie Burke play against type. Instead of being rich, kooky and sweet, she's a bit of a viper! Now that's interesting, huh?

Oh, and in real life, Tone and Crawford were husband and wife...briefly.

Traditional, in the best sense

[fung0 · 8/10 · 12 September 2013]

I've never been a fan of Joan Crawford, so it's always a surprise to find a performance of hers that really wins me over. I liked her in Grand Hotel (as 'Flaemmchen,') and I liked her again, very much, as Anni, the cheap night-club singer masquerading as a lady. Often seen in hard and brittle roles, Crawford has a very different look in this film, and expresses a vulnerability that brings her character to life. (Billie Burke is also notable, in the small but juicy role of the acid-tongued Contessa. And Franchot Tone has never been more likable.)

The Bride Wore Red is certainly built according to studio formula, but it also embodies all the earnest craftsmanship that characterized the studio system. The film at times seems clichéd, but it fully redeems itself through genuine empathy for the characters. And through its very strong premise: a 'scarlet' woman driven by hunger for the good life, who is given a slim chance of joining the upper class - provided she's cold and deceitful enough.

Until the final act, I really felt that the film could have gone either way: warm-hearted romance or bitter tragedy. The delicate balancing act makes it hard to achieve a satisfying pay-off. But the ending does succeed, thanks to a couple of nicely orchestrated scenes, and to the talent and charisma of Ms Crawford. These do make us believe that Anni could only choose as she does.

I was a bit sorry the film didn't delve just a little deeper into the moral and social dimensions. Anni's real problem is not what she wants, but rather what she may have to give up in order to get it. That distinction is not made entirely clear, leaving the film a bit too reliant on the old cliché that 'wealth doesn't bring true happiness.' But there's more going on here. Anni's 'tragic flaw' is not the hunger itself, but her willingness to give up honesty, morality and even true love. This distinction becomes almost subliminal, but it's there, and gives the film a slightly sharper edge. Anni is a character we can identify with and possibly admire, even when she's doing something despicable.

If you're in the mood for a traditional, old-style Hollywood entertainment, you won't go wrong with The Bride Wore Red. This is one of the good ones, a film I'd gladly watch again any time.

Underrated fluff stands out on it glamour and beautiful star.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 11 April 2014]

Years ago, I had the pleasure of seeing this on the big screen at the Museum of Art in Los Angeles in a double-bill with "Jezebel". No, it wasn't a "Joan vs. Bette" festival, but a "the lady wore red" series, and in the case of these two films, the red was not captured because of black and white photography. While "Jezebel" is of course an all-time classic, "The Bride Wore Red" was considered at the time a box office disappointment in a period of Joan Crawford's career where repeat themes of films she'd already done lead her to be named on the list of "box office poison".

To see "The Bride Wore Red" today is to show what MGM stood for in its heyday: beautiful stars, glamorous clothes and exotic settings. In "The Bride Wore Red", she's a cabaret singer down on her luck who is given the good fortune by one of her customers (George Zucco) who, like Henry Higgins, thinks he can turn this sow's ear into a silk purse. Before you know it, she's heading to an exclusive hideaway for the wealthy in the Alps, and has gotten the attention of wealthy Robert Young, as well as local postman Franchot Tone. Young is already engaged to Lynne Carver, however, but Crawford is determined to bust that up. All seems to be going well until she puts on the garish red dress she's been saving up for the right occasion, something which shows her for who she really is.

Red, in high society, was apparently not a proper color for a nice young lady to wear, and indeed, the dress designed for Crawford is truly audacious and tacky. Everything else she wears, however, present her as more lady-like and of noble blood than she really is. Young's companions, Billie Burke (as a snooty contessa) and Reginald Owen (as Carver's father), can tell something's off with this seemingly "perfect" miss, and at a local social event (with practically every man in liederhosen), Crawford shows the truth of who she really is, down to earth and not at all uppity like the class she's trying to worm her way into.

