The Bride Walks Out (1936)

Simply Perfect

Good concept, poorly executed.

Fresh and Exciting

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Copyright 9 July 1936 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 9 July 1936 (ran one week). Australian release (as a "B" feature): 7 October 1936. 75 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Working-class couple separate when wife has a yen for clothes and luxuries that husband cannot afford.COMMENT: The film has its moments, thanks to an agreeable cast, fighting their way through a script that is not nearly as amusing or scintillating as it obviously thinks it is, plus some very attractive photography (e.g. the scene in the lightless apartment) - though Miss Stanwyck is not lit all that flatteringly. Willie Best is prominently featured in the credits, though his part has been removed and is now limited to a two-shot of him entering the marriage bureau and a long shot of him in the background of same! Unfortunately, the cast is also saddled with Ned Sparks, whose monotonous cigar-faced delivery of quite ordinary lines makes them seem even slower and less funny. This character just doesn't belong in what was doubtless conceived as a light comedy of manners. Gene Raymond is more animated than usual and Robert Young is very effective as a pestiferous playboy.

I doubt you'll ever see The Bride Walks Out remade today with the message this film sends for today's woman. In fact the title isn't even factually correct because it's the husband Gene Raymond who walks out.Even at Depression Era values asking a married couple to live on $35.00 a week is a bit much. Barbara Stanwyck and Gene Raymond live on that because Raymond being an old fashioned guy and a bit of fathead insists that the woman be barefoot, in the kitchen and if possible pregnant. God help them if a kid does come along. And with all this somehow they still employ Hattie McDaniel as a maid.Quite frankly if rich department store playboy owner Robert Young were after me, if I were Barbara I'd drop Raymond in a New York minute. She wants to work and today there would be no question but that she would.Ned Sparks and Helen Broderick provide good support and a few laughs as the married couple who are best friends to the leads.Old fashioned to say the least and not in a good way.

One of Barbara Stanwyck's lesser efforts, The Bride Walks Out gets in a few jabs about chauvinistic pride but with little velocity behind its screwball intent it never reaches home plate. Mike and Carolyn get hitched and he immediately puts his foot down about her working outside the home. As the bills mount she takes a job on the side to stem the tide of debt collectors but he finds out and the couple split. Miserable without each other they shakily attempt to reconcile.Save for the abrasive Gene Raymond as Mike, Bride fields a decent enough acting squad with Babs, Robert Young as a well heeled interloper and a broad comic support line of Ned Sparks, Helen Broderick, Hattie Mc Daniel and Billy Gilbert. But lightweight director Leigh Jason fails to get cast or tempo out of its lethargy and the Bride Walks Out deserves one itself.

New York model Barbara Stanwyck (as Carolyn) marries up-and-coming engineer Gene Raymond (as Michael Martin) and reluctantly gives up her career. The couple agrees to the "traditional" marriage, with the woman talking care of the house while the man works. When they are unable to make ends meet, Ms. Stanwyck offers to go back to work, but Mr. Raymond refuses. To complicate matters, Stanwyck arouses the interests of alcoholic department store owner Robert Young (as Hugh McKenzie)...Should Stanwyck try a relationship with the perpetually tipsy Mr. Young or stick with husband Raymond - only time will tell… Raymond gets deadpan comic support from Ned Sparks (as Paul Dodson) while Stanwyck converses with his wife Helen Broderick (as Mattie) and "mammy"-type maid Hattie McDaniel (as Mamie), who is scripted to foolishly mangle a quote from Abraham Lincoln. Billy Gilbert does his bit as an "Acme" furniture man and Charles Lane holds court, but nothing really lifts this comedy.*** The Bride Walks Out (7/10/36) Leigh Jason ~ Barbara Stanwyck, Gene Raymond, Robert Young, Ned Sparks