Bride by Mistake (1944)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Richard Wallace

Writers:

Henry Ephron (writer)
Phoebe Ephron (writer)

Release Date:

27 July 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Norah is very rich, owns her own shipyard and has Sylvia double for her at all outside functions. But...

Plot Keywords:

Remake | Beautiful Woman | Lieutenant | Nurse | Bus Driver

Cast

Alan Marshal	...	Captain Anthony Travis
Laraine Day	...	Norah Hunter
Marsha Hunt	...	Sylvia Lockwood
Allyn Joslyn	...	Phil Vernon
Edgar Buchanan	...	Jonathan Connors
Michael St. Angel	...	Lt. Stephen Corey
Marc Cramer	...	Ross
William Post Jr.	...	Donald
Bruce Edwards	...	Chaplain
Nancy Gates	...	Jane Mason
Slim Summerville	...	Samuel
John Miljan	...	Major Harvey

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #10057) | Sweden:Btl

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Movie Connections:

Remake of The Richest Girl in the World (1934)

Classy Remake of "The Richest Girl in the World"

This Norman Krasna story -- with one of his typical fairytale-like plots -- was filmed in '34 as "The Richest Girl in the World" with Miriam Hopkins and Joel McCrea. And this one works as well as the first one did because Laraine Day is just as perfect for this role as Miriam Hopkins was. Hopkins played the role a bit dowdier -- or maybe it's just that Laraine Day can't help shining like an incandescent bulb on camera!

Poor little rich girl Norah Hunter can't find a man who will love her just for herself, as opposed to her vast wealth. Used to allowing her personal assistant to pose as herself in public she decides to try out this "prince and the pauper" style switch in her private life as well and see if the man she's falling for can love her for herself alone.

In both films it's a tightwalk characters and audience tread as the "he loves me--he loves me not" twists and turns wrench us gently this way and that like an old fashioned roller coaster. The supporting cast in this later film have more fleshed out roles -- and comic bits -- than the original and play them with verve.

The plot was made contemporary for the WWII era by making the love interest a pilot and surrounding the radiant Day with handsome enlisted men who have both manners and dispositions which practically no one in our culture seems to carry anymore.

Krasna was always trying out variations on the "no one knows I'm really rich or a princess or a star or whatever -- and will they love me just the same??" theme. But there's something perfectly simple and charming about this particular variation. So much so that two delightful romantic comedies were made of it. And why not -- it's great fun!