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Joan Crawford Goes on "Loan Out" With Pleasing Comic Results
"They All Kissed The Bride", marks a slight variation in Joan Crawford's early 1940's movie career and being a Columbia release has a different feel to it than most of Joan's MGM features at this time, despite the presence of frequent costar Melvyn Douglas as the male lead. Originally set as a starring vehicle for Carole Lombard who was due to start this film upon her return from a War Bond selling tour, the film's production schedule was thrown into disarray by Lombard's tragic death in a plane crash on the return leg of her tour. At very short notice and as a homage to Miss Lombard, Joan Crawford not only stepped into the lead role but very generously donated her entire salary to wartime charities. When her agent still tried to collect his 10% fee for her services however Joan fired him on the spot!Despite starting off as a hard nosed, no nonsense businesswoman in the beginning this role reveals a delightfully comic and carefree Joan Crawford in the later stages that comes as a pleasant surprise after all her strongly dramatic work as one of the Queens of MGM soap operas for over a decade.

Joan Crawford stars as Margaret Drew, better known to her terrified employees, as the imperious "M J" because of her shrewish, icy, and ruthless handling of the company that she has inherited from her late father a highly successful founder of a trucking empire . Margaret expects total dedication to the job whatever the cost and is quick to come down hard on anyone who appears to fall below her high expectations and standards. Margaret's adage in life could be "if you can't do it well then I'll find someone who can". Margaret's tyrannical nature also flows over into her family life where she strikes terror into life of both her fluttery mother Mrs. Drew (Billie Burke), and her younger sister Vivian (Helen Parrish) who she is forcing into a loveless but socially prominent marriage against her will. Margaret's orderly life composed of her giving the orders and all others obeying is turned upside down by a "tell it as it is" journalist Michael Holmes (Melvyn Douglas), who writes a very unflattering series of newspaper articles painting Margaret as a controlling and bullying sour puss who is, in his words "more a machine than a woman". Horrified by her name being besmirched Margaret prepares to do battle with Michael. What infuriates Margaret so much is Michael's carefree lack of fear of her and his ability to put her down at every turn. Despite his dislike of her management practices and the way she treats people in general Michael finds himself attracted to Margaret and sets out to find the real woman under the steely facade. Aware of how cut off she is from the grass roots drivers that have made her father's company the success it is, Michael persuades a reluctant Margaret to accompany him to their annual dance where she is passed off simply as Michael's "date" as none of the employees know what Margaret looks like. What passes that evening is a lesson in humility for Margaret as she quickly finds herself eating a greasy hot dog, and doing a frantic jitterbug with Michael's pal Johnny Johnson (Allen Jenkins. The next morning Margaret's board of directors including the befuddled Marsh (Roland Young) are amazed to find Margaret arrive late for work, badly dressed and carrying her jitterbug trophy which she proceeds to do a dance around the office with. Margaret begins to show a softer more caring side to her character with all her staff and family which has never been revealed to anyone and her former hatred for Michael turns to love. The final scene hilariously reveals Margaret and Michael getting together in one of the company trucks which formerly were never to be used by Margaret's orders for "personal use", but which now is serving to take them away to their wedding.

To witness Joan Crawford's character becoming all perplexed and weak kneed at a man's attention is not a sight most movie goers in the early 1940's experienced and this is why "They All Kissed The Bride", is such a joyous viewing experience as it reveals Joan's seldom seen flair for light comedy. Her chemistry with Melvyn Douglas is excellent as always and was something they enjoyed in all their other film work together such as "The Shining Hour",and especially in "A Woman's Face". Alexander Hall's sure direction of this non traditional role for Joan Crawford is sure and efficient and Margaret's transformation from machinelike tyrant to love struck individual is smooth and totally believable. Hall manages Crawford's light comic moments like her final scene in the back of the truck and the memorable jitterbug sequence for maximum effect and indeed it is hard now to really imagine Carole Lombard, for all her gifts as an actress being as effective in these scenes. Crawford and the other women are all flatteringly gowned by designer Irene and this film began a collaboration between the star and the designer that went on for many years.

As a big fan of Joan Crawford I never doubted her great dramatic abilities but until I saw "They All Kissed The Bride" for the first time recently I couldn't imagine how she would handle the light hearted transformation that her character ungoes in the last half of this film. Needless to say I was impressed and it should be an essential item in all Crawford collections. It displays Crawford in a most pleasing characterisation and made demands on her as an actress that many of her MGM efforts at that time were failing to do. Crawford's great triumph in "Mildred Pierce", was still 3 years off here but it is a terrific little vehicle for this legendary actress. Be sure to catch Joan Crawford being "defrosted", by Cupid's arrow in Columbia Pictures "They All Kissed The Bride".

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NOT A BAD CRAWFORD COMEDY.
Margaret J. Drew, known as M.J. by her intimidated employees, has taken over command of the vast Drew financial empire from her late father. When reporter Michael Holmes begins to publish exposes about Drew's tyrannical employment practices, the imperious M.J. demands that he be investigated. A pretty enjoyable film considering its rather contrived storyline, it nevertheless should please the mulititude of fans who still see in Crawford something I don't personally - generally speaking. The film was originally to have starred Carole Lombard, but she was tragically killed in a airplane crash after a highly successful War Bond drive. The script was re-written to suit Joan of Crawford. To her credit, Joanie donated her entire salary for this film to various charities in memory of the much-loved Lombard. As trivia footnotes, cinematographer used a special new "lavender lighting" technique which was used as an experiment in order to enhance the brilliance of Crawford's eyes (!) The film's ending credits acknowledge thusly: "Miss Joan Crawford appears through the courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer". The working title of the film was HE KISSED THE BRIDE & a deleted piece of dialogue ran: "When I want a sneak, I'll hire the best and get a Jap!"...Definitely politically incorrect by today's standards!

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Joan does a great job with comedy, too---
Joan Crawford took this role after the original star, Carole Lombard, was killed in an airplane crash. She donated her entire salary to the war effort when it was completed. She quickly wins my attention in the movie, because she plays the role so well. She wants success, and having to deal with a flighty mother and sister makes her job very difficult. Her nemesis, played so well by Melvyn Douglas, slowly wins her heart and falls for her himself. It is fun to watch the younger Miss Crawford play the hard-nosed type that she certainly was associated with later in her career. She hits her marks well within the movie, and she seemed very comfortable with her frequent costar Mr. Douglas. Even though it has the typical Hollywood ending (which I personally enjoy very much), it is well worth your time to watch. Sit back, relax, and laugh at the foibles of these unique characters.