The Bride Comes Home (1935) User Reviews

Three's a Crowd with Claudette and Her Choice of Men

[JLRMovieReviews · 7/10 · 10 August 2011]

Claudette Colbert and her father were filthy rich, that is until the crash and the economy affected them. All they have is the house, which they don't own. (Not sure of details.) They had to let go of all their servants, except one who cooks. Long story short, she goes job-searching. Meanwhile, friend Robert Young has just turned of age and inherits his family's millions. He has been in love with Claudette for years and has proposed dozens of times. But she's not in love with him. Or, so she thinks. So, no dice. Some things are too easy.

Enter Fred MacMurray, who comes up with an idea for a men's magazine, when asked what he wants to do in life by Robert Young, who had just let him go as a bodyguard. Together, they start The Man, the magazine. (I don't know that I agree with the synopsis given on this movie.) What happens next is that Claudette goes to Robert Young for advice or any kind of connection to a job, and her offers her a job as an assistant to Fred. Of course, they take an instant dislike to each other. Yeah right! Wink! Wink! And, Fred didn't ask for an assistant.

This is a very funny movie that gets pretty silly in parts, which can turn some people off. I see that two other people didn't think too much of it. But on the whole, I liked it, despite the fact she seems to keep going between the both of them at the end. (And the title of it gets me; it should named something like "Three's a Crowd.") The ending seems a bit haphazard, with a judge who's performing the services, giving a very over-the-top performance. But who does she marry? It's anybody's guess and, from the looks of it, even Claudette doesn't know what's what in this screwball comedy found on a Colbert and MacMurray DVD collection. I still recommend it for a good laugh and good company on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Big stars face off in this thin plot comedy

[SimonJack · 6/10 · 28 December 2018]

"The Bride Comes Home" is a comedy romance by Paramount with three top stars of the day. Fred MacMurray and Robert Young form a love triangle with Claudette Colbert. While there are plenty of barbs and funny lines, the plot is very thin.

MacMurray's Cy Anderson is a tough guy who has been a bodyguard for a rich playboy until he comes of age to inherit a family estate of $3.5 million. That would be about $18 million in 2018. Cy finishes all the squabbles that Robert Young's often tipsy Jack Bristow gets into with fisticuffs. In doing so, he becomes a hard-nosed cynic who is rough around the edges.

But, Colbert's Jeanette Desmereau falls for him early on. Most of the movie is a chase with fights and squabbles, and the intermittent making up. The thin plot soon wears quite thin. It's mostly a film that fans of the great early entertainers will enjoy, but just once.

Here are some favorite lines from the film. For more dialog, see the Quotes section under this IMDb Web page of the movie

Jeanette, "I guess this is the only chance I have to tell you that I think you're a mean, stupid, illiterate, overgrown, hog-faced, mule-eared idiot."

Cy Anderson, "Can't you see what's happening? Will you get your watermelon head out of this?" The Judge, "Sooo, I'm a watermelon head, am I?"

Cy Anderson, "I suppose you're knee deep in beauty prizes?" Alfred Desmereau, "At least I don't break into a house as though I were raiding an opium den. And greet the butler by calling him a liar."

Henry, "Emmy. Hey, Emmy. Come on down here. There's another pair of those uh, whatchamacallits from Chicago."

The movie comes home too!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 25 February 2018]

A triangle romance for those who like their entertainment soft and easy on the brain, mildly luxurious to the eye. Miss Colbert has a part well within her range and looks most, most alluring in her Travis Banton nightwear (though her street costumes are sometimes faintly ludicrous). Mr MacMurray is his usual brash and somewhat unpleasant self while Robert Young plays the other man with his usual ease and quiet self-effacement. William Collier Sr manages the difficult feat of playing with conviction a character whose motives and actions are childish or eccentric. Collier makes his odd behavior seem perfectly natural. Edgar Kennedy provides some of his famous slow burns for an extended climax made necessary by cross-cutting to true love racing to the rescue. Other roles are small but competently played with Donald Meek contributing a memorable cameo as an angry judge.

The direction is unobtrusively smooth but routine. Tover's photography seems attractive and the art direction, as usual in Paramount pictures, is visually exciting, although it must be noted that the sets are not as large, varied, or lavishly appointed as usual and that in fact production values here stack up as comparatively rather moderate. Still the characters are likable and are given an occasional witty line, even though the story line hangs on very slight wings, has almost no development and a foregone conclusion.

OTHER VIEWS: Rather forced comedy, pivoting on a flimsy triangle story which has only the two or three promisingly comic ideas. In this typical Claude Binyon screenplay, these basic ideas are stretched mighty thin. Man, it's the dullest! And it's directed by Wesley Ruggles. He's dull too. Nice photography though! - J.H.R. writing as Tom Howard.

A Timeless message

[HotToastyRag · 2/10 · 16 April 2019]

"You're wrecking your life with logic," says Claudette Colbert's father William Collier in the romantic comedy The Bride Comes Home. If you agree with that sentiment, you'll like this movie. If, like me, that statement gets under your skin and makes you never want to be friends with whoever said it, you won't like this movie.

