There Goes the Bride

My review was written in December 1980 after a Greenwich Village screening: "There Goes the Bride" is a lame Midatlantic filmization of the 1974 West End farce, which originally starred Bernard Cribbins and featured Trudi van Doorn on stage. Shot in 1979 at Pinewood Studios and on Vero Beach, Florida exteriors, pic lacks the sex comedy and nudity of previous Ray Cooney efforts (e.g., "Not Now, Darling") and is woefully out of step with commercial realities for feature films today. "Bride" faces very grim prospects in domestic release.

The old chestnut of wedding day problems constitutes the picture's sitcom basis. Florida parents Tom Smothers (incredibly miscast with his boyish looks in Cribbins' role) and Sylvia Syms are trying to wed daughter Toria Fuller to Texan John Terry, son of Martin Balsam and Margot Moser. Psychiatrist Phil Silvers (an embarrassing cameo) and Italian waiter Graham Stark recall the wedding day slapstick mishaps in a rickety flashback structure.

With the bride and groom roles barely pencilled in, film revolves solely around a comedy premise lifted from "Topper". Ad man Smothers, working on a brassiere campaign for magnate Jim Backus, uses a '20s-era photo of then-model Twiggy for inspiration (!). Upon bumping into doors, addle-brained Smothers imagines Twiggy has come to life again, causing sitcom humor since she is invisible to the rest of the cast. A final reel crash on the head removes Smothers' fantasy girl and the wedding comes off after all.

Unfunny script, credited to Cooney and director Terence Marcel leaves the laughs (some unintentional) for the spectacle of Smothers imagining himself as the answer to Fred Astaire (with Twiggy looking smashing in a satin gown as his Ginger Rogers-esque dancing partner. In two routine song-and-dance numbers, Smothers' sincere terping and warbling seem to be essayed in earnest rather than bumbling, and emerge as pure camp.

Despite her billing, Twiggy is saddled with a merely decorative non-role and comes off as cute and harmless. Unfortunately, all her footage is shot with fog filters for an irritating soft-focus effect, designed insipidly to cue the fans that "she's not real". Pic's few amusing moments (intended) are provided by the mugging of Syms' parents played by Geoffrey Sumner (holdover from the original play's cast and Hermione Baddeley. Various guest cameos fizzle.

The production and technical team, encoring from a previous Cooney film "Why Not Stay for Breakfast?", contributed a subpar job. Errors (Smothers' prop eyeglasses keep disappearing from his face in reverse shots) and antiquated painted backdrops for studio-shot exteriors attest to the project's microscopic budget.

When a US movie has its first premiere overseas, as this one did, YOU KNOW something's amiss with the movie and that the producers were nervous about its US premiere. Not many US movies premiere first overseas and then are shown in the US, as this one was. The IMDb indicates that this movie was first shown in the UK, then premiered in NYC the following December. The movie attempts-horribly, I might add, to spoof those goofy, beloved depression era dance movies--specifically, the ones with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. Yup, there are truly awful dance sequences in this film! (Astaire would be turning in his grave!) Perhaps a better explanation would be that this is an example of a potentially "good" movie idea, but which was sunk by a bad script and horribly miscast. I can just see the producer pitching this idea: "Hey, why I've got this idea to parody the old dance movies using a card-board cut out of a Roaring Twenties flapper...I want Twiggy and Tommy Smothers for the principal roles..."

Smothers, who once upon a time was on the cutting edge of comedy, doesn't stand up well against his various co-stars. Playing a funny character in a movie is not the same as hosting a variety TV show. But that is not to completely blame the Tommy Smothers for this collosal dud: the script is vapid and lame. This movie appears to have employed a veritable "who's who" of once great '50-'60s out of work character actors, like Broderick Crawford, Jim Backus, and Maude's funny maid, Hermoine Baddeley (who, btw winds up stealing the movie with her funny expressions).

This movie, doubled billed on a 99 cent DVD, was renamed "There Goes the Neighborhood".

With a wonderful all-star cast and great plotline can't go wrong, but it did. I guess as a Broadway play this film would've run better, but as a film it runs really flat. Not even the wit of Tom Smothers can't save this picture from going down hill. Cameo of Phil Silvers, Broadrick Crawford (in a nothing role), and Jim Backus doesn't help either, also third bill Martin Balsam (who starred with Tom in SILVER BEARS the same year) has less scenes than Backus. Shot in Florida and U.k. (which explains why Graham Stark is in the film as an Italian(?)). Not recommended.

This is the only DVD I've ever purchased from the 99 cent bin at a store and still felt I'd overpaid.

"There Goes the Bride" plays out like a protracted episode of "Bewitched" or "I Dream of Genie": one semi-supernatural episode is milked for every conceivable misunderstanding and limp comedy gag for as long as is humanly endurable.

Tom Smothers plays a harried ad executive (is there any other kind?) who, on the day of his daughter's wedding, meets the woman of his dreams in the person of fictional brassiere pitchwoman, Polly (Twiggy in full 1930's flapper drag, looking every bit as youthful as she did 9 years earlier in "The Boy Friend," the 30's musical in which she was ALSO named Polly).

What comedy there is comes from the inability of anyone but Smothers to see the amorous Twiggy, and all manner of formulaic 'hilarity' ensues.

"There Goes the Bride" is not the worst film I've ever seen, but it must certainly be the ugliest. The camera set ups look amateurish, the cutting is sluggish for what should be a quick, farcical comedy, and the whole thing looks like a demo film for the real film to be shot later with a bigger budget.

On the plus side is the always enchanting Twiggy who has the sort of light comic touch a film like this needs. Too bad she's underused and has about a page of dialog throughout the whole film. She and Smothers (who tries hard but needs a better director)perform several musical numbers that actually are rather charming given Smothers' lead-footed earnestness.

Can't say I'd recommend this film to anyone but Twiggy fans (there have to be more out there beyond myself).

Hidden gem of a film. A charming comedy with some wonderful banter between characters and some great old fashioned laughs. Smothers and Balsam team up again after starring together in the 1977 caper Silver Bears. Smothers steals the show as the anxiety ridden father of the bride. Good performances all round with Smothers, Balsam, and Sumner leading the way.

A few flaws of course; I found the opening scene at the house a little tedious and the grandpa in the golf buggy was a bit cringe. The print quality of the DVD release I have is also quite poor. You might find the VHS release a better option.

Nice soundtrack with two charming vocal and dance performances from Smothers. The "Polly Perkins" performance is a real treat and that song is super catchey.

If you like the comedy style of Tom Smothers you'll surely enjoy this film.