Glamorous with a capital "G", "The Bride Wore Red" is one of the most entertaining of Joan's MGM films, even if at times, it is a bit like the top of an overly stuffed wedding cake. Director Dorothy Arzner went out of her way to make this as beautiful as possible, and for some audiences (particularly the critics) it must have been a little too much, having been overstuffed with recently released glossy MGM films like "Maytime" and "Rosalie" where at least the lovers got to sing rather than argue before the love scene arrived.

You don't dance like a debutante

[utgard14 · 5/10 · 12 January 2014]

I had high hopes for this one. The plot sounded good. Eccentric Count Armalia (George Zucco) believes that luck of birth is all that separates the rich from the poor. To prove his point, he sets up dive singer Anni (Joan Crawford) as a fake socialite to fool his rich friends. This works but snobbish Robert Young falls for her and wants to marry her. Anni sees the chance to get out of poverty by marrying a rich guy but, at the same time, she has started to fall for poor Franchot Tone. So it becomes a question of whether Anni will choose love or money. Glossy MGM soaper with a nice cast but somehow just misses the mark. It was nice seeing George Zucco in a different kind of role. Also Billie Burke is sort of evil, which is interesting. See it for the cast or out of curiosity. You might enjoy it more than me.

Dreams come true, but they don't last..

[beyondtheforest · 10/10 · 25 July 2006]

If this were the typical Cinderella tale, Anni (Joan Crawford), a beautiful but hardened prostitute from Trieste, would have been whisked away to the wealthy vacation resort with clothes and money to spare, and some rich and dashing prince in shining armor would have fallen in love and married her (social class issues notwithstanding). MGM tries their very best to make the film appear to be a Cinderella story of that sort, but I am not unhappy they failed.

The story does not turn out that way at all. We have Anni, given such a stellar characterization by Crawford (so perfect as hardened women who seek, but have been constantly been denied, love, in a quintessential role for her), but she is not simply a poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks. She is a prostitute in a dingy bar. We can see from the very first closeup that she is completely hopeless and disillusioned. Crawford's expression as she sings "Who Wants Love?" (an appropriately and brilliantly cynical love ballad which sets the tone for the film) is so brilliant, evocative, and controlled; the work of a great actress, indeed.

A very wealthy count discovers her and sets her up for a stay in a resort for other wealthy people, where she can pose as an heiress and possibly attract a man. The catch here is the count is not motivated by altruism; he simply wants to satisfy a bet with a friend that social class has nothing to do with breeding, but just luck. Although he is probably right, there is something unkind about the way he treats the girl. Although at first it seems a kind thing to do (and if this was the Cinderella story it would be), this is not a fantasy but the real world, and in the real world dreams can be broken..

The theme of the film is that of dreams being broken. Anni dreams of finding love, wealth, happiness, but eventually she learns no amount of posing or pretending or scheming can get her those things. The rich man she tries to snare turns out to be a cad, only interested in her as a mistress and not as a wife. Another dream is broken.. In the end, although in keeping with the Cinderella aspect of the story it appears she has fallen in love with the postal delivery man, it's obvious she has settled. She has thrown the childhood hopes to the wind, and is ready to accept love in practical terms. And when she settles, we know the biggest dream of all has broken, and Crawford, great actress that she was, shows us her heartbreak by registering extremely subtle emotions in her face, through her walk, and mannerisms.

A remarkable film. An undiscovered masterpiece; perhaps Dorothy Arzner's best work.

A wonderful trifle

[ReganRebecca · 7/10 · 3 January 2017]

The Bride Wore Red is a ridiculous but fun film. A drunken count, slumming it for the night, runs into a cynical and hungry young woman, Anni Pavlovitch (Joan Crawford). He decides to send her on a luxury vacation to prove his drunken point that the poor and the rich aren't so different after all and buys her new clothes and arranges for her to stay in a luxury resort. Anni, who obviously thinks the whole thing is crazy, decides to go threw with it anyway. Arriving in the alps she meets Giulio (Crawford's real life husband, Franchot Tone) a very pert mail employee who immediately takes a shine to her. The two have sparks aplenty, but when she arrives at the hotel Anni quickly realizes that she would rather always have food on her table than the love of a good man, and quickly sets about seducing Rudi, a flighty engaged man who is very taken with her.

