Wedding Present (1936)

Director:

Richard Wallace

Writers:

Joseph Anthony (writer)
Paul Gallico (story)

Release Date:

9 October 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

We're almost married . . . and we want to stay that way !

Plot:

When Charlie Mason is promoted from irresponsible reporter to hard-nosed city editor, it costs him his girlfriend, ace reporter Rusty Fleming. After he hears she's engaged to another, he quits and tries to win her back.

Plot Keywords:

Flying | Royalty | Female Reporter | Funny Gangster | Airplane

Cast

Joan Bennett	...	Monica 'Rusty' Fleming
Cary Grant	...	Charlie
George Bancroft	...	Stagg
Conrad Nagel	...	Dodacker
Gene Lockhart	...	Archduke
William Demarest	...	Smiles Benson
Inez Courtney	...	Mary Lawson
Edward Brophy	...	Squinty
Purnell Pratt	...	Van Dorn
Douglas Wood	...	Willett
George Meeker	...	Balker
Damon Ford	...	Haley
Lois Wilson	...	Laura Dodacker
Mary Forbes	...	Mrs. Dodacker
George Offerman Jr.	...	Sammy Smith

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Quotes:

Marriage License Clerk: [Reviewing a marriage license] Do you solemly swear that the statements are?... Say! What's the matter with you? You've got the day of your birth down here August 4, 1934. That makes you two years old!
Charlie: That's right. Next year I'll be eligible for the Kentucky Derby... and if you were marrying a girl like mine, you'd feel that young yourself.

Sporatically interesting film, ultimately undermined through muddled approach

A rather undistinguished film, the sometimes incomprehensible romantic comedy WEDDING PRESENT contains a numerous amount of potentially interesting plot devices and story elements, but ultimately fails to capitalize on it's own potential and ends up making little to no real impression. Various characters and plot threads are introduced with great fanfare, only to be dropped with no explanation as the film wanders through it runtime with no clear direction. Cary Grant and Joan Bennett are fine in the leads, and even have a respectable degree of chemistry, but they are let down by the film's lack of narrative and structure. Not a bad film by any means, but certainly an unfortunate waste of enormous talent and considerable potential.