Our Blushing Brides | |
---|---|
Directed by | Harry Beaumont (uncredited) |
Written by | Bess Meredyth John Howard Lawson Edwin Justus Mayer Helen Meinardi (uncredited) |
Produced by | Harry Beaumont |
Starring | Joan Crawford Anita Page Dorothy Sebastian Robert Montgomery |
Cinematography | Merritt B. Gerstad |
Edited by | George Hively Harold Palmer (uncredited) |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 99 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $337,000 [1] |
Box office | $1,211,000 [1] |
Our Blushing Brides is a 1930 American pre-Code society comedy/romantic melodrama directed and produced by Harry Beaumont and starring Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, Anita Page and Dorothy Sebastian.
The film follows Our Dancing Daughters (1928) and Our Modern Maidens (1929), which also starred Crawford, Page and Sebastian, though they portray different characters in each film. [2] Although the two previous installments in the series were silent films, Our Blushing Brides is a sound film, a relatively new technology at the time.
Our Blushing Brides is Crawford's 31st film (of 86 total), and her fourth sound film. In her first "shopgirl-Cinderella" role, Crawford plays the role of Gerry, a department store model who falls in love with the wealthy son of her boss. [3] The role was a departure from Crawford's flapper-girl persona of the silent era as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer began to develop a more sophisticated image for her. [4]
Fellow department store shopgirls and roommates Gerry March, Connie Blair and Franky Daniels take different paths in New York City but all seek to marry wealthy men. Connie pursues an affair with David Jardine, the youngest son of the store's owner. Franky meets the slick-talking Marty Sanderson when he comes into the store to buy $500 worth of blankets. However, when he comes to meet Franky, he makes advances toward Gerry instead.
Gerry has been constantly courted by the dashing Tony Jardine, the older son of the store owner. He is used to having his way, but when he invites only Gerry to visit his estate, Gerry, who believes that virtue will be her only reward, rebuffs Tony and intimates that he is childish.
Franky falls in love with Marty, who spoils her with diamonds and silk. Gerry is suspicious, especially when she finds them both drunk. The girls do not know that Sanderson is the leader of a criminal gang that steals from department stores such as the one where the women work. The police arrive to apprehend Franky, believing that she is a member of the gang, but she knows nothing of it.
Connie is very happy with David and intends to marry him. However, she reads in the newspaper that David intends to marry the high-society Evelyn Woodforth. She listens to the wedding reception as it is broadcast on the radio and ingests poison in a suicide attempt. Gerry finds her and then asks Tony to persuade David to leave the reception to visit Connie.
In a contentious conversation, Tony forces David to visit Connie, a selfless act that attracts Gerry and convinces her that Tony is a good man. However, despite David's visit, Connie dies.
According to MGM records, the film earned $874,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $337,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $412,000. [1]
Warner Archive Collection released the film as a Region 1 DVD on March 4, 2014.
Joan Crawford was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925. Initially frustrated by the size and quality of her parts, Crawford launched a publicity campaign and built an image as a nationally known flapper by the end of the 1920s. By the 1930s, Crawford's fame rivaled MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Crawford often played hardworking young women who find romance and financial success. These "rags-to-riches" stories were well received by Depression-era audiences and were popular with women. Crawford became one of Hollywood's most prominent movie stars and one of the highest paid women in the United States, but her films began losing money. By the end of the 1930s, she was labeled "box office poison".
Anita Page was an American film actress who reached stardom in the final years of the silent film era.
Our Dancing Daughters is a 1928 American synchronized sound drama film starring Joan Crawford and John Mack Brown about the "loosening of youth morals" that took place during the 1920s. The film was directed by Harry Beaumont and produced by Hunt Stromberg. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process.
Dorothy Sebastian was an American film and stage actress.
The Joan Crawford filmography lists the film appearances of American actress Joan Crawford, who starred in numerous feature films throughout a lengthy career that spanned nearly five decades.
Untamed is a 1929 American pre-Code Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer romantic-drama film directed by Jack Conway and starring Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, Ernest Torrence, Holmes Herbert, Gwen Lee, and Lloyd Ingraham. The script was adapted by Sylvia Thalberg and Frank Butler, with dialogue by Willard Mack, from a story by Charles E. Scoggins.
Possessed is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film directed by Clarence Brown, starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film is the story of Marian Martin, a factory worker who rises to the top as the mistress of a wealthy attorney. The screenplay by Lenore J. Coffee was adapted from the 1920 Broadway play The Mirage by Edgar Selwyn. Possessed was the third of eight film collaborations between Crawford and Gable.