As with most romcoms the real test is if the chemistry works and here it does perfectly. Crawford and Tone have excellent chemistry here and he is very sweet and naive, persistently wearing down the jaded and bitter singer.

It's a lovely sweet film.

To be happy in life is to be content with your preordained place in the social order

[dontspamme-76078 · 5/10 · 6 December 2020]

This movie is heavy handed in it's message that peasants and the wealthy alike, can only find true happiness and contentment by accepting their position in life that fate has determined is appropriate for them.

When Anni/Anna (Crawford) is given the opportunity to disrupt this preordained outcome, the universe takes action to restore the natural order.

Then there is a very predictable yet unrealistic soapish love story that pushes the social experiment to the backburner, and is largely skipped over. Also tossed in, is a strange battle of 19th and 20th century technologies. Mainly, the century long surety of the donkey drawn cart.

The positive note at the end, after natural order is restored, is the much needed injection of Anni's genetic diversity to the town, since literally everybody there seems to be cousins.

Joan goes to wore

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 27 February 2014]

Dorothy Arzner is the director of this film, and though she does not make a lot of films, she usually makes rather substantial ones. This is certainly a substantial one.

The most appealing aspect of this production is the chemistry and loveliness of the couple played on screen by Joan Crawford and Franchot Tone (married in real life). This is not the only film that MGM has costarred them in together, but in this picture, it is easy to see the magic they create.

For his part, Robert Young is a worthy costar. And so is Joan's dazzling dress, referenced in the title. One must not forget to mention the always splendid Billie Burke, directed in several other pictures by Arzner. This time she portrays a real shrew, not her trademark scatterbrained character.

concept needs a few tweaks

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 3 July 2023]

Count Armalia (George Zucco) wants to prove that only luck separates the poor masses from the aristocrats. He offers club singer Anni Pavlovitch (Joan Crawford) money and opportunity to play Anne Vivaldi, his mysterious fictional friend. Giulio (Franchot Tone) is not impressed with her seeming wealth and social class.

It's part Cinderella and part Trading Places. This is very much about Joan Crawford. I don't really care about this character. She slips into her upper crust a little too easily. The character would work better if she is more a fish out of water with her new life. I'm not in love with this story, but I don't hate it either. The concept needs a few tweaks and this may become something.

Really, a 5 1/2

[CindyH · 6/10 · 29 November 2020]

Not a great film, sadly. It has a lot of potential, such as a fantastic cast, a great director and an excellent production studio but it was not only Crawford's performance that caused her to be listed as "box office poison" but the writing did not help either.

Changes made to the original story were incomplete and by so doing Anni becomes a condescending and pretentious twit. The hero(ine) of the story should at least be liked. You should be able to identify with her and cheer her on but I found myself hoping that she would fall flat on her face, in shame.

Her childish behavior simply ruins the entire film. As it ended, I felt like someone else deserved better.

In reality, at the time of production Crawford's life was very tumultuous and perhaps that tight migraine look she carries through the film was no acting. I'm reminded of Bacall's scene in Marlowe's vehicle when he breaks up with her. Bogart had just informed Bacall that he was going to get back with his wife. The resulting scene was a tender moment that felt genuine. However in this film, it's more like irritation and not tender at all.

It's okay though. Crawford made plenty of other films to choose from and not all have to be Grade A.

