The Runaway Bride

...one, of course, is Mary Astor in a very early role that she handles quite well in spite of the fact that the plot, the direction, and all of her male costars are so wooden that you could probably build a small bonfire out of the lot of them. Mary's good girl looks and natural handling of dialogue cause her seem like the only thing three dimensional on the screen, with one exception.

That exception would be the second reason to watch this film, and the only other female in the cast. For you precode fans out there, look really close at the frumpy seemingly dense Clara, the maid at the sea-side resort - that's Natalie Moorhead looking incredibly unglamorous considering all of her femme fatale appearances in movies like "The Office Wife".

As for the rest of it all I can say is it is ponderously bad. The jist of the plot is that Mary (Mary Astor) is a society girl that has eloped with one of her society crowd only to find out that, after they have registered as man and wife in a seaside hotel but before they actually get married, that her potential husband seems to think that a man's place is in a deck chair - he has no desire to work at all. She changes her mind about the marriage. Her fiancé may be a lay-about but he apparently also has some caveman in him too. He locks her in the hotel room while he goes to find a minister, ignoring her wishes. While she is trying to find a way to escape, her room is invaded first by a mortally wounded jewel thief and then by the cops that think that Mary must be part of the gang that planned the caper.

The police sergeant is a real bully and as for his police work, he makes Barney Fife look like Sherlock Holmes. He seems to really enjoy pushing around women when he isn't having trouble reciting his lines. When he comes across the real bad guys, he practically tips his hat to them - actually I think he does tip his hat to them.

This is real tough sledding to get through, and only the performances of the two female players distinguish it. Stagey beyond belief and with acting technique left over from the silent era, I guess it's almost a toss-up as to whether or not it's worth your time.