The beautiful Claudette has an admirer in Robert Young, but because he's too nice, supportive, and faithful, she doesn't return his feelings. He gives her a job even though she's wholly unqualified, and when her new boss Fred MacMurray criticizes her and tries to make her working environment so awful she'll quit, she falls for him. The movie is not unique, as you can find the same message in The Ugly Truth, made 75 years later. If someone drives you crazy and you argue with him constantly and you have nothing in common, but you're physically attracted to him, pick him over everyone else. Fred and Claudette are obviously unsuited, and Bob is a dream. He promises never to argue with her, and when he keeps his word, she whines and says, "Why won't you argue? Why won't you do anything besides grin and sing?"

Colbert-MacMurray-Young Can't Save This Turkey

[sobaok · 2/10 · 8 May 2011]

I watched in amazement (and admiration) as three talented stars gave their all to breathe life into Claude Binyon's amateurish script. The dialog in this love-triangle lacks that special ingredient that made screwball comedy such a delight. Elisabeth Holding, who wrote the story, had better luck with such noir classics as the excellent Reckless Moment (1949). There is nothing clever or ingratiating about this movie and I'm amazed that it got any further than the garbage can. Colbert offers her usual pep. MacMurray is excellent and not bad on the eye. Robert Young tries too, but ends up being just plain irritating. I've never seen a Colbert film that I didn't want to watch twice. Now I have.

Fred Macmurray in jerk role - just irritating

[beech488 · 2/10 · 10 October 2019]

There is not much to work with but other comedies from this era still seem to make it work on charisma alone. No charisma here. Fred Macmurray was often cast in boorish overbearing and alpha male characters and here he is particularly unappealing. Colbert is silly and the usually delightful Young is befuddled as to what he is doing in this unfunny farce. Watch Bride for Sale instead.

It's happened... again.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 26 December 2020]

Once again, Claudette Colbert is a wacky heiress, unaware that her supposedly wealthy pop William Collier is now broke. She decides to go to work and finagles a job working as assistant editor at happy go lucky Robert Young's magazine where new editor Fred MacMurray wants nothing to do with her and keeps trying to get her to quit by treating her rough. Like the Gershwin song from "Girl Crazy", she likes it and falls in love with him but circumstances push her back towards Young, leading MacMurray to seek advice from her father how to get her back.

Having rethought my original rating of 6/10 (***/****), I found how little I tolerate MacMurray in roles like this where he's supposedly the all American boy next door, and really just nothing but a big ole' jerk. Young is easy going, perpetually drunk at night, and not too bright, but even with those aspects, he's far more appealing than MacMurray. Colbert isn't a prize either, far too fickle and not written with any consistency in this Wesley Ruggles directed script by Claude Binyon.

Funny bits with Donald Meek as a judge (who stands up to the much bigger MacMurray in a very funny way) and Edgar Kennedy in the typical slow burn as a justice of the peace (with a wife whose playing of the wedding march leaves more to be desired) aide this with laughs, but the often done story has been done many times and much better. Stick with Colbert and MacMurray in "The Egg and I" where the obstacles were much more believable even if MacMurray was a bit of a pill in that too.

Colbert and MacMurray are at it again

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 18 September 2022]

This is the second of seven Colbert-MacMurray films. It was released on Christmas Day exactly eleven months after their first picture. In THE GILDED LILY, the stars played long-time friends whose relationship gradually blossoms into full-blown romance. But this second outing deliberately changes tone and has the two leads angry at each other for much of the film's running time.

Of course, underneath all the animosity is a hotbed of passion...and sure enough, they give into said passion and suddenly decide they belong together. But just how compatible are they, really?

Complicating matters is a likable third party played by Robert Young on loan to Paramount from MGM. He's an upperclass gent who just came into a $3 million inheritance. You know the type...born with a silver spoon, never had to work a day in his life. He grew up in the same social circle as Colbert's character. For the last two years, MacMurray, a working class lout, has been his paid chaperone.

We are not told much about Young's family. We don't know where his money comes from, and we aren't told much about MacMurray's background either. What we do know is they are pals, probably because they have no one else.

As for Colbert's family, dear old dad (William Collier Sr.) lost his moolah recently due to some bad investments- a casual reference to the stock market crash. Now they are experiencing hard times, though they still maintain a lavish home with servants. I guess they are down to their last Rolls Royce and we're supposed to sympathize.

Colbert decides to buck convention and head out into the real world to get a job, though she has no discernible skills. She seeks a position from her childhood friend Young, who's just begun to publish a magazine about the working man. MacMurray is helping him as editor, so she is assigned to assist MacMurray. The triangle kicks into gear.

As things progress, she receives marriage proposals from both these handsome guys. Initially, she chooses MacMurray because of all that passion she's feeling for him...but their planned nuptials hit a snag, and they break up. So she decides to elope with Young instead. This causes MacMurray to chase after them to get Colbert back with her father's help.

This is not an uproarious motion picture. Rather it's a very mild rom-com. In some respects it feels a bit experimental. As if the director and writers have decided to take what would be a farcical set of situations and to downplay them. The de-escalated nature of the whole thing means scenes are filled with thoughtful pauses, moments where increased understandings about the characters are allowed to seep into the mix.

THE BRIDE COMES HOME has a lot of almosts. Colbert almost marries both men. She almost marries MacMurray a second time, but the film purposely ends before matrimony can be achieved. Meanwhile Young and MacMurray almost come to blows several times. And a judge (Donald Meek) almost runs late for an appointment. When you think about it, none of it is very exciting...yet, it is still entertaining, probably because MacMurray and Colbert could read from a phone book and make it fun.