The Secret Bride

Fairly standard murder melodrama (you wouldn't want to call it a whodunnit; it's too painfully obvious who did it). Stanwyck and her husband (the D.A.) must hide the fact that they are married until they find the evidence to clear her dad (the governor) from charges of accepting a bribe. The more they try to hide their involvement, the more they seem to implicate themselves and her father in an expanding list of crimes.

The cast is good, but the material is a bit too dry, lacks polish, and the pace is slow. Involving, but not intriguing, nor particularly memorable.

This is a pretty standard Warner's Who Done It, one that gives up the goods about 2/3rds of the way through. What puts this Stanwyck vehicle a notch or two above average is the fluid camera work employed--- Dieterle isn't afraid to employ some unusual overhead camera angles (or was Busby Berkeley hanging around the set?) and tracking shots. It's also obvious that Warner's wasn't afraid to spend more on their productions in 1934 than just a year or two before. The production values show where it counts, right down to the Orry-Kelly gowns on Ms. Stanwyck--- one in particular looked like it wiped out half the fox population in Depression-era California. Some of the motivations in the plot are fuzzy: Glenda Farrell's relationship with her boyfriend (is it just me or does Douglass Dumbrille look like he and Lionel Atwill were separated at birth?) is about as unclear as her reaction to his... errh, that'd give away too much. I give this a 10 for production values and a 4 for plot.

Barbara Stanwyck is "The Secret Bride" in this 1934 film that also stars Warren William, Glenda Farrell, and Douglas Dumbrille. William is a DA who marries Stanwyck and then learns that her governor father may have taken a bribe to pardon a man, Holstock. Holstock's secretary is caught at the bank depositing $10,000, and later the man commits suicide. The couple decide not to announce they're married or it will look as if the DA is prejudiced.

Okay Warner Brothers story with a top cast and excellent camera work by William Dieterle. Most of the budget went for Stanwyck's clothes, which are gorgeous.

Stanwyck and William are two favorites of mine and make a fine couple. As the DA's secretary, Glenda Farrell does a good job as a woman who finds herself in a real pickle.

By today's standards - actually by most standards, this is a short film, but entertaining.

Having big-name stars front this B-movie from Warner Brothers adds interest, but unfortunately it plays straightforwardly without any dimension to the characters. So we have a typical Depression-era feature to while away an hour on a double-bill, instantly forgettable.

Based on a play, the movie relies upon details that conveniently propel the story with little credibility. Issue of a case of bribery in exchange for a pardon from the governor is still topical 90 years later, but it has zero impact here. Directed breezily by William Dieterle, it was made around the time he shot "Fog Over Frisco", a minor classic that is often cited, with good reason, to be among the fastest-paced and most concise movie of all time.

Watching the team of Stanwyck and Warren William is fun, but their character react automatically to the flow of events -strictly stock characters.

The Secret Bride is one of those films with a completely artificial issue. If only Warren William and Barbara Stanwyck were completely open about their marriage this whole plot wouldn't have happened. But he's the state attorney general and she's the daughter of Governor Arthur Aylesworth. The two are married secretly and keep it that way thinking it helps Aylesworth avoid charges of impropriety.

In fact Aylesworth is facing charges of improprieties, taking bribes and kickbacks. William has to investigate. But the investigation blows up when his own man Douglass Dumbrille is killed and his girl friend Glenda Farrell is arrested for his murder. Barbara knows something that can clear Farrell, but is also concerned about her father's fate as well.

The real story of Dumbrille's death and the charges against Aylesworth is a rather intricately connected set of circumstances that only make sense in the end. I don't want to go into any of it lest I spoil your appetite for the rest of the story.

Glenda is quite good as the street smart dame who in reality turns out to be a true innocent. In fact there is a master villain who is a real puppetmaster in this whole affair.

The one thing that struck me in this whole affair is that if a special prosecutor law had been in place, one would have been appointed and there would be no film. This is why there are such laws. Also if like in New York, the Attorney General was an independent elected official, Warren and Barbara would have been free to keep the marriage open.

And there would be no need for Barbara to be The Secret Bride.