The Bride Wore Red

[CinemaSerf · 7/10 · 6 March 2024]

George Zucco is the wealthy "Count Armalia" who takes a shine to cabaret singer "Anni" (Joan Crawford) and in rather "Pygmalion" style decides to dress her in ermines and pearls and see if she can survive for a fortnight in an exclusive hotel where she is to pose as a socialite. Luckily, she discovers that her old pal "Marta" (Mary Philips) is to serve as her personal maid, but the rest of this is going to be quite a challenge. She knows that in two weeks the rags will return, so a husband needs to be found. She has two choices: the wealthy "Rudi" (Robert Young) or the simple postman "Giulio" (Franchot Tone). As the time elapses, she finds her decision is increasingly more about love or money. Or is it money or love? It does border a little on the melodrama, this - but Crawford is on good form as is Young and (sparingly) Billie Burke as the meddlesome "Contessa". Even the usually all smiling but wooden Tone turns in quite engagingly. The narrative also has a fun swing at the vacuous lives of these pampered people who spend their time on pointless pursuits whilst keenly awaiting an opportunity to stab someone in the back! It's not really a film that you are likely to recall, but there are a couple of songs here from a star who proves that she can hold a note or two and it's got loads of glamour too.

Spectacular Joan Crawford Wears It Well!

[mikhail080 · 8/10 · 9 August 2010]

Beautifully filmed and decorated, "The Bride Wore Red" makes a very pleasant and entertaining Joan Crawford vehicle from MGM and director Dorothy Arzner. It was based on an unproduced drama from Austrian playwright Ferenc Molnár, and it is kind of a reworking of the fairytale of Cinderella. This adaptation has decidedly toned down Molnár's story, converting Crawford's main character from a prostitute to a singer employed in a sleazy cabaret.

First and foremost, I'd like to note that Joan Crawford looks stunning in this movie, sporting a modified pageboy hairstyle, shoulder length and combed back without bangs and somewhat lighter in tone than usual. The style really exposes her aristocratic forehead to good advantage and frames her face perfectly. Her makeup is also certainly impeccable, and the beautiful costumes she wears suit her perfectly, and she can wear them like no other. Youthful, feminine and vivacious, Joan Crawford really lights up the screen in a manner very different from what today's viewer might expect.

An opening sequence at a gambling casino establishes the fact that a bored and decadent Count (the verbose George Zucco) believes that class differences are irrelevant and that clothes and surroundings make the person, and callow socialite (Robert Young, in the second of his four outing with Crawford) favors the theory that "breeding is everything." On a whim, they patronize the sleaziest music hall in Trieste, and after Young's exit, the Count stays to watch the floor show, and works up a plan.

Enter Joan Crawford as a nightclub singer who offers up a turgid ballad. The Count requests to meet the singer and he drunkenly asks to set her up with a full wardrobe for two weeks in a swanky Bavarian hotel, as part of a plan to personally prove to Young his theory that class doesn't matter. Since Crawford is struggling to put food on the table, she eagerly agrees to go along with Zucco's devious plan.

A romantic dilemma unfolds, as Crawford meets two very different young men -- Robert Young as the wealthy but engaged socialite, and Franchot Tone as a poor, but fun-loving local postman. It falls upon the wise cracking Tone to escort Crawford in a mule wagon to the remote hotel where she is to stay, since his little cousin -- the adorable Dickie Moore -- failed to deliver her telegram to the hotel's concierge.

After she is ensconced in a ritzy hotel suite, Crawford discovers, by one of those standard Hollywood coincidences, that the hotel maid assigned to her room is a former coworker of hers from the cabaret, who left that lifestyle after having a good hard look at herself and realizing that makeup would no longer cover the lines on her face. Played by Mary Phillips -- this character serves both as Crawford's conscience and subconscious, sometimes egging her on, and at other times, warning her off. The two seem to share a strong bond, although Crawford at times gets fairly angry with Phillips, and that leads to a few stand-offs that are quite entertaining.

Complicating Crawford's stay at the hotel are socialites Billie Burke, Reginald Owen and stunning Lynne Carver, who plays Robert Young's charming fiancée. The amazing Billie Burke is actually "cast against type" here, and plays a shrewd and sharp-tongued Countessa, who has her doubts about Crawford's background and inquires into her past. Burke appears as a mother figure to Carver, and attempts to protect the relationship between Young and his fiancée, and is determined to sabotage the attraction that springs up between Crawford and Young.

