JohnHowardReid Ferenc Molnar's stage play, "The Girl from Trieste", was never published in a print edition, and this film version tells us why. Would you believe, it is yet another reworking of the Pygmalion theme? Alas. its weary plot is so studded with dull dialogue, it's no wonder that Franchot Tone and Robert Young hand in such indifferent performances. On the other hand, however, although Dorothy Arzner's direction rarely comes to life, this movie is a definite must-see for Joan Crawford fans. Joan is exquisitely gowned by Adrian, beautifully photographed by George Folsey, and set against some stunning Cedric Gibbons backgrounds (although there are a couple of very obviously backdrops).Definitely one for Crawford fans, but others beware!

Dunham16 This film is an 88 minute talky romantic fantasy melding a variety of concepts. Joan Crawford as the lead sings an alto song and plays a tight ensemble including her husband Franchot Tone, Robert Young, Lynne Carver, Billie Burke, Reginald Owen, George Zucco and Mary Phillips. An uneducated entry level worker the victim of a bet to train Crawford up as a phoney aristocrat smacks of MY FAIR LADY. Tone leading Tyrolean dancers more likely cast in comic operetta matches Tone dressed in peasant gear usually reserved for comic operetta. Crawford at the time she is engaged to be married ruining everything by wearing an inappropriate red gown to a fancy ball smacks of JEZEBEL. These disparate elements are nicely framed in photography and proceed in seemingly logical order making the film an excellent one.

bkoganbing The Bride Wore Red is based on an unpublished Ferenc Molnar play which he probably couldn't get anyone on Broadway interested in. So for a reduced rate he sold the property to MGM which gave it the usual lavish MGM treatment.American accents which bothered some other reviewers didn't bother me. Sometimes they stand out, sometimes they don't. In this case Joan Crawford was cast in a role she played dozens of times before as the poor girl given a chance at riches and does she grab.This variation on the Pygmalion theme starts in a café in Trieste where Crawford sings and presumably will do other things for her supper. It's in the red light district of Trieste. Count George Zucco hires her on a whim to prove that clothes and manner do make the individual. Zucco showers Crawford with a new wardrobe giving her the chance to show off those Adrian gowns and gives her two weeks at a resort in the Tyrol where the high society pleasures itself. To make this last though Crawford has to land a husband and she lands on Robert Young. But he's slightly engaged to Lynne Carver, a sweet young thing. They're traveling with friends Reginald Owen who is a foxy old rogue and married to Billie Burke who has to watch the fox like a hawk.The local postman Franchot Tone is interested in her, but Crawford figures to do better than him. Her only friend is a former café colleague in Mary Phillips who is working as a maid in that hotel. Though the experiment is Pygmalion like, Crawford feels more like Cinderella with the clock inevitably ticking towards midnight.I think you can probably figure out where this all ends if you're any kind of film fan and Crawford fan. Dorothy Arzner's direction sharpens the character that Crawford created in Grand Hotel as an anxious to rise stenographer taking her couple of steps lower in society and seeing if she can make the climb.Franchot Tone who was married to Joan Crawford at the time got a break of sorts in this film. Normally he'd be the society guy who Crawford is trying for. As the common, but somewhat erudite postman for once he's not in formal wear in a film.Another surprise is Billie Burke who together with Mary Boland and Spring Byington was busy playing delightful airheads in her film. She's quite serious and quite good, but inevitably went back to being typecast after this film was completed.The Bride Wore Red will please Joan Crawford fans immensely and this is a most typical example of the kind of character she played in her years at MGM.

tjonasgreen Despite the provocative title and the first few scenes, which suggest this might be an interesting variation on Shaw's "Pygmalion," we're actually back in Joan Crawford's MGM universe, where one suitor isn't enough if you can have two, and where Adrian can be counted on to provide a drop dead gown at regular intervals.This airless, relentlessly phony picture did Crawford no favors. For a major star she is remarkably inexpressive. Her face, so strong, angular and meticulously made up, is striking enough to get all our attention, but this curiosity is never repaid. We search Joan's face looking for fleeting expressions, varying moods, complex emotions but we get only a single mask of anxiety. Crawford in this period seems incapable of shaping a performance or giving a character flesh, blood and heart -- she just sleepwalks from scene to scene looking as perfect and lifeless as a mannequin (coincidentally the title of her next film).If glamor without rhyme, reason or variation is your idea of entertainment, you are welcome to it, but I thought THE BRIDE WORE RED was both strange and boring. By the way, the eponymous dress is kind of tacky but undeniably spectacular, and it sure looks red, even in black and white.