The Case of the Curious Bride (1935)

Just what I expected

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

This is the second of Erle Gardner's Perry Mason mysteries put on film. Warren William again stars and does a great job in the role. This is also the first of two appearances of Claire Dodd in the role of Della Street. She is by far the best in the early film roles. This Street plays off Mason's witticisms with equal wit. The repartee between the two is quit good and sprinkled throughout this film. Dodd's Della is equally attractive, intelligent and quick on her feet, yet also proper and not so flirtatious as others who play her in the early films. Dodd also imbues her character with a deep attraction to her boss. "The Case of the Curious Bride" is also the first look with some depth at Mason's epicurean side. The opening scene has him with a friend selecting the best crabs – probably at the Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. He later is going to prepare a dish he calls "Crab ala Bordeaux." Those are huge Dungeness crabs they are picking over. In my years of crabbing on the Oregon Coast, we seldom got crabs that large. A note for those not familiar with these Northwest crabs – they are cooked as soon as possible. The crabs Mason and friend are looking at and handling have all been cooked already. The audience can clearly see steam and the top of the cooking pot to the left. The mystery in this film is another excellent brain-twister that only Perry Mason and his team of detectives can unravel. And all the cast are very good in their roles. Allen Jenkins is a hoot as Spudsy Drake and Olin Howland is very good as Coroner Wilbur Strong. One other small smile comes with a very short appearance of Errol Flynn. I won't give away any of the story here, but have to mention that there is a tear gas scene that is riotously funny. True, these first movies of Gardner's famous lawyer-detective have a quite different character than millions of TV viewers and later movie fans saw with Raymond Burr. And, the Mason creator, Gardner, apparently didn't like these early films. But he was developing the character as he went along, and Perry Mason evolved after a few books into the courtroom centered mysteries that millions became familiar with from the 1950s on. But I think these early films – especially the first four with Warren William at the helm, are great entertainment. They provide some spice and humor. And they may more accurately reflect the people, customs and behaviors of the various social groups of the time. Toward the end of this film, Margaret Lindsay's character, Rhoda, says to Perry: "You're so wonderful. If only you couldn't cook."

Besides being in the series of Perry Mason films that Warner Brothers did with the urbane Warren William in the title role, The Case Of The Curious Bride is famous for being the American debut film of Errol Flynn. Flynn has no dialog in the film, he's first seen briefly as the corpse and then in flashback the actual murderer relates how Errol got himself dead. Two films later and Flynn, a complete unknown was co-starring with Olivia DeHavilland in Captain Blood and the rest is cinema history.Don't expect to see the business like Raymond Burr interpretation of Perry Mason here. Warren William is quite the romantic here with steady girl friend Della Street played by Claire Dodd and a few old flings constantly showing up. One of those is Margaret Lindsay who is now married to rich young Donald Woods, son of Charles Richman who ain't too crazy about his son's marriage. When Flynn shows up after people thought he was dead making veiled threats of course Lindsay turns to another old flame in Warren William for help.Then when Flynn gets killed she really does need his help. Though the case never gets to trial, Perry earns his fee in finding out the real killer. Warren William has some kind of record, he played the hero/protagonist in three movie series, The Lone Wolf, Perry Mason, and Philo Vance. He's not the Perry Mason a couple of television generations grew up with, still his interpretation is different.

I just watched THE CASE OF THE CURIOUS BRIDE again, the 2nd Perry Mason film. Once more with Warren William in the lead, but with a different Della, and with Allan Jenkins now playing "Spudsy" Drake instead of a police inspector. Perry now has a virtual army of friends & cronies, all of whom seem to be too happy to be hanging around in his sphere. It's almost like a Doc Savage story, except in this case, "Ham" is the hero! There's also a District Attourney who seems genuinely eager to have Perry brought up on charges of murder, or at the very least, disbarred! Michael Curtiz, one of the most successful & popular directors in Hollywood history, did this installment, and frankly, it's got SO MUCH style & character & humor-- TOO much, I think, it seems Curtiz is trying to hard too distract the audience, focusing on almost everything EXCEPT the murder mystery. I'm reminded, a bit, of how I heard that when Orson Welles did TOUCH OF EVIL, he wound up taking an "average" crime story and threw his entire repertoire of skills at it in an attempt to turn it into a "work of art". At least in the restored version, I think he succeeded... In the case of ...CURIOUS BRIDE, I've seen this at least 3 times (AND read the book-- the only Earl Stanley Gardner novel I have read to date), and I find it almost impossible to follow the plot of this thing! From what I remember of the novel, it was much simpler, much more straight-forward, and much easier to follow along with-- much like the 1st film, THE CASE OF THE HOWLING DOG. That was complex-- but complex in a "murder mystery" sort of way. This thing just seems to be getting in its own way trying to be too clever.

this is a well directed film with clever dialog and a not so great story line . the acting is more than adequate. Allen Jenkins , warren William , warren hymer and Olin Howard play their stock characters with their usual aplomb.i was especially interested in the scenes of san Francisco in the early thirties without the bay or golden gate bridges.the screen writers obviously enjoyed themselves ie.naming a flop house hotel in south san Francisco the "fremont hotel" as a play on the plush "fairmont" hotel on knob hill.the film also is noted as Errol Flynn's first appearance in an American film wherein he played a stiff which some might consider a precursor of his acting style.