The Case of the Curious Bride (1935)

Perry interrupts his vacation plans when an ex-girlfriend, now newly married, asks him to help her with murder and bigamy charges.

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Tom Reed (screen play), Erle Stanley Gardner (story)

Stars:

Warren William, Margaret Lindsay, Donald Woods

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Warren William	...	Perry Mason
Margaret Lindsay	...	Rhoda Montaine
Donald Woods	...	Carl Montaine
Claire Dodd	...	Della Street
Allen Jenkins	...	Spudsy Drake
Phillip Reed	...	Dr. Millbeck
Barton MacLane	...	Detective Lucas
Wini Shaw	...	Doris Pender (as Winifred Shaw)
Warren Hymer	...	Oscar Pender
Olin Howland	...	Coroner Wilbur Strong
Charles Richman	...	C. Phillip Montaine
Thomas E. Jackson	...	Toots Howard (as Thomas Jackson)
Errol Flynn	...	Gregory Moxley
Robert Gleckler	...	Detective Byrd
James Donlan	...	Detective Fritz

Storyline

After giving the District Attorney another stinging defeat, Perry plans to take a vacation in China. That is, he was, until Rhoda, his old flame, meets him at a restaurant. Even though she says that she is asking for a friend, Perry can see right through her. It seems that her husband Moxley, who had been allegedly dead for four years, is alive and demanding money as she has married into wealth. The case escalates when the police find the body of Moxley and charge her with the murder.

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Plot Keywords:

jail visitation | second part | wisecrack | perry mason character | della street character | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

13 April 1935 (USA)

Also Known As:

Clue Club #4: The Case of the Curious Bride

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

First National Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Erroll Flynn's fourth screen role (his third credited).

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Goofs

When Carl Montaine throws the chair at Moxley, it breaks a mirror and most of the glass falls out of the bottom half. But, in the next shot, a lot of the glass reappears and the mirror's glass is broken much differently.

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Quotes

Coroner Wilbur Strong: His end of telephone conversation in a restaurant: "Yes, this is the coroner... I will? Over my dead bodies... Well, I can't help you looked all afternoon, I'm at an important meeting of the International Committee for the Elimination of Starvation... All right, but I want you gentlemen to remember one statement, made in my official capacity: 'I'll be seein' ya.'"

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Connections

Followed by Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake (1988)

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Soundtracks

Neapolitan Nights
(1925) (uncredited)
Music by J.S. Zamecnik
First tune played at Luigi's restaurant
Played when Mason and Rhoda are talking at Luigi's

User Reviews

Forget that it's supposed to be Perry Mason and love it!

"The Case of the Curious Bride" is one of the Perry Mason films of the 1930s that starred Warren William as Perry. Erle Stanley Gardner hated these films with a passion. His 1930s Perry in the books was a passionate young man given to intense speeches. He mellowed later on, of course, and it was Gardner himself who saw Burr at the audition for Hamilton Burger and said, "That's Perry Mason." (The original star of the series was supposed to be Fred MacMurray.) So it's easy to see why Gardner despised everything about this particular Mason incarnation.

Regardless of how Gardner felt, this film is a lot of fun, thanks to a breezy performance by Warren William, who flirts shamelessly with every woman who crosses his path and fools the DA time and time again. The dialogue is fast and witty, and Curtiz keeps the action going at a breakneck speed. Allan Jenkins is Paul Drake like you've never seen him - Perry calls him Spudsy -- and Della is the beautiful Clare Dodd. Margaret Lindsay is the woman Perry is defending, who comes to him with a marital problem, i.e., the husband she thought was dead is alive - at first. Later, he winds up dead, in the person of...Errol Flynn in his first American appearance - and his wife is accused. Flynn doesn't have much to do except appear in flashback. For some reason, instead of Los Angeles, the story is set in San Francisco - more atmosphere, perhaps.

William seems to have had the same approach to this character as he had for Philo Vance and the Sam Spade character he played in Satan Met a Lady, but he's so delightful, it doesn't matter. He always looks like he's having a blast, and the audience does too. Hard to believe that until he hit B movies in the mid-'30s, he generally played heavies, but he did, and played them well. When his leading man days were over, he continued in character roles until his death in 1948. How great that we can see his talent now on Turner Classic Movies.

This film is a great reminder that during the Depression, Hollywood gave audiences films that to enjoy and watch to forget their troubles for awhile. I'm not in the Depression per se; I'm just depressed, but "The Case of the Curious Bride" put a smile on my face. It will yours, too.