Mr. Bride

Charley Chase's comedy shorts are always enjoyable and among the best two-reel comedies. MR. BRIDE is one of his funniest, even if it is perilously close to a one-gag picture. That one gag is played to perfection however by all involved.

Charley's boss is all-business, even when it comes to romance. He plans to propose to a young woman and wants to make sure he will be at a success at being a "husband" so he decides to practice - with Charley as his wife!!! He makes Charley accompany him on his business trip where he repeatedly puts poor Charley in situations in public where he is perceived to be the boss man's "spouse", even to the point where he introduces Charley to people as his wife and calls him sweet endearments in front of other people! A high point of the absurdity is a restaurant scene where he lovingly feeds Charley the cherry of his dessert with Charley squirming all the way! What makes the film quite racy is the fact that no one who witnesses the "love birds" in action is aware it's just a "practice run" - clearly everyone presumes they are a gay couple which is quite an outrageous comic gag for a 1932 film. Indeed, when Charley and boss get to their hotel suite one wonders just how far the boss will take this illusion! Fortunately, the real little woman shows up in the nick of time and much to Charley's dismay, it's a girl he himself fancies. Who will the real girl choose - Charley or his boss? Heck, one might even say the question is who will the boss choose, the girl or Charley! This is one of the most hilarious short films I've ever seen and kudos to Charley Chase for the daring situations (certainly for the era) he was willing to go into for a laugh.

One aspect not mentioned by other reviewers was the Roaring Twenties fashion, lingering into the 30s, among the rich society crowd of a (presumably lesbian or bisexual) woman dressing and acting like a man. One of the women commented to her mother that she had seen them with boyish bobbed hair and mannish clothes but this was the first one with a moustache. So there was not only the idea of two men being married but of a man and a bisexual woman being married. I'm sure poor Charley didn't want to be taken for a woman anymore than as a homosexual man.

The fact that they weren't denied access anywhere spoke to the liberalism of high society then. The idea that marriage is a business arrangement and a proposal is the making of a contract would go along with that of companionate marriage being more sensible and urbane than old fashioned-Victorian, small town romantic notions.

I hadn't realized that a woman's corsage was worn on the side at the waist then because at the lapel it was a man's boutonniere. I find early films educational as well as entertaining. I'd choose one made in that era over one made about that era--unless it had been made by people who had fairly recently lived through it, such as the WWI stories of the 20s with former flying aces.

As the plot summary notes, Charley's boss, J.P. 'Dell' Henderson, the flea-powder king, wants to get married, and to make sure the honeymoon will be a success, he goes through the entire honeymoon with Charley, calling and treating Charley as 'Mrs. Henderson'. Charley has a fairly limited number of comic reactions here, mostly sulky and between the outdated plot and lack of interesting gags it quickly becomes repetitious.

This was, of course, from Charley's weakest period: he doesn't sing, his female lead is Muriel Evans and while Dell Henderson, his virtual co-star, is a capable comedian too, he is also locked into a one-note performance. For especial Chase fans only.

Mr. Bride (1932)

** (out of 4)

Lesser Chase for sure.

Hal Roach short with Charley Chase being forced to play a bride so that his boss can practice his upcoming wedding. The whole film centers around the joke that two men have to walk around pretending to be man and wife. There are a few funny moments but not enough for me to rewatch this.

Turner Classic Movies plays these Chase shorts ever so often but there are better ones than this out there.

"Mr. Bride" is proof that even a very funny guy like Charley Chase can make a clunker. And like many of his films, it was directed by Charley's brother, James Parrot.

The story is a one-joke comedy....and it's one that wears thin very quickly. Charley's boss is planning a honeymoon but the man also has an obsessive-compulsive personality. In other words he wants to micromanage every single detail of his honeymoon. And, to do so, he plans on taking two honeymoons...the first without his bride in order to make sure every detail is perfect. But he needs a fill-in for the bride and he drafts Charley to accompany him and pose as the wife. What follows is a long, extended gay marriage joke...which might have worked had there been more to the story than that...but there isn't. Overall, a very disappointing film...one that just didn't make me laugh.