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

A financially-strapped charter pilot hires himself to an oil tycoon to kidnap his madcap daughter and prevent her from marrying a vapid band leader.

Director:

William Keighley

Writers:

Kenneth Earl (story), M.M. Musselman (story),

Stars:

James Cagney, Bette Davis, Stuart Erwin

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Cagney	...	Steve Collins
Bette Davis	...	Joan Winfield
Stuart Erwin	...	Tommy Keenan
Eugene Pallette	...	Lucius K. Winfield
Jack Carson	...	Allen Brice
George Tobias	...	Peewee Defoe
Harry Davenport	...	Pop Tolliver
William Frawley	...	Sheriff McGee
Edward Brophy	...	Hinkle
Harry Holman	...	Judge Sobler
Chick Chandler	...	Riley (reporter #1)
Douglas Kennedy	...	Mac (second reporter and photographer) (as Keith Douglas)
Herbert Anderson	...	Reporter #3
William Newell	...	Andy Anderson (McGee's pilot)
William Hopper	...	Keenan's and Brice's pilot (as DeWolf Hopper)

Storyline

Oil heiress Joan is going to elope with bandleader Allen whom she's known four days. Out-of-money pilot Steve is going to fly them to Nevada but makes a deal with her father to deliver her home unmarried. He flies off with her, an apparent kidnaping, but is forced down in the desert. The bandleader arrives with a preacher, but their marriage (in California, not Nevada) is not valid. Pilot Steve will marry her because her father is a millionaire.

---

Plot Keywords:

pilot | bandleader | heiress | nevada | desert | 

---

Taglines:

She Came Collect and his heart paid the freight . . . in the year's romantic explosion !

---

Genres:

Comedy | Romance

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 July 1941 (USA)

Also Known As:

Die Braut kam per Nachnahme

Filming Locations:

Death Valley National Park, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ann Sheridan was originally scheduled to ply the Bette Davis role but was on suspension by Warners.

---

Goofs

In an early scene, when Steve Collins (James Cagney) is walking from the door of the hangar to the office, the end of his necktie is first flapping free above his belt, but in the next shot, it is tucked into his belt.

---

Quotes

Joan Winfield: [singsong] I'm not going anywhere with you!
Steve Collins: Oh yes you are!
Joan Winfield: No I'm not I'm not I'm nooooot.
Steve Collins: Then Stevie will just have to come in and taaaake you!

---

Connections

Featured in Brother Can You Spare a Dime (1975)

---

Soundtracks

"There's No Place Like Home (Home, Sweet Home)"
(uncredited)
Music partly composed, and arranged by H.R. Bishop from a Sicilian air
Played in the score when a donkey appears in the hotel

User Reviews

A Tumbleweed Comedy

Bette Davis, in her autobiography The Lonely Life, didn't have to much good to say about this film. It's true the critics thought that this film was beneath the talents of Davis and Cagney, but time proves otherwise. Some films just seem to age like a bottle of fine wine which makes this movie play better today than it did when it was first released. So, the story goes, our Bette was doing a lot of tear jerker's and I guess Warners thought it was time for her to take a breather and do a light comedy for a change of pace. What's amazing is that here we have two Acadamy Award winners playing hoke and camp with La Davis spending most of her time falling on top of cactus plants and screaming! The musical score by Max Stiener is just fine and dandy and the funniest part in the film is when Davis deiced she's going to run away from Cagney in an automobile that hardly can run after Henry Davenport locks Cagney up in the town jail. So, she and Davenport get in the car. The car starts down the hill with the song In My Merry Oldsmbile being played and Cagney laughing so bad that you have to laugh with him as the car makes all kinds of noise and sputtering when it finally turns over, and I'm surprised that somehow they didn't find a way for our Bette to fall on top of another cactus plant! Even though Davis said that they really didn't like making this movie, it seems to me, when viewing it, that Davis and Cagney, with the rest of the cast were having a lot of fun making it! You could never remake this film and make it work today. I mean, who would you get to play the roles? Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston? But, on second thought, it would be hilarious to see Aniston falling on top of cactus plants!