The movie effortlessly alternates scenes of Joan Crawford with either of her male costars in a brisk pace that keeps the proceedings lively. Both romances appear plausible, and some neatly clever foreshadowing is expertly inserted throughout. Watch for the countryside scene where Crawford playfully sticks her face into a mountain stream, and Young's reaction to the sight. It's a real highlight and director Arzner makes it both nicely subtle and affecting.

And one more minor detail I'd like to point out regards how this movie, like other classic movies, deals with tying up all the loose ends of the plot. At the climax, after the Count's telegram had been delivered to the Countessa, Crawford's character makes her goodbyes to all the socialites. She bids farewell to Young, and then Reginald Owen, and then says to Billie Burke, her nemesis in the film, "Goodbye, Countessa. You're very smart, but please remember that I'm smart too." The Countessa remains unmoved by her remarks, and sits in silence. Crawford then moves on to Lynne Carver, and warmly tells her that she hopes that she'll be happy in the future. Crawford tells Carver that she admires and respects her, and Carver accepts her apology. Upon hearing this, Billie Burke, the Contessa's facial expression quickly softens and she smiles at Crawford, as if she has now forgiven her her transgressions, since Crawford had given Carver her due. It was such a nice touch, as if to imply that the Countess held no ill will towards Crawford, without a line of dialog being spoken.

There's plenty of delightful little cameo appearances too, like Frank Puglia as a sympathetic head waiter with a secret, lovely Ann Rutherford as a jilted peasant girl and Charles Judels as the shifty proprietor of the disreputable cabaret. It's all filmed in the glossy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer style, with attention paid to every detail of lighting, art direction and cinematography. The ending may perhaps be a little too easily resolved, but "The Bride Wore Red" still wears well today.

Gold Digging Homewrecker with Tacky Sense of Style

[cdale-41392 · 3/10 · 26 February 2019]

Our story starts at the Cosmos Club in Trieste, Italy where Count Amalia (George Zucco) and Rudi (Robert Young) are getting drunk and talking about the difference between the rich and the poor. Rudi believes that the rich are innately better than poor people, while the Count believes it all comes down to luck as to whether you're born rich or poor. He also theorizes that he could take a poor person, dress them up fancy and stick them amongst the rich and no one would be the wiser.

To test that theory the Count ends up in the lowliest of dive bars where he "randomly" chooses the entertainer Anni Pavlovitch (Joan Crawford) to send to an exclusive resort in Terrano, Italy. He throws a lot of money at her, dresses her up, gives her a backstory, and pays for two weeks at the resort.

And it just so happens that Rudi is there with his fiancé and her parents (the fabulous Billie Burke is her mother).

Anni is determined to take this opportunity to find a rich husband; and although she is attracted to the town's postman Guilio (Franchot Tone), she settles on Rudi for her meal ticket ... and she doesn't care that he is engaged.

Anni is a thoroughly unlikable character. She's a heartless, greedy home-wrecker that becomes a jerk when she's around servants (who all recognize her as a phony.) She even turns on Maria (Mary Philips), a maid at the hotel who used to run with Anni back in "the old days". She has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and I found myself rooting for her failure / humiliation.

Rudi is also an unlikable character. Rich and snotty and superior. In fact, most of the cast are just unpleasant people. The only vaguely likable ones are Rudi's fiancé, but she's so meek and mousy; and Gulio, but something has to be wrong with him in the head to find Anni attractive.

By the way, the red dress in the title is a gaudy beaded thing that Anni picked up when the Count was prepping her for the charade. She is discouraged from wearing it her first night at the resort because her friend / the maid Maria suggested it was tacky. She eventually wears it her last night at the resort and it gets the reaction you'd expect.

