Young Bride (1932)

Director:

William A. Seiter

Writers:

Hugh Stanislaus Stange (play)
Garrett Fort (screenplay)

Release Date:

8 April 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Pregnancy | Christmas | Drunkenness | Dice Game | Policeman

Cast

Helen Twelvetrees	...	Allie Smith Riggs
Eric Linden	...	Charlie Riggs
Arline Judge	...	Maisie
Roscoe Ates	...	Mike, the Pool Room Bartender
Polly Walters	...	Daisy
Blanche Friderici	...	Miss Margaret Gordon, the Librarian (as Blanche Frederici)
Cliff Edwards	...	Pete
Allen Fox	...	Skeets
Edwin Maxwell	...	The Doctor
Walter Percival	...	Master of Ceremonies at Dance Palace
Phyllis Crane	...	The Taxi Dancer
Edmund Breese	...	Mr. C. B. Chadwick, the Broker
Harry Stubbs	...	Mr. Perlman, the Promoter (as Harry O. Stubbs)

Also Known As:

Love Starved (USA) (original script title)
Veneer (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

76 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone System)

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

RKO Pathé Pictures

Trivia:

The play opened in New York City, New York, USA on 12 November 1929 and had 31 performances.

Quotes:

Daisy: Take ya out to dinner tonight, Allie.
Allie Smith Riggs: Thank you, I'd love to have dinner with you. We'll go Dutch.
Daisy: Uh, uh. The boyfriend's entertaining, and he's got a guy that's crazy to meet you, Allie.
Allie Smith Riggs: A blind date? No thanks.
Daisy: Oh, this guy Pete's got ain't blind. Gee Allie, he'd go for ya in a big way.
Allie Smith Riggs: Well, I don't want to be gone for.
Daisy: [whining] Awww gosh. Aw gee, Allie, don't be a wet smack all your life.
Allie Smith Riggs: I'm not a wet smack, Daisy, I'm just particular who I go out with.
Daisy: How about giving Rudy Vallee a buzz?
Allie Smith Riggs: D'ya think he'd buzz back?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The American Experience: The Battle Over Citizen Kane (#8.7)" (1996)

Soundtrack:

Always

see it!!

This is a moving narrative, sensitively directed by William A. Seiter, about a naive librarian (Helen Twelvetrees) who is swept off her feet and into marriage by a handsome but aggressive, egotistical suitor (Eric Linden) only to find he is all strut and no substance. This early effort by producer David O. Selznick boasts: a) persuasive performances by the five main characters (Arline Judge as a treacherous dance hall tart, Cliff Edwards ["Well, peel my potatoes!" "Well, spank me naked!"] as a good-time Charley and Blanche Frederici as the librarian's spinsterish friend and co-worker give excellent support); b - realistic renderings of a public library, a depressing room in a boarding house, and especially a funky dance hall above a Chop Suey joint where young couples crowd the floor shimmying, fox-trotting or waltzing to the popular songs of the day played to perfection by a small orchestra; (c) entertainingly slangy dialogue and pre-Code sexual frankness. This is one of the few films of its era that speaks directly and unsentimentally across the decades about issues faced by any young couple of modest means struggling to pay the bills while maintaining a loving, trusting relationship. All newlyweds should see this! Others have detailed the plot, but I shall say only that Linden and Twelvetrees were two of the best young performers of their time. Their careers flared brilliantly for about three years, then faded into oblivion. Here, they will both make you cry.