The Lottery Bride (1930)

Sundered lovers meet again amid tragic irony at a mining camp in northern Norway.

Director:

Paul L. Stein

Writers:

Herbert Stothart (original story), Howard Emmett Rogers (continuty and dialogue),

Stars:

Jeanette MacDonald, John Garrick, Joe E. Brown

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jeanette MacDonald	...	Jenny
John Garrick	...	Chris
Joe E. Brown	...	Hoke
Zasu Pitts	...	Hilda
Robert Chisholm	...	Olaf
Joseph Macaulay	...	Alberto
Harry Gribbon	...	Boris
Carroll Nye	...	Nels

Storyline

In Oslo, Norway, Jenny (who loves stalwart Chris) enters a dance marathon to help her embezzler brother out of a jam; her actions cause misunderstanding and Chris flees to a far northern mining camp. In despair, Jenny signs up as a "picture bride" who by tragic irony is promised to Chris's brother Olaf...at that same mining camp. Then Chris's rival Alberto arrives on a polar dirigible expedition. Which brother will join his voyage, perhaps to doom? Very stylized.

---

Plot Keywords:

norway | dance marathon | dirigible | courtship | two strip technicolor | 

---

Taglines:

All things that spell ENTERTAINMENT for you are crammed into this spectacular dramatic romance!

---

Genres:

Musical | Romance

---

Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 November 1930 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Noiva 66

Company Credits

Production Co:

Joseph M. Schenck Productions, Art Cinema Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min 67 min (re-release) (edited)

Sound Mix:

Mono (MovieTone)

Color:

Black and White Color (Technicolor) (finale)

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Only the edited 1937 re-release, running 67 minutes, with the original 2-strip Technicolor finale in black and white, was available for many years. But a complete print, running 79 minutes and including the Technicolor finale, survived at the George Eastman House. In 2011, it was run on Turner Classic Movies.

---

Quotes

Hilda: Do you know the meaning of Spring?
Hoke Curtis: Yes. It means...
Hilda: ...Yes??
Hoke Curtis: ...that you can take off your winter underwear.

---

Connections

Referenced in Hollywood Hist-o-Rama: Jeanette MacDonald (1962)

---

Soundtracks

"BROTHER LOVE"
(1930) (uncredited)
Music by Rudolf Friml
Lyrics by J. Keirn Brennan
Sung by Robert Chisholm, John Garrick and chorus

User Reviews

Unbelievably bad

An operetta about an Italian dirigible heading for the North Pole in a snowstorm has a lot going against it. Add to that - or rather subtract from that - a score by Rudolf Friml that does not have even one even slightly catchy number, and a script that gets worse and worse as it goes along, leaving reason and logic somewhere behind on the Norwegian tundra, and you have The Lottery Bride. Seldom has so much talent been so totally wasted, I'm afraid.

Jeanette MacDonald is really in very good voice in this picture, in particular in her one duet with her leading man. She does some fine singing, but it's a shame it's of music that is so completely bland. The two male leads also sing well.

But this plot is strictly from hunger - and I normally have no problem with silly operetta plots. This one is not at all funny. It is tedious melodrama with a lot of excessive acting.

If you like Jeanette MacDonald, as I do, you may be tempted to dismiss this review and give it a try. You'll be sorry, but you'll survive.

I can only wonder why Oscar Hammerstein would have wanted to produce this. It truly has absolutely nothing going for it. I couldn't wait for it to end, and didn't think it ever would. Actually, it doesn't come to an end; it just stops. There is still the crew of that dirigible stranded on the ice near the North Pole, and we never find out how they will get rescued. But we don't want to sit through any more to find out.