Kiss the Bride Goodbye
Encyclopedia
Kiss the Bride Goodbye is a 1945
British romantic comedy drama, directed by Paul L. Stein
and starring Patricia Medina
and Jimmy Hanley
. The film also features an early role for Jean Simmons
, almost two years before she achieved stardom in Great Expectations
.
) seizes the chance to meddle in her daughter's life by encouraging the attentions of Joan's older boss Adolphus Pickering (Claud Allister), who is infatuated with her. Pickering proposes marriage, and under pressure from her mother, Joan accepts.
The preparations for the marriage are under way when Jack returns unexpectedly on leave from the army. He is appalled to find Joan in her wedding finery, and persuades her to run away with him. The pair decide to visit Joan's aunt and uncle in another area, and make their way there by train, while Joan's parents are horrified by her disappearance with Jack and fears the worst. When Joan arrives in her bridal gown, her aunt and uncle assume that she and Jack are just married, and prepare a bridal chamber for the couple, much to their embarrassment. Comic misunderstandings ensue all round until Joan finally demands the right to marry the man of her choice.
The subsequent history of the film is unclear. There is a record of a TV showing in the U.S. in 1953, but nothing has been heard of it since. The British Film Institute
has been unable to locate a print for inclusion in the BFI National Archive
and currently classes the film as "missing, believed lost". Due to its interest as a populist production of its time and as a lost Simmons appearance, as well as increasing appreciation from film historians of Stein's directorial output in Britain, the film is included on the BFI's "75 Most Wanted
" list of missing British feature films.
1945 in film
The year 1945 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Paramount Studios releases theatrical short cartoon titled The Friendly Ghost, featuring a ghost named Casper.* With Rossellini's Roma Città aperta, Italian neorealist cinema begins....
British romantic comedy drama, directed by Paul L. Stein
Paul L. Stein
Paul Ludwig Stein was an Austrian-born film director with 67 films to his credit. Stein began his career in Berlin in 1918 and worked exclusively in the German silent film industry until 1926, when he first went to Hollywood, and spent the next five years commuting between Germany and the U.S.,...
and starring Patricia Medina
Patricia Medina
Patricia Paz Maria Medina is an English actress from Liverpool, England. Her father was a Spaniard and her mother was English. Medina began acting as a teenager in the late 1930s...
and Jimmy Hanley
Jimmy Hanley
Jimmy Hanley was a British actor.Born in Norwich, Norfolk, Hanley began his career as a child actor before becoming popular in juvenile roles...
. The film also features an early role for Jean Simmons
Jean Simmons
Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J...
, almost two years before she achieved stardom in Great Expectations
Great Expectations (1946 film)
Great Expectations is a 1946 British film which won two Academy Awards and was nominated for three others...
.
Plot
Factory girl Joan Dodd (Medina) and Jack Fowler (Hanley) are in love and expect to marry in due course. When Jack is called up for war service however, Joan's socially-ambitious mother (Ellen PollockEllen Pollock
Ellen Pollack was a British character actress, mainly appeared on stage in London's West End. She also appeared in several films.Pollack was born in Heidelberg, Germany and died in London, England.-Selected filmography:...
) seizes the chance to meddle in her daughter's life by encouraging the attentions of Joan's older boss Adolphus Pickering (Claud Allister), who is infatuated with her. Pickering proposes marriage, and under pressure from her mother, Joan accepts.
The preparations for the marriage are under way when Jack returns unexpectedly on leave from the army. He is appalled to find Joan in her wedding finery, and persuades her to run away with him. The pair decide to visit Joan's aunt and uncle in another area, and make their way there by train, while Joan's parents are horrified by her disappearance with Jack and fears the worst. When Joan arrives in her bridal gown, her aunt and uncle assume that she and Jack are just married, and prepare a bridal chamber for the couple, much to their embarrassment. Comic misunderstandings ensue all round until Joan finally demands the right to marry the man of her choice.
