Grade: D
Synopsis: An oil tycoon pays a cash-strapped pilot (James Cagney) to kidnap his daughter (Bette Davis) in order to prevent her from marrying a musician.
The Bride Came C.O.D. was a chance for stars James Cagney and Bette Davis to break from their usual fare (he, gangster pictures and her, melodramas) and try their hands at screwball comedy. Unfortunately, the results are pretty disastrous.
For starters, not only do Cagney and Davis both look uncomfortable with the material, but they also have no chemistry. This isn’t as much of a problem early, when their characters are supposed to hate each other, but it’s painfully obvious later when they, of course, fall in love.
That aside, the other big problem is that the movie just isn’t funny. The script by the usually solid Epstein brothers relies on a lot of bad physical gags, like characters falling into cacti, getting buckets of water dumped on their heads, etc.. Not exactly subtle and certainly not funny, the humor, much like the chemistry, feels forced from the outset.
The film’s lone bright spot is Harry Davenport who plays the loveable, but crotchety sole inhabitant of the ghost town Cagney and Davis end up in. He actually has one or two funny lines and steals all his scenes from the big stars, though he’s certainly not enough to make this mess worth watching.
Finally, what is up with Bette Davis’ face on the promotional artwork?
