Our Blushing Brides

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Movie
Original title Our Blushing Brides
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1930
length 102 minutes
Rod
Director Harry Beaumont
script Bess Meredyth
production Harry Beaumont for MGM
music Dimitri Tiomkin
camera Merritt B. Gerstad
cut George Hively
occupation

Our Blushing Brides is an American feature film starring Joan Crawford . He finished a series of three films that began with Our Dancing Daughters in 1928, continued with Our Modern Maidens in 1929 and always portrayed the fate of three girlfriends.

action

The three friends Gerry, who works as a mannequin, Connie, a perfumery saleswoman, and Franky, who works in the fabric department, all work for a large department store. They share an apartment and try to catch rich men. Franky, a light-hearted girl with loose moral ideas, quickly becomes the lover of Martin, a playboy. Connie attracts the attention of David Jardine, the useless younger heir to the department store. Gerry is more level-headed than her friends. She is reluctant to accept the affection of Tony Jardine, David's sincere and sensible brother. However, when he tries to make Gerry his lover, she made it clear that she is not available for such amusements. Just as Gerry is about to complain to her friends, the police arrive and arrest Franky, who is suspected of helping Marti with his rip-offs. Connie is also unlucky: David wants to marry a rich heiress and then leaves his lover. Out of desperation, Connie kills herself on the evening of the wedding celebration. The strength of character with which Gerry solves all the problems that arise convince Tony to marry her.

background

With Our Blushing Brides , MGM ended a trilogy of three films that bore all the personal pronouns Our in their titles and began with Our Dancing Daughters in 1928. For Joan Crawford, who began her career as an extra in 1925 and who had gained fame in recent years as a playful flapper , the film marked a turning point in her career. After making the leap to sound film the previous year without any problems, it was time to adapt her role to the changed circumstances. With the worsening global economic crisis, the jazz era with Charleston and short dresses was gradually a thing of the past.

Crawford, always paying close attention to her image, got the studio to give her a dramatic role for the first time in this film. Our Blushing Brides turned the three heroines who were rich heiresses in the previous films into hard-working girls who have to earn their own living. The script asks the fundamental question of whether, in a time of economic uncertainty, values ​​such as virtue and morality have their own status. Or whether the circumstances do not call for economic security to be achieved through morally questionable decisions, such as the liaison with a rich man. This theme was interpreted dozen of times in the films of the years and a whole genre, the confession tales or confession films , established itself from it.

In order to be able to present the mostly female fan Joan Crawford as a poor shop girl in elaborate costumes and expensive silk underwear without any particular breaks in logic, the script turned Jerry into a mannequin who spends a large part of the action on the catwalk in changing clothes.

The film was the second of six joint films by Crawford with Robert Montgomery . Today the film is best known for the sets by Cedric Gibbons , who designed some of the spectacular Art Deco sets.

Joan Crawford was well aware of the inferior quality of the material when she told Roy Newquist:

"[E] in another failure. Poor Bob Montgomery didn't stand a chance against the script, luckily my role was okay. "

Theatrical release

The film came into national distribution on July 19, 1930. A production cost of $ 337,000 was the standard for a Joan Crawford film of the time. In the United States, he makes a substantial sum of $ 874,000. With the foreign income of 337,000 US dollars and a cumulative total result of 1,211,000 US dollars, the studio was able to realize a profit of 412,000 US dollars in the end. Crawford was thus one of the most economically valuable stars in society.

Reviews

Lucius Beebe in the New York Times found:

“Everything is valued and would just be depressing amidst all the false elegance, were it not for the humorous and intelligent play of Joan Crawford, who approaches her role as a mannequin with enough self-confidence for a marquise and enough virtue for a whole regiment. If the spectacle about a saleswoman who behaves with the appearance of Park Avenue is not entirely convincing, at least it is amusing, even if there are doubts that this is exactly what the director intended. "

Photoplay knew what female fans wanted from a Crawford film.

“You must see Joan Crawford in those silk underwear! The film has real potential at the box office! "

literature

  • Roy Newquist (Ed.): Conversations with Joan Crawford . Citadel Press, Secaucus, NJ 1980, ISBN 0-8065-0720-9 .
  • Lawrence J. Quirk : The Complete Films of Joan Crawford . Citadel Press, Secaucus, NJ 1988, ISBN 0-8065-1078-1 .
  • Lawrence J. Quirk, William Schoell: Joan Crawford. The Essential Biography . University Press, Lexington, KY. 2002, ISBN 0-8131-2254-6 .
  • Alexander Walker: Joan Crawford. The Ultimate Star . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1983, ISBN 0-297-78216-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ [A] nother dud. Poor Bob Montgomery didn't stand a chance with the script; fortunately my part was okay.
  2. ↑ It is all quite lamentable and would be downright depressing in its spurious elegance if it were not for the humorous and intelligent acting of Joan Crawford, who plays the part of a mannequin with enough assurance for a marchessa and enough virtue for a regiment. If the spectacle of a shopgirl carrying herself with the sophisticated aplomb of Park Avenue is not at all convincing, it is at least humorous, although it is to be doubted if the director of the film realized it.
  3. ↑ You must see Joan Crawford in those lace step-ins! Swell box office picture!