Bride by Mistake

Last updated
Bride by Mistake
Bride-by-Mistake-poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Richard Wallace
Written by Henry Ephron
Phoebe Ephron
Based on The Richest Girl in the World
by Norman Krasna
Produced by Bert Granet
Starring Alan Marshal
Laraine Day
Cinematography Nicholas Musuraca
Edited byLes Millbrook
Music by Roy Webb
Production
company
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures
Release date
  • September 15, 1944 (1944-09-15) [1]
Running time
81 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$600,000 [2]

Bride by Mistake is a 1944 American romantic comedy film directed by Richard Wallace, and starring Alan Marshal and Laraine Day. [3]

Contents

The screenplay is by Phoebe Ephron and Henry Ephron, based on a story by Norman Krasna, and is a remake of The Richest Girl in the World (1934).

Plot

Home from the war, Captain Tony Travis (Alan Marshal) eyes an estate in Santa Barbara and wonders what it must be like to be that rich. It is the property of the fabulously wealthy Nora Hunter (Laraine Day), who has secretary and friend Sylvia Lockwood (Marsha Hunt) impersonate her in public. Longtime guardian Jonathan Connors (Edgar Buchanan) protects his ward's privacy zealously. During a ship launching, a press photographer takes Nora's picture, but Connors sees to it that the camera film is ruined.

Sylvia tells Nora that she is quitting so that she can accompany her husband, Phil Vernon (Allyn Joslyn), whose job requires him to move to Washington. Nora decides to marry her fiancé Donald (William Post Jr.) so that Sylvia can be her maid of honor at her wedding. But when Donald returns from military duty, he breaks the news that he has fallen in love with someone else.

Nora hosts a tea, but has Sylvia again pretend to be her. There she meets and takes a liking to Tony, but he is more interested in Sylvia. On hearing him vow that love is more important to him than money, Nora and Sylvia invite him to a weekend at Nora's beach house. Nora helps Tony court Sylvia, so that if he does genuinely love the real Nora, it will not be because of her money. All of her friends tell her she is being foolish, that nobody can resist that much temptation, but she stubbornly persists.

Mix-ups ensue. While tipsy, Sylvia accepts a marriage proposal from Tony. That night, Tony sees Phil sneak to Sylvia's bedroom for a late night hug. The next morning, he punches the overly cheerful Phil over it. Nora tells him that she and Sylvia switched rooms that night. Despite this "confession", he eventually realizes who he really loves, tosses the protesting Nora over his shoulder and carries her away to get married. On their honeymoon night in a cheap motel, Nora finally reveals her true identity. Tony is disgusted and starts to leave, but then sees her for the first time in her nightgown and stays.

Cast

Production

The film was a remake of The Richest Girl in the World and was originally entitled That Hunter Girl. Bert Gance produced it at RKO.

In December 1943 Hedda Hopper reported that two stars under contract to David O Selznick, Dorothy McGuire and Alan Marshall would work for RKO on a film the following year – possibly The Fair Barbarian or The Flashing Stream. [4] In January 1944 RKO announced they were going to make a marital comedy I Married the Navy written by Emmett Lavery, who was to co produce with Val Lewton. It would be directed by Richard Wallace and star Marshall and McGuire. [5]

In March 1944 RKO announced they had postponed I Married a Navy due to McGuire's refusal to make it. They substituted it on the studio's schedule with That Hunter Girl which was to star Marshall and Laraine Day and be directed by Wallace. [6]

Producer Bert Gance borrowed Henry and Phoebe Ephron from Fox to rewrite the script – not to change the structure but to 'jazz it up". The Ephrons had never written a full script before – Fox hired them off the back of the success of a play they had written – so they asked a secretary who had been the best screenwriter to ever work at the studio; she said Norman Krasna. They got every Krasna script they could and copied how he did his scripts. [7]

When they started writing the star was going to be Dorothy McGuire but she was replaced shortly before production by Laraine Day. Henry Ephron said they "had written the part for McGuire's original and somewhat eccentric style (she hardly ever came through the front door; she always climbed in through the window)" but felt Day was "fine. A good enough actress and quite beautiful." [7]

