Young Bride

The great thing about Turner Classic Movies is that no matter how many old movies you have seen, you will regularly come across actors and actresses whose names you have never heard before, but once you see them, are fascinated, and glad to make their acquaintance. So it was with the beautiful and oddly named Helen Twelvetrees. She was a very good blond actress whose career barely spanned the decade of the 1930's. Here, in "Young Bride", she is delicate and vulnerable, but not in an annoying weak way; she has a face full of beautiful character, one that you want to comfort and murmur to how everything will be alright. A lovely find, and too bad she was not a major star.

On the other hand, I have never been a fan of Eric Linden, who plays her immature braggart of a husband. I think it is that horrendous Bronx accent of his; even when he is playing sympathetic, which is rare in this film, I just don't find him to be all that appealing. I don't think I was the only one who felt this way, as his career dried up quickly as the 1930's moved on.

A very interesting cultural aspect of this film is how so much of it takes place in a "dance hall"; this is a public tavern where men came and bought tickets to dance with the female hired help. It appears that there was a great demand for these kinds of establishments, as a way for men to meet girls and socialize in a pre-TV and pre-Internet Depression-era society. Particularly fascinating is that it seems that at a certain weird level, open lewd behavior was strictly prohibited; at one point in this film, the fellow who is in charge of watching the dancers sternly calls to Eric Linden to "keep your feet moving"! (ie - no hanky-panky on the floor!) I wonder if such places really existed. Certainly this is a portrait of an urban America that died a long long time ago...

When not in the dance halls or Twelvetree's apartment, most scenes take place in a public library. Isn't that a weird combination? Throw in the fabulously stuttering Roscoe Ates as a bartender and you have a unique, slightly odd movie that, primarily thanks to the delightful screen presence of Helen Twelvetrees, is worthy of an hour and a quarter of your time.

... so this is a bit more than your run of the mill precode.

Allie Smith (Helen Twelvetrees) is an assistant librarian in New York CIty. She agrees to be fourth wheel on a blind double date with Charlie Riggs (William Janney). Charlie talks as big as the biggest bag of wind you've ever seen, but Allie is rather idealistic and naive and she believes he has done all of the things and been all of the places he talks about. They marry, but starting on her honeymoon the truth begins to become obvious. Charlie is exaggerating if not lying about everything. Settling into married life, Allie continues to work and Charlie's idea of looking for work is chasing the next big deal that will never be. And then Allie discovers she is pregnant. Complications ensue.

Eric Linden usually played conscientious younger brothers or loyal husbands such as he did in "Life Begins", so it is odd seeing him here as a complete jerk, but he is very effective. His character seems to genuinely care for Allie, he just can't divest himself of his fantasies about his own business acumen. I imagine Depression audiences could relate to the two main characters losing their illusions about life, themselves, and each other as time and bad circumstances wear on. Arline Judge has a supporting role here as a very wicked selfish dance hall girl/barfly. To see her range watch "College Scandal" in which she plays a level headed coed on the trail of a murderer.

I'd recommend this one. It really surprised me as having more complexity and depth than I would have figured from the synopses - all of which are pretty much wrong - and the title and cast.

This is a moving narrative, sensitively directed by William A. Seiter, about a naive librarian (Helen Twelvetrees) who is swept off her feet and into marriage by a handsome but aggressive, egotistical suitor (Eric Linden) only to find he is all strut and no substance. This early effort by producer David O. Selznick boasts: a) persuasive performances by the five main characters (Arline Judge as a treacherous dance hall tart, Cliff Edwards ["Well, peel my potatoes!" "Well, spank me naked!"] as a good-time Charley and Blanche Frederici as the librarian's spinsterish friend and co-worker give excellent support); b - realistic renderings of a public library, a depressing room in a boarding house, and especially a funky dance hall above a Chop Suey joint where young couples crowd the floor shimmying, fox-trotting or waltzing to the popular songs of the day played to perfection by a small orchestra; (c) entertainingly slangy dialogue and pre-Code sexual frankness. This is one of the few films of its era that speaks directly and unsentimentally across the decades about issues faced by any young couple of modest means struggling to pay the bills while maintaining a loving, trusting relationship. All newlyweds should see this! Others have detailed the plot, but I shall say only that Linden and Twelvetrees were two of the best young performers of their time. Their careers flared brilliantly for about three years, then faded into oblivion. Here, they will both make you cry.

Caution: ending of film is discussed.

From the moment of Eric Linden's first appearance, overwritten and overacted beyond any hope of later improvement, one wants to stop watching this one, because it's obvious that it's going to be tough going. And it IS a hard film to watch, because the Linden character is such an insufferable blowhard, and you know from the beginning that he's going to just treat her bad, treat her bad, through the whole film. Yes, this is yet another pre-Code story about a beautiful, intelligent woman, played by a attractive, talented actress, who marries an cocky jerk, played by a not-very-attractive, not-very-talented leading man. And Linden's performance is so embarrassingly deficient, with no nuance whatsoever.