I love me some Joan, but I didn't love this film. This was my second (and last) time watching it.

maybe a flop then... but its my favorite movie of all time

[original_sinner1978 · 10/10 · 25 June 2005]

actually this is the movie that made me fall in love with Joan Crawford and Franchot tone.this movie is kinda like a Cinderella story except it has a twist in the end. Or actually like another pretty woman only to me better.Franchot tone plays as the handsome postman and Joan Crawford plays as the beautiful hooker/prostitute.I'm not saying anything else to spoil it. i watch it every night before i go to bed.and think about it everyday.I'm hoping that it will soon be on DVD.nobody can ever say they are a true Joan Crawford fan and say they hate this movie.Joan Crawford shows her true ability as Anni.this movie is a true love story!

A disappointment

[HotToastyRag · 3/10 · 13 April 2019]

Even though I don't like Joan Crawford, I do like Franchot Tone and Robert Young, so there was a two-thirds chance I'd enjoy watching The Bride Wore Red, especially since I was anxious to see a movie filmed while Joan and Franchot were married to see if they had sparkling chemistry. This disappointment only had a couple of good scenes, and the lack of chemistry between the two newlyweds was shocking. They seemed like they couldn't stand each other!

The premise of the movie is good; the wealthy George Zucco slums it at a nightclub and makes a bet with his pal Robert Young that given the right clothes, any riffraff could go incognito among the rich. Bob disagrees and thinks there's a fundamental difference between the social classes, and he leaves the nightclub before he sees his friend carry out his bet. George approaches lowlife singer Joan Crawford and gives her pocket money enough to buy a beautiful wardrobe then pays her hotel bill for two weeks at an exclusive resort, telling her to have fun during an all-expenses paid vacation. She starts off having a blast acting the part of a lady, especially when she can confide in one of the hotel maids, her old friend Mary Philips. Before long, she runs into a problem: the supposedly charming and irresistible, yet poor, local postman Franchot Tone. I adore Franchot Tone but he's decidedly un-charming and very resistible in this movie. If this was the first movie I'd ever seen him in, I'd probably cringe every time someone mentioned his name.

What are the good parts of this movie, since it's obviously not Franchot Tone, his romance with Joan, or Joan herself? Mary is given a good couple of scenes, and her character seems to be the only smart one in the film, and there's once scene towards the last portion of the movie in which Bob shows how he feels about the difference in social classes and it's a very good dramatic scene. Besides that, this movie isn't worth watching unless you're absolutely in love with Joan Crawford. For Robert Young in a cute romance set in a foreign country, try Paradise for Three, and for Mr. and Mrs. Tone in a much better drama, try The Gorgeous Hussy.

On the surface: your average CinderCrawford picture. On the inside: so much more

[xan-the-crawford-fan · 8/10 · 26 August 2021]

Compare this film to other films that got other stars labelled as box-office poison- one thing they all have in common is that they meant well. Stars wanted to branch out from their usual characterizations- for example, Fred didn't want to dance with Ginger, or was it the other way around? This did not always go well.

This film on the outside might look like a regular Joan film, especially one of the 1930s- she scrapes her way to the top (or gets wealth dumped on her purely by coincidence, à la Sadie McKee), becomes rich, only to realize that material happiness itself cannot bring true happiness and ending up doing the right thing.

She is also usually torn between two men, but if you've seen even one Crawford film, you know how it's going to end. If it's a film with Clark Gable, she will probably end up with Clark Gable. If it's a film with Robert Montgomery, she will probably end up with him, unless the film also has Clark Gable. And so on. There will be gowns by Adrian. She will be a woman who may be a little trampy, but with a heart of gold underneath. But it's fun to see how she gets there, and whether you roll your eyes at the clichés ladled onto you or cheer for her success at the end.

In this one, she is not a woman with a heart of gold (One character mentions her not even having a heart). She is a cold, hard, cash-seeking missile, not desiring the security of the wealth or a man's arms to run into, but the material success of being wealthy. She doesn't care who or what she harms along the way, and as a result, she does not garner our sympathy. She doesn't end up falling in love with the man behind the wealth she so desired.

