Mr. Bride

"Mr. Bride" is proof that even a very funny guy like Charley Chase can make a clunker. And like many of his films, it was directed by Charley's brother, James Parrot.

The story is a one-joke comedy....and it's one that wears thin very quickly. Charley's boss is planning a honeymoon but the man also has an obsessive-compulsive personality. In other words he wants to micromanage every single detail of his honeymoon. And, to do so, he plans on taking two honeymoons...the first without his bride in order to make sure every detail is perfect. But he needs a fill-in for the bride and he drafts Charley to accompany him and pose as the wife. What follows is a long, extended gay marriage joke...which might have worked had there been more to the story than that...but there isn't. Overall, a very disappointing film...one that just didn't make me laugh.

As the plot summary notes, Charley's boss, J.P. 'Dell' Henderson, the flea-powder king, wants to get married, and to make sure the honeymoon will be a success, he goes through the entire honeymoon with Charley, calling and treating Charley as 'Mrs. Henderson'. Charley has a fairly limited number of comic reactions here, mostly sulky and between the outdated plot and lack of interesting gags it quickly becomes repetitious.

This was, of course, from Charley's weakest period: he doesn't sing, his female lead is Muriel Evans and while Dell Henderson, his virtual co-star, is a capable comedian too, he is also locked into a one-note performance. For especial Chase fans only.

Charley Chase's comedy shorts are always enjoyable and among the best two-reel comedies. MR. BRIDE is one of his funniest, even if it is perilously close to a one-gag picture. That one gag is played to perfection however by all involved.

Charley's boss is all-business, even when it comes to romance. He plans to propose to a young woman and wants to make sure he will be at a success at being a "husband" so he decides to practice - with Charley as his wife!!! He makes Charley accompany him on his business trip where he repeatedly puts poor Charley in situations in public where he is perceived to be the boss man's "spouse", even to the point where he introduces Charley to people as his wife and calls him sweet endearments in front of other people! A high point of the absurdity is a restaurant scene where he lovingly feeds Charley the cherry of his dessert with Charley squirming all the way! What makes the film quite racy is the fact that no one who witnesses the "love birds" in action is aware it's just a "practice run" - clearly everyone presumes they are a gay couple which is quite an outrageous comic gag for a 1932 film. Indeed, when Charley and boss get to their hotel suite one wonders just how far the boss will take this illusion! Fortunately, the real little woman shows up in the nick of time and much to Charley's dismay, it's a girl he himself fancies. Who will the real girl choose - Charley or his boss? Heck, one might even say the question is who will the boss choose, the girl or Charley! This is one of the most hilarious short films I've ever seen and kudos to Charley Chase for the daring situations (certainly for the era) he was willing to go into for a laugh.

One aspect not mentioned by other reviewers was the Roaring Twenties fashion, lingering into the 30s, among the rich society crowd of a (presumably lesbian or bisexual) woman dressing and acting like a man. One of the women commented to her mother that she had seen them with boyish bobbed hair and mannish clothes but this was the first one with a moustache. So there was not only the idea of two men being married but of a man and a bisexual woman being married. I'm sure poor Charley didn't want to be taken for a woman anymore than as a homosexual man.

The fact that they weren't denied access anywhere spoke to the liberalism of high society then. The idea that marriage is a business arrangement and a proposal is the making of a contract would go along with that of companionate marriage being more sensible and urbane than old fashioned-Victorian, small town romantic notions.

I hadn't realized that a woman's corsage was worn on the side at the waist then because at the lapel it was a man's boutonniere. I find early films educational as well as entertaining. I'd choose one made in that era over one made about that era--unless it had been made by people who had fairly recently lived through it, such as the WWI stories of the 20s with former flying aces.

Charley Chase's great comedy shorts often centered around an embarrassing situation that befalls Charley, and the ever more humiliating complications that result when he tries politely to salvage his way out of it. "Mr. Bride" features possibly one of his very most embarrassing situations, as Charley is stuck with a borderline-insane boss who has decided to force Charley to rehearse a honeymoon with him (though he hasn't yet proposed) with Charley in character as his bride.

The gags that follow from this are quite good, with people registering shock and derision in different ways as politeness forces most of them to accept Charley as a woman because they have been told he is. However, the boss' idea just seems so nonsensical that the beautiful illogic- logic of the comedy in some of Chase's best shorts is missing the "logic" element. The comedy is still funny, but it's missing even the cracked sense that would make it better.

There's also the slight handicap that in a situation like this - where Charley is just clearly not female -- he can't really act much on his surroundings. Instead of mustering all his manners and trying to play it off as if he's still a perfect gentleman who can explain everything, Charley can only whimper about his plight. It's not as good, but fortunately he's a skilled enough comedy performer that he pulls it off.

There's some pretty obvious subtext (or maybe even just text) here about people's reactions to apparent homosexuality, and that plays a little differently now than it would have in 1932, but in either year that vein of comedy is on a constant note throughout this film. It will either make you laugh every time that man is being treated like another man's wife, or it won't.

There is a cute wrap-up that gets Charley engaged to Muriel Evans, which is nice, but the very final gag seems to come out of nowhere.

"Mr. Bride" is certainly flawed compared with many of Charley Chase's best shorts, but his strengths applied to the material still make it quite a funny piece.