Laraine Day and Marsha Hunt were borrowed from MGM, Alan Marshall was borrowed from David O. Selznick, Allyn Jolson was borrowed from 20th Century Fox and Edgar Buchanan was borrowed from Columbia. Filming started in March 1944. [8]

The film was called That Hunter Girl but the title was changed to Bride By Mistake in May 1944. [9] Day said she liked making the movie "tremendously. It was the first film designed to make audience laugh for which I had been chosen. I'm hoping this will exert and new and beneficial influence." [10]

Reception

The film made a profit of $600,000. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Bachelor Mother</i> 1939 film by Garson Kanin

Bachelor Mother (1939) is an American romantic comedy film directed by Garson Kanin, and starring Ginger Rogers, David Niven, and Charles Coburn. The screenplay was written by Norman Krasna from an Academy Award-nominated story by Felix Jackson written for the 1935 Austrian-Hungarian film Little Mother. With a plot full of mistaken identities, Bachelor Mother is a light-hearted treatment of the otherwise serious issues of child abandonment.

<i>None but the Lonely Heart</i> (film) 1944 film by Clifford Odets

None but the Lonely Heart is a 1944 American drama romance film which tells the story of a young Cockney drifter who returns home with no ambitions but finds that his family needs him. Adapted by Clifford Odets from the 1943 novel of the same title by Richard Llewellyn and directed by Odets, the movie stars Cary Grant, Ethel Barrymore, and Barry Fitzgerald.

<i>Desk Set</i> 1957 film by Walter Lang

Desk Set is a 1957 American romantic comedy film directed by Walter Lang and starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. The screenplay was written by Phoebe Ephron and Henry Ephron from the 1955 play of the same name by William Marchant.

<i>Sleepless in Seattle</i> 1993 film by Nora Ephron

Sleepless in Seattle is a 1993 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Nora Ephron, from a screenplay she wrote with David S. Ward and Jeff Arch. Starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, the film follows a journalist (Ryan) who, despite being newly engaged, becomes enamored with a recently widowed architect (Hanks), when the latter's son calls in to a talk radio program requesting a new partner for his grieving father. In addition to Bill Pullman, Ross Malinger, and Rob Reiner, the film features an ensemble supporting cast also consisting of Rosie O'Donnell, Gaby Hoffmann, Victor Garber, Rita Wilson, Barbara Garrick, and Carey Lowell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nora Ephron</span> American writer and filmmaker (1941–2012)

Nora Ephron was an American journalist, writer, and filmmaker. She is best known for writing and directing romantic comedy films and received numerous accolades including a British Academy Film Award as well as nominations for three Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award and three Writers Guild of America Awards.

<i>The Devil and Miss Jones</i> 1941 film by Sam Wood

The Devil and Miss Jones is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Sam Wood and starring Jean Arthur, Robert Cummings, and Charles Coburn. Its plot follows a department store tycoon who goes undercover in one of his Manhattan shops to ferret union organizers, but instead becomes involved in the employees' personal lives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delia Ephron</span> American film producer

Delia Ephron is an American bestselling author, screenwriter, and playwright.

<i>The Enchanted Cottage</i> (1945 film) 1945 film by John Cromwell

The Enchanted Cottage is a 1945 American supernatural romance film starring Dorothy McGuire, Robert Young, and Herbert Marshall, with Mildred Natwick.

<i>The Spanish Main</i> 1945 film by Frank Borzage

The Spanish Main is a 1945 American adventure film starring Paul Henreid, Maureen O'Hara, Walter Slezak and Binnie Barnes, and directed by Frank Borzage. It was RKO's first all-Technicolor film since Becky Sharp ten years before.

Norman Krasna was an American screenwriter, playwright, producer, and film director who penned screwball comedies centered on a case of mistaken identity. Krasna directed three films during a forty-year career in Hollywood. He garnered four Academy Award screenwriting nominations, winning once for 1943's Princess O'Rourke, which he also directed.

