The Runaway Bride

...one, of course, is Mary Astor in a very early role that she handles quite well in spite of the fact that the plot, the direction, and all of her male costars are so wooden that you could probably build a small bonfire out of the lot of them. Mary's good girl looks and natural handling of dialogue cause her seem like the only thing three dimensional on the screen, with one exception.

That exception would be the second reason to watch this film, and the only other female in the cast. For you precode fans out there, look really close at the frumpy seemingly dense Clara, the maid at the sea-side resort - that's Natalie Moorhead looking incredibly unglamorous considering all of her femme fatale appearances in movies like "The Office Wife".

As for the rest of it all I can say is it is ponderously bad. The jist of the plot is that Mary (Mary Astor) is a society girl that has eloped with one of her society crowd only to find out that, after they have registered as man and wife in a seaside hotel but before they actually get married, that her potential husband seems to think that a man's place is in a deck chair - he has no desire to work at all. She changes her mind about the marriage. Her fiancé may be a lay-about but he apparently also has some caveman in him too. He locks her in the hotel room while he goes to find a minister, ignoring her wishes. While she is trying to find a way to escape, her room is invaded first by a mortally wounded jewel thief and then by the cops that think that Mary must be part of the gang that planned the caper.

The police sergeant is a real bully and as for his police work, he makes Barney Fife look like Sherlock Holmes. He seems to really enjoy pushing around women when he isn't having trouble reciting his lines. When he comes across the real bad guys, he practically tips his hat to them - actually I think he does tip his hat to them.

This is real tough sledding to get through, and only the performances of the two female players distinguish it. Stagey beyond belief and with acting technique left over from the silent era, I guess it's almost a toss-up as to whether or not it's worth your time.

Yes, the movie is awful, but there are some redeeming features, and it almost makes it into the "so bad, its good" category. I suspect that this was supposed to be a breezy screwball-comedy, crime-mystery picture. The comedy falls flat and there are too many jumps in the script and jumps in character logic to make the crime-mystery satisfying.

For example, why doesn't Mary Astor's character, Sally Fairchild,just use the fire escape to escape from the room that her runaway bridegroom has locked her in? Obviously the fire escape led down to the street as a criminal uses it to enter her room a few minutes later. The only reason seems to be that Sally couldn't escape from the room because then the criminal could not plant the diamonds on her to start the merry chase that the moves the rest of the plot forward. Then one wonders why Sally doesn't call the police when the criminal and another detective are shot in the room. Again, the answer seems to be, the movie would end right there after fifteen minutes, so she has to do the stupid thing and runaway. The screenwriter might reply that she's a runaway bride and that would be scandalous and disgraceful if the police found out. True, but she should be intelligent enough to figure out that being accused of murder trumps being accused of being a runaway bride. When she confesses to handsome Lloyd Hughes (the Lost World, 1925), "Mr Blaine, I've gotten myself into a mess," it is almost as if she's confessing to the audience how she feels about the movie she's appearing in.

The most redeeming feature and the reason to watch the movie is Mary Astor's wonderful performance. It is so sincere and she looks so beautiful and distressed throughout that you want to rush in and comfort her. It is an "A" performance in a throwaway "B" picture. We feel angry that the script and other characters are not being as sincere as Miss Astor. You feel as if her talents are being ignored and wasted. Thank goodness for John Huston and "the Maltese Falcon," otherwise modern audiences would not have appreciated Mary.

As mentioned by another reviewer, the cinematography is also quite good. It is another element that makes us sad that the script is so lightweight. Leo Tover was only 28 at the time. He would become one of the great cinematographers in Hollywood. He was nominated twice for an Oscar, but sadly, never won. "the Heiress," "the Day the Earth Stood Still," and "Love Me Tender" are some of his most well known works.

I would also note that Paul Hurst seems very comfortable playing a police sergeant. He played a detective or cop in about 20 other movies, although he was most famous for playing in Westerns.

In summary, this is a cheap, frustrating, throwaway movie, but not an uninteresting one.

Wealthy young Mary Astor (as Mary Gray) and tall playboy David Newell (as Richard "Dick" Mercer, Jr.) leave New York for Atlantic City, intending to elope. But, when Mr. Newell says he'd rather travel than work, Ms. Astor gets cold feet. Newell locks her in their hotel room, hoping a scandal about the couple running off and not marrying will make Astor change her mind. But, Astor prefers likewise attractive Lloyd Hughes (as George Edward Blaine), who is not only more responsible, but also rich.