The film is worth sticking out, though, because, although the Linden character is crudely written and played, overall it's an interesting film. Blanche Frederici plays 12trees' mentor with subtlety; neither an old crab nor warm and nurturing, a good person with a pragmatic sense of propriety. Cliff Edwards is fine as usual, fun and friendly, but playing a character who is ultimately not very nice, and as an actor up to dealing with that possibility. The script even tries to give the Linden character a good point: on their honeymoon he claims to know a Wall Street big shot, and we're surprised to find that the man does know him and does have some respect for him, if not for his deals. The film has a relatively fluid and pictorial style. The atmosphere at the dance hall is realistic and sleazily stylish. The popular jazz is funky, and the band looks suitably competent and slightly tacky.

Some of the more conscious efforts at cinema style, such as the lights being turned off at the library at closing time, seemingly turning off the lives of the young protagonists, may seem a bit self-conscious today, but they still work well. I particularly liked the closing lines of this scene, with 12trees railing against teaching children fairy tales. After the scene fades, you barely hear her voice continuing in a whisper, `It's wicked, wicked.'

What really makes the film is its unique point of view about depression romance and marriage, and Ms. 12trees' restrained but masterful performance. Neither of these are fully evident until the final scene when everything comes together and the whole film is brought into focus with an unusual clarity.

The film is about a quiet, intelligent woman, a librarian with a natural inner maturity. But because of her inexperience and her fairy-tale concept of romance, she gets her trapped in a marriage to a total washout who's all talk and no substance, and a cheat to boot. Before the honeymoon's over, she's completely aware that she's been had. But she sticks it out as long as she can, until she finally tells him off, spelling his faults out very clearly, with contempt rather than anger dominating her outburst.

Similar films of the period had endings in which the husband never had a comeuppance and in which the wife had to pretend a subservient role. In WEEKEND MARRIAGE, Loretta Young had to lie about her success and ask forgiveness, though it was her husband who was the drunk and the failure. Constance Cummings had to do the same in THE BIG TIMER. Ms. 12trees herself, in NOW I'LL TELL, had to pretend to return to her cheating husband, though at least that was only to ease his dying moments. Occasionally, such as 12trees in MY WOMAN, the wife got to throw off the conceited blowhard and find happiness elsewhere.

But the ending of YOUNG BRIDE is quite different. In the end, Linden sees the error of his behavior and has to beg forgiveness and clearly acknowledge his faults. But what's even more fundamentally different from the other films, almost radical, really, is the spirit in which she accepts him back.

After he pours his heart out on his knees as she sits on the day couch, he finally says, `Everything's all right now, isn't it?' and she answers, without much conviction, `I guess so.' The scene's well written, with him saying all the right things, and she giving quiet, rueful answers about reality versus expectations. He buries his face on her shoulder and the camera comes in on her face. She looks down on him with a touch of affection, and then gives a sad little smile and a sort of a shrug, and the scene fades into the end title. According to convention, everything has worked out for the best, yet as played and written it's the most realistic and sad of endings. Yes, she's taking him back, because she remembers how she first loved him, because she's going to have a baby and she needs a husband in the middle of the depression, because he's so sincere at this point. Yes, maybe things will be better... maybe. But, still, she knows she's just an innocent girl who's married a bum; even if he stays on the straight and narrow, he isn't at all what she hoped for. Her performance in this final scene is so simple, so good, so unaffected. My verbalized interpretation of her little smile is far less sophisticated than the actual performance, which is more subtle, more enigmatic. It conveys feelings that can't be put into words (and perhaps I shouldn't have tried).

This final shot illuminates what the whole film has been working toward. It's a heartbreaking message for a depression audience that came to see true love vindicated. Though the general quality of the production, with some original moments and well drawn characters, is good enough to keep one with it, this is really one of those films where the end justifies its existence.

A better than average soaper, complete with a full roster of marital melodramatics, "Young Bride" was meant to be something of a star vehicle for Helen Twelvetrees (her married name, believe it or not), but young and handsome Eric Linden steals the show with his bad-boy good-looks and his bratty attitude.

Capable of better things (as he proved a few years later in the classic filmed play, "Ah Wilderness"), Linden's talent shines through the stiff dialog in "Young Bride" and triumphs over it's tired, and not-unexpected, ending.

Linden's later performance in "Ah Wilderness" seems to be the role he was born to play.

He made a few films of note afterwards, but his roles grew smaller in later years, eventually down to just "bit" parts.

Twelvetrees proves to be a poor leading lady for the dynamic Linden. If you didn't know that she was a bigger name than he was in 1932, and you were seeing this film for the first time, many years after it's release, you would have to wonder why she received top billing.

The supporting cast was sturdy;-- I'm especially fond of the always-stammering Roscoe Ates. He seems to be enjoyable regardless of what film he's in, or how he's cast.

I'm sure David O. Selznick was responsible for the film's polished look. He gave many early RKO films a touch of class-- And not too many people could effectively polish up those city tenements in films like this. (the best example of the "well-staged-slums-for-the-stage" film, in my humble opinion, was Sam Goldwyn's 1937 production of the Broadway hit, "Dead End").

But it's Eric Linden who really makes this film worth a watch.--

Without Linden's "bursting with energy" presence, this would be one tired old soaper. He could even make you believe that poor-boy pool-hall slackers wore suits every day, although not too many could fill out a suit the way Eric Linden did...