<i>Who Was That Lady?</i> 1960 film by George Sidney

Who Was That Lady? is a 1960 black and white American comedy film directed by George Sidney and starring Tony Curtis, Dean Martin, and Janet Leigh.

<i>Take Her, Shes Mine</i> 1963 film by Henry Koster

Take Her, She's Mine is a 1963 American comedy film starring James Stewart and Sandra Dee based on the 1961 Broadway comedy written by Henry Ephron and Phoebe Ephron. The film was directed by Henry Koster with a screenplay by Nunnally Johnson. It features an early film score by prolific composer Jerry Goldsmith. The character of Mollie, played by Elizabeth Ashley on Broadway and in the film by Dee, was based on the screenwriters' 22-year-old daughter Nora Ephron. The supporting cast features Robert Morley, John McGiver and Bob Denver.

<i>The Richest Girl in the World</i> (1934 film) 1934 film by William A. Seiter

The Richest Girl in the World is a 1934 American romantic comedy film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Miriam Hopkins, Joel McCrea and Fay Wray. Norman Krasna was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Story. It was remade in 1944 as Bride by Mistake with Laraine Day and Alan Marshal.

Henry Ephron was an American playwright, screenwriter and film producer who often worked with his wife, Phoebe. He was active as a writer from the early 1940s through the early 1960s.

Phoebe Ephron was an American playwright and screenwriter, who often worked with Henry Ephron, her husband, whom she wed in 1934.

<i>Princess ORourke</i> 1943 film by Norman Krasna

Princess O'Rourke is a 1943 American romantic comedy film directed and written by Norman Krasna, and starring Olivia de Havilland, Robert Cummings and Charles Coburn. Krasna won the 1944 Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Marshal (actor)</span> Australian actor

Alan Marshal was an Australian-born actor who performed on stage in the United States and in Hollywood films. He was sometimes billed as Alan Marshall or Alan Willey.

<i>Parole Girl</i> 1933 film by Edward F. Cline

Parole Girl is a 1933 American pre-Code romantic drama film directed by Edward Cline. The film stars Mae Clarke and Ralph Bellamy.

<i>Those Endearing Young Charms</i> (film) 1945 film by Lewis Allen

Those Endearing Young Charms is a 1945 American comedy film directed by Lewis Allen and written by Edward Chodorov from his play of the same name and starring Robert Young, Laraine Day, Ann Harding, Bill Williams and Marc Cramer.

<i>Always Together</i> 1947 film by Frederick de Cordova

Always Together is a 1947 American comedy film directed by Frederick de Cordova and written by I. A. L. Diamond, Henry Ephron and Phoebe Ephron. The film stars Robert Hutton, Joyce Reynolds, Cecil Kellaway, Ernest Truex, Don McGuire and Ransom M. Sherman. The film was released by Warner Bros. on December 10, 1947.

References

  1. "Bride by Mistake: Detail View". American Film Institute. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  2. Richard Jewell & Vernon Harbin, The RKO Story. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. p195
  3. "Bride by Mistake". Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 11, no. 121. London. Jan 1, 1944. p. 142.
  4. Hopper, Hedda (Dec 8, 1943). "Looking at Hollywood". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 31.
  5. "SCREEN NEWS HERE AND IN HOLLYWOOD: RKO Borrows Alan Marshall, Dorothy McGuire for Leads in 'I Married the Navy'". THE NEW YORK TIMES. Jan 7, 1944. p. 13.
  6. "SCREEN NEWS HERE AND IN HOLLYWOOD". New York Times. Mar 17, 1944. p. 14.
  7. 1 2 Ephron, Henry (1977). We thought we could do anything : the life of screenwriters Phoebe and Henry Ephron. Norton. p. 38.
  8. "Borrowing Spree Fills 'Hunter Girl' Roster". Los Angeles Times. Mar 21, 1944. p. A9.
  9. "John Loder to Portray 'Brighton Strangler'". Los Angeles Times. May 26, 1944. p. A8.
  10. Schallert, Edwin (Sep 3, 1944). "Being Lady Doesn't Pay, Says Player Who Is One". Los Angeles Times. p. C1.
  11. Richard B. Jewell, Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures, Uni of California, 2016