Our Modern Maidens is a 1929 American synchronized sound comedy-drama film directed by Jack Conway. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The film starts Joan Crawford in her last film role without dialogue, the film also stars Rod La Rocque, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Anita Page.
Forsaking All Others is a 1934 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by W.S. Van Dyke, and starring Robert Montgomery, Joan Crawford and Clark Gable. The screenplay was written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, which was based upon a 1933 play by Edward Barry Roberts and Frank Morgan Cavett starring Tallulah Bankhead.
The Shining Hour is a 1938 American romantic drama film directed by Frank Borzage, based on the 1934 play The Shining Hour by Keith Winter, and starring Joan Crawford and Margaret Sullavan. The supporting cast of the MGM film features Robert Young, Melvyn Douglas, Fay Bainter and Hattie McDaniel.
Mannequin is a 1937 American drama film directed by Frank Borzage and starring Joan Crawford, Spencer Tracy, and Alan Curtis. Crawford plays Jessie, a young working class woman who seeks to improve her life by marrying her boyfriend, only to find out that he is no better than what she left behind. She meets a self-made millionaire with whom she falls in love despite his financial problems.
When Ladies Meet is a 1941 American romantic comedy film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and starring Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor, Greer Garson, Herbert Marshall and Spring Byington. The screenplay by S.K. Lauren and Anita Loos was based upon a 1932 play by Rachel Crothers. Made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, director Leonard also coproduced along with Orville O. Dull. The film was a remake of the 1933 pre-Code film of the same name, which had starred Ann Harding, Myrna Loy, Robert Montgomery and Frank Morgan in the roles played by Garson, Crawford, Taylor and Marshall.
They All Kissed the Bride is a 1942 American screwball comedy film directed by Alexander Hall and starring Joan Crawford and Melvyn Douglas.
Reunion in France is a 1942 American war film distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Joan Crawford, John Wayne, and Philip Dorn in a story about a woman in occupied France who, learning her well-heeled lover has German connections, aids a downed American flyer. Ava Gardner appears in a small uncredited role as a Parisian shopgirl. The movie was directed by Jules Dassin.
The Only Thing is a 1925 American silent romantic drama film starring Eleanor Boardman. The film's scenario was written by author Elinor Glyn, and was based on a story adapted from Glyn's novel of the same name.
Indiscreet is a 1931 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Gloria Swanson and Ben Lyon. The screenplay by Buddy G. DeSylva, Lew Brown, and Ray Henderson, based on their story Obey That Impulse, originally was written as a full-fledged musical, but only two songs – "If You Haven't Got Love" and "Come to Me" – remained when the film was released. The film is available on DVD.
Millie is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film directed by John Francis Dillon from a screenplay by Charles Kenyon and Ralph Morgan, based on a novel of the same name by Donald Henderson Clarke. The film was an independent production by Charles R. Rogers, distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, after their acquisition of Pathé Exchange. It stars Helen Twelvetrees in one of her best roles, with a supporting cast that includes Lilyan Tashman, James Hall, Joan Blondell, John Halliday and Anita Louise.
The Crowded Day is a 1954 British comedy drama film directed by John Guillermin and starring John Gregson, Joan Rice, Cyril Raymond and Josephine Griffin. The film follows a group of shopgirls working in Bunting and Hobbs, a London department store, during the Christmas shopping season. It was an attempt by Adelphi Films to move into bigger budgeted films. It was the last movie Guillermin directed for the company.
Until They Sail is a 1957 American black-and-white CinemaScope drama film directed by Robert Wise and starring Jean Simmons, Joan Fontaine, Paul Newman, Piper Laurie and Sandra Dee. The screenplay by Robert Anderson, based on a story by James A. Michener included in his 1951 anthology Return to Paradise, focuses on four New Zealand sisters and their relationships with U.S. Marines during World War II.
Follow the Boys is a 1963 American comedy film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Connie Francis, Paula Prentiss, and Janis Paige, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Shot on location on the French and Italian Riviera, Follow the Boys was MGM's second film vehicle for top recording artist Francis following Where the Boys Are (1960). While Francis' role in the earlier film had been somewhat secondary, she had a distinctly central role in Follow the Boys playing Bonnie Pulaski, a newlywed traveling the Riviera.