Cast
- Patricia MedinaPatricia MedinaPatricia Paz Maria Medina is an English actress from Liverpool, England. Her father was a Spaniard and her mother was English. Medina began acting as a teenager in the late 1930s...
as Joan Dodd - Jimmy HanleyJimmy HanleyJimmy Hanley was a British actor.Born in Norwich, Norfolk, Hanley began his career as a child actor before becoming popular in juvenile roles...
as Jack Fowler - Marie LohrMarie LohrMarie Lohr was an Australian film and stage actress.-Biography:Marie Löhr was born in Sydney to Lewis J. Löhr, treasurer of the Melbourne opera house, and his wife, the English actress Kate Bishop...
as Emma Blood - Frederick LeisterFrederick Leister-Filmography:* The Glorious Adventure * The Message * Bracelets * Dreyfus * Down River * The World, the Flesh, the Devil * Evensong * The Iron Duke...
as Capt. Blood - Jean SimmonsJean SimmonsJean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J...
as Molly Dodd - Ellen PollockEllen PollockEllen Pollack was a British character actress, mainly appeared on stage in London's West End. She also appeared in several films.Pollack was born in Heidelberg, Germany and died in London, England.-Selected filmography:...
as Gladys Dodd - Wylie WatsonWylie WatsonWylie Watson was a British actor. Among his best known roles were those of "Mr Memory", an amazing man who commits "50 new facts to his memory every day" in Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 film The 39 Steps, and wily storekeeper Joseph Macroon in the Ealing comedy Whisky Galore!...
as David Dodd
- Claud Allister as Adolphus Pickering
- Muriel GeorgeMuriel GeorgeMuriel George was an English singer and film actress. She appeared in some 55 films between 1932 and 1955.She also appeared on the variety stage and sang on radio with her husband, Ernest Butcher for thirty years...
as Mrs. Fowler - Irene HandlIrene Handl-Life:Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the daughter of an Austrian banker father and French mother. She took to acting at the relatively advanced age of 36, and studied at the acting school run by the sister of Dame Sybil Thorndike...
as Mrs. Victory - Hay PetrieHay PetrieHay Petrie , born David Hay Petrie, was a Scottish actor noted for playing eccentric characters, among them Quilp in The Old Curiosity Shop , the McLaggen in The Ghost Goes West and Uncle Pumblechook in Great Expectations .Hay Petrie went to St Andrew’s Academy, Dundee, and St...
as Fraser - Aubrey MallalieuAubrey MallalieuAubrey Mallalieu was an English actor with a prolific career in supporting roles in films in the 1930s and 1940s....
as Reverend Glory - C. Denier WarrenC. Denier WarrenC. Denier Warren or Denier Warren was an American born actor who appeared extensively on stage and screen from the early 1930s to late 1960s, mostly in the United Kingdom....
as Reporter
Reception and later history
Although the plot of Kiss the Bride Goodbye was variously described as "naïve" and "ridiculous", contemporary critics in the main regarded the film as an enjoyable frivolity with one labelling it "jovial entertainment for the masses". The Film Report said "there are many laughs and few dull moments", but also found some of the humour on the risqué side: "The situations at times come very near the edge and there are many suggestive lines".The subsequent history of the film is unclear. There is a record of a TV showing in the U.S. in 1953, but nothing has been heard of it since. The British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
has been unable to locate a print for inclusion in the BFI National Archive
BFI National Archive
The BFI National Archive is a department of the British Film Institute, and one of the largest film archives in the world. It was originally set up as the National Film Library in 1935; its first curator was Ernest Lindgren. In 1955 its name became the National Film Archive, and in 1992, the...
and currently classes the film as "missing, believed lost". Due to its interest as a populist production of its time and as a lost Simmons appearance, as well as increasing appreciation from film historians of Stein's directorial output in Britain, the film is included on the BFI's "75 Most Wanted
BFI 75 Most Wanted
The BFI 75 Most Wanted is a list compiled by the British Film Institute of their most sought-after British feature films not currently held in the BFI National Archive, and classified as "missing, believed lost". The films chosen range from quota quickies and B-movies to lavish prestige...
" list of missing British feature films.