The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941)

After "It Happened One Night" ran away with the top five Oscars for 1934, every major and minor studio picked up the theme of a runaway heiress for comedy romances. While none could match the sub-genre prototype, several very good and funny films followed over the next several years. "The Bride Came C.O.D." was a good one at the tail end of the depression-era, but it doesn't rank among the best. The challenge each new version had after "One Night" was to come up with a different plot that would work. The plot for this one was different and pretty good. But the screenplay was quite weak. I agree with those reviewers who noted the fine supporting cast performances all around. James Cagney and Bette Davis were giants of the screen for sure, and they did well in their roles here, as Steve Collins and Joan Winfield. They played comedy off one another very well. But what was lacking was any chemistry for romance. Indeed, the script didn't seem to be leading there until near the very end. In the very good films of this genre, the romance develops slowly, in little noticeable bits. But there's no sign of romance in this film until very close to the end. Comedies don't have to be believable, but if they aren't, they have to have lots of funny stuff about them – zaniness, crazy antics, rapid-fire zingers and repartee. This film has very little of that – only a couple of zany situations with the bride and pilot, Joan and Steve. So, a better screenplay would have helped a lot. Maybe the romance wouldn't have been believable, still, but at least we'd have more laughs to make up for that. My point is that when the romance seems believable, it does a whole lot to raise one's enjoyment of the whole film. "One Night" is the classic, of course, but there are any number of other very funny films with believable romantic plots. The wonderful Warner's troop of supporting actors contributed a great deal to this film. Eugene Palette, Harry Davenport and Jack Carson were especially good in their roles as Lucius Winfield, Pop Tolliver and Allen Brice, respectively. Carson was a versatile actor who often had big secondary roles in films. He couldn't break into the leading man roles, but his performances were often better and contributed as much or more to some films than the leading actors. I never thought about that decades ago when watching these films for the first time. It's one of those things one becomes more aware of with some years and lots of film time under the belt."The Bride Came C.O.D." is an enjoyable film that most viewers should find amusing. The cast seemed to enjoy making it.

. . . in for $80 million, James Cagney's mercenary bachelor pilot "Steve Collins" decides during THE BRIDE CAME C.O.D. If you study the portion of this movie from 9:54 to 11:46, you'll see that it's clear (at least as crystal as the censors would allow in 1941) that Steve is an experienced gigolo, servicing many society ladies of a certain age under the pretense of providing "flying lessons." (Yes, all this decades before Erica Jong's FEAR OF FLYING novel was in print!) Warner Bros. is so discreet that they don't provide cast names or end credits to the trio of slumming dames pictured in this segment. But there's a clear implication that Steve's got hangars full of satisfied female clients. The contrast between Steve's first-shown "date" and his eventual wife "Joan Winfield" (Bette Davis, playing "age 23" here for at least her tenth year running) is stunning. What does homely Joan have that knock-out Ms. No Name lacks? About $80 million worth of Texas oil field profits, that's what! And Steve is a guy who knows which side of his bread to butter. This flick is the male precursor to PRETTY WOMAN.

Cagney and Davis fans will want to give this one a try and for completists it will deliver a fair amount of fun. However most of the story is rather hokey, and even though the chemistry between the principals don't seem to be what you might expect from a pair of romantic leads, they do spar verbally rather well, which is what I look for in any good screwball comedy. The pair worked before in 1934's "Jimmy the Gent", another picture featuring snappy dialog in which Cagney had a stronger presence than his co-star at the time. This time out they're about on equal footing, with Cagney's character taking pains to stay one step ahead of oil heiress Joan Winfield (Davis), her fiancée Allen Brice (Jack Carson), and authorities determined to capture the man who kidnapped the wealthy socialite.Some of the attempts at slapstick seem forced, as in repeated landings of Miss Davis on various cactus plants, the first time requiring Cagney's help in extracting the offending needles. One wonders what might have been going through Miss Davis' mind as this scene was being filmed, or those of theater goers of the era who already had an entirely different impression of the celebrated actress. For me, the best scenes were those involving Pop Tolliver (Harry Davenport), as demonstrated in the understated handling of his first breakfast meeting with the pair ('You take bacon too.'), and later his surreptitious partnership with Steve Collins (Cagney) to outwit the authorities.The 'C.O.D.' business of the title references the basic plot element of the story - Collins, seeing an opportunity to pay off his airplane, haggles with Joan Winfield's father (Eugene Palette) to deliver his unmarried daughter before an elopement seals the deal. At ten dollars a pound they strike a bargain, eliciting a mid-flight response from Miss Winfield that would frustrate Cagney's character throughout the picture - "You're not even good enough for the cuss words I know."

A foreign friend once told me that he just didn't "get" James Cagney; "nobody acts like that." And I have to admit that the performances where I most enjoy Cagney are where he plays off his typical character -- "Yankee Doodle Dandy", for example. This is one such film. We don't usually associate Cagney with comedy, and he seems a bit relaxed here...and it's delightful. Similarly, we usually think Bette Davis as a dramatic actress, and she shines here because her character is spunky and irreverent, and there are just enough opportunities for her to display her sharp tongue. She, too, is delightful. William Frawley, Eugene Palette (with his barrel voice and barrel body) and Stu Erwin are great additions to the cast, but one of my favorite character actors -- Harry Davenport (as in the doctor in "Gone With The WInd") really shines here as a character quite different from what he usually plays. Jack Carson should have been a bit disappointed with his role...sort of wasted, although essential to the story line.The plot is screwball, so somewhat unbelievable, but this is a film to savor for the performances (particularly the chemistry between Davis and Cagney) and the setting (a busted gold mine town). Highly recommended.