While Astor is locked in her hotel room, a jewel thief enters through the window and secretly stashes some pearls in her handbag. The thief dies in a shoot-out, while Astor screams. Then, lead thug Francis McDonald (as Barney Black) arrives, looking for the jewels, which are secretly stolen by moll and maid Natalie Moorhead (as Clara Muldoon). Local lawman Paul Hurst (as Daly) investigates. Astor is wanted by the police, then kidnapped and molested by thugs. Mr. Hughes must save her in time…

This thick-plotted "talkie" was directed by actor Donald Crisp, who did some impressive work with D.W. Griffith, Douglas Fairbanks, and Buster Keaton. Though a success directing silent films, Mr. Crisp decided to concentrate solely on acting, after turning in one all-talking film. This turned out remarkably well, in the long run. "The Runaway Bride" does have some good locations, featuring 1920s automobiles - those old tires wore out quickly. Astor has a fun rapport with Hughes and Newell.

***** The Runaway Bride (5/4/30) Donald Crisp ~ Mary Astor, Lloyd Hughes, David Newell, Paul Hurst

I didn't see this film from the beginning. If you miss the first few minutes of most films of this vintage, you're lost from then on. This film is worth watching, not because it is a good film or has a good cast. The only one worth seeing here is Mary Astor, and she's a far cry from her Brigid O'Shaugnessey days still to come. This film is worth watching from a filmmakers' vantage point. The plots and characters are virtually negligible. However, Leo Tover's expressionistic photography and angles are exceptional for the period. There are lots of dark images a la Welles ( though still a few years prior to his appearance). The images are silhouetted in this pre-Citizen Kane vehicle, and there is even an early attempt at 'deep focus', which was said to be fathered by Toland, but Tover stops just short of deep focus 1930 in several scenes. The situations are somewhat steamy...there's one scene where the villains are looking for loot that's worth $80,000. Astor has to stand for an off screen frisk at the hands of these desperate men, and the result also suggests that the frisk is full of sex, with the moans and groans and Astor's pleadings off screen suggesting that which cannot be judged otherwise. Not a thrilling movie, nor necessarily a great watch. But viewing can give you insights into where movies were headed as of 1930. Artistically, not a great watch; technologically a worthwhile and informative watch.

The Runaway Bride (1930)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Early talkie has Mary Gray (Mary Astor) eloping with Richard Mercer (David Newell) but as the two are looking over their new apartment she realizes that she's made a horrible mistake. Richard locks her up in the apartment and leaves her when later a detective comes pounding on the door. He finally gets in and for some reason at the same time a criminal climbs into the window and kills him. Fearing what to do, Mary gives the maid some cash in exchange for an employment card where Mary goes to hide as a cook for a rich man (Lloyd Hughes) but soon gangsters come after her.

THE RUNAWAY BRIDE is a really, really awful movie that is so incredibly bad that you can't help but be caught up in how bad it is. If you're a fan of these early talkies then you already know that more times than not the director and cast members were more concerned about the voices getting recorded than anything else. That's certainly the case here because there's absolutely no style to mention and it's clear that director Donald Crisp was just filming scenes without putting too much logical sense into them.

As you can tell from my plot description, the story is about as stupid as you can get and I only revealed half of it! The first ten minutes of this movie are downright insane as one illogical thing after another happens. For starters, why does Mary lie to the detective when he comes to the door? Why does she really need to run? What did she see in this guy to begin with? Why are the gangsters so stupid? There are so many logical issues with this movie that you can't help but think they weren't working off of a screenplay and if this was from an actual screenplay, you've gotta wonder what powder was going around RKO at the time. The story is so insane that it actually keeps you glued to the screen just so you can see how much worse it gets.

Astor, as you'd expect, is good in her role but you somewhat see her struggling to make anything out of the character because she has nothing to work with. Hughes is good in his role as is Paul Hurst as the cop trying to figure everything out. Sadly, the actors just can't overcome this horrid screenplay and in the end THE RUNAWAY BRIDE really is one of the worst films from this period.