It is sort of a Cinderella tale- she doesn't start out as a shopgirl. Instead, she is a cabaret singer (and yes, that is her own voice singing- she isn't terrible, but she tries a bit too hard to hit the high notes, and to be fair, no skanky club singer is going to sound like Julie Andrews), who is hired by a rich count to pose as the daughter of his dearest (fictional) friend. Complications ensue when not only does she get sucked in over her head at her newfound wealth (see above cold, hard, cash-seeking missile comment), but she meets a handsome postman, played by Franchot Tone- AND a wealthy bachelor (Robert Young)...who is already engaged. Nice to see Billie Burke playing a more viperish character than she would usually play- funny thing is, she played Crawford's mother in another JC picture called They All Kissed The Bride.

Unlike your average M-G-M Crawford film, this one dives deeper into the examination of the supposed difference between the classes. In the opening scenes, two characters are arguing over whether you are born with class, or if it just happens to fall on you. Some people are lucky, and some are not. We can't help our station. Everyone treated Crawford's character like royalty when she was masquerading as the rich girl, but when she is the poor girl, people stare at her like she's a sore thumb sticking out. Nice kids.

Dorothy Arzner's direction is handsome, and the gowns by Adrian are not campy (yay!). This is one film that should have really been shot in colour, seeing as the main protagonist is a red, sparkly dress. Maybe they'll release a colourized version one day- I'd love to see it. Supposedly this red dress has been seen in colour, in another movie- but I don't know the name of the movie.

Unfortunately for Crawford, her hair is styled in an unflattering pageboy style that enlarges her head, but other than that, she's very pretty (the gowns and photography help, but she wasn't that bad looking to begin with- in my opinion) and toy see why people would fall for her. Even if her personality is a lump of coal inside the golden stocking. Personally was glad to see her get the humbling, moralizing ending that she got. That's the only thing that mars her performance- her hair. It is not like a field of silver daisies (if you've seen Bombshell, another movie with Franchot Tone, you'll understand my reference.)

She tried, though. I admire her for that.

Funny thing is, despite her showing that she could break typecasting, M-G-M put her in ANOTHER CinderCrawford film, Mannequin, which despite her being box-office poison, still managed to turn in a handsome profit. This film is much better. My high rating isn't just because I'm a Joan Crawford fan.

What Joan Did

[medwardb1976 · 8 November 2006]

In about 1980 I saw this film at the UCLA Film Archives in a series presenting Dorothy Arzner directed films. There was a guest speaker at the event who was a personal friend of Arzner's. I don't remember her name, but she was introduced as, among other things, the writer for the script of "Craig's Wife" (1936; starring Rosalind Russell).

She said she was on the set for some of the shooting of "Bride Wore Red," and described how Joan Crawford was completely uncooperative with the director. Originally it was written for Luise Rainer but for some reason she was unavailable. "So they got Joan Crawford who wasn't anything like her," and was not suited for the film in this woman's opinion. While she was on the set she witnessed how Dorothy Arzner would gently make suggestions as to how to play a scene, "...and Joan would scream, 'You'll destroy me! You'll destroy me!' and she would run up to L.B. Mayer and he would say, 'There, there Joan, play it your way." So she did, "...and frankly, the film bombed. But when you have a star that is entirely uncooperative, you can't blame the director." I hope I have quoted this woman accurately. That is what has stuck in my memory. I am a big Crawford fan, but her flaws were apparently spectacular. I just thought it would be interesting to record this bit of info.

A Typical MGM Glamor Film

[nickandrew · 4/10 · 6 November 1999]

Crawford in this 1937 MGM "women's picture," plays a middle-class cabaret dancer who poses as a rich society girl as a prank to secretly snag a wealthy husband. What a plot!!! There are some beautiful settings (obviously fake) and the black-and-white photography could never be better.