People are voting emotionally.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Absolutely Fantastic

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Whenever I watch a classic movie with two love interest leads with astounding chemistry I'm often left in suspense wanting to see the two together at the end. The Bride Came C.O.D. is one such film.I find William Keighly to be a director of mediocre films; The Bride Came C.O.D. is a major exception. Past the not entirely electrifying opening, once James Cagney and Bette Davis where alone in the dessert and constantly bickering at each other I knew I was going to enjoy the hell out of this film. I was enjoying the presence of these two so much at one point I found some initial disappointment when a third character showed up despite the two being stuck in the wilderness. It felt like someone crashing at a party so it's a good thing that I did grow to like this character; the movie really does get better and better as it progresses.The movie takes place over a less than 24 hour time period and I'm pretty sure in real life two people couldn't go from hating each other to madly in love within a time period of this length, but The Bride Called C.O.D. is movie fantasy. The film has one pivotal scene which elevated the film from being great to excellent in which Davis tells Cagney in a tearful breakdown of how she has had everything handed to her in life. No longer was the movie just a laugh riot, I now had characters whom I was emotionally invested in. It's a testament to Bette Davis as an actress that she has the ability to tug the heart strings like that in an instant. I'm generally not a huge of Davis, I find her roles in numerous soap opera romantic tragedies off putting, thus it was a pleasant surprise to discover her natural ability for comedy. Perhaps that dame could have been undoubtedly the outstanding screwball of her generation!

Enjoyable screwball comedy with Bette Davis and James Cagney, helped out by a great supporting cast that includes Eugene Palette, Jack Carson, George Tobias, William Frawley, Harry Davenport, and many others. WB movies back in the day were more often than not defined by their supporting players. They had a premium stable of actors to choose from and many times they're more enjoyable to watch than the leads.Davis has a lot of fun with this role and, while her comedic talents were always so-so, she shines here. This is also one of the movies where she looks prettiest and curviest. One dress in particular fits her just right.The movie isn't perfect. It drags a bit more than a screwball comedy should. Davis and Cagney, while having nice comedic timing, don't really have much romantic chemistry. So the inevitable conclusion to a film like this might be a bit hard for some to buy. Still, I recommend it to any Bette Davis or James Cagney fan. Also to any fan of WB films from the 1930s and 40s.

Cagney and Davis fans will want to give this one a try and for completists it will deliver a fair amount of fun. However most of the story is rather hokey, and even though the chemistry between the principals don't seem to be what you might expect from a pair of romantic leads, they do spar verbally rather well, which is what I look for in any good screwball comedy. The pair worked before in 1934's "Jimmy the Gent", another picture featuring snappy dialog in which Cagney had a stronger presence than his co-star at the time. This time out they're about on equal footing, with Cagney's character taking pains to stay one step ahead of oil heiress Joan Winfield (Davis), her fiancée Allen Brice (Jack Carson), and authorities determined to capture the man who kidnapped the wealthy socialite.Some of the attempts at slapstick seem forced, as in repeated landings of Miss Davis on various cactus plants, the first time requiring Cagney's help in extracting the offending needles. One wonders what might have been going through Miss Davis' mind as this scene was being filmed, or those of theater goers of the era who already had an entirely different impression of the celebrated actress. For me, the best scenes were those involving Pop Tolliver (Harry Davenport), as demonstrated in the understated handling of his first breakfast meeting with the pair ('You take bacon too.'), and later his surreptitious partnership with Steve Collins (Cagney) to outwit the authorities.The 'C.O.D.' business of the title references the basic plot element of the story - Collins, seeing an opportunity to pay off his airplane, haggles with Joan Winfield's father (Eugene Palette) to deliver his unmarried daughter before an elopement seals the deal. At ten dollars a pound they strike a bargain, eliciting a mid-flight response from Miss Winfield that would frustrate Cagney's character throughout the picture - "You're not even good enough for the cuss words I know."

I had always avoided this flick because I love both its stars and had read and heard not-so-flattering things about it. Finally caught up with it on the beautiful DVD transfer, and was either laughing or smiling from beginning to end, and believe me that's a rarity! How nice to see all those naysayers proved wrong. Granted, this is one of the most contrived and tortured "meet cute" setups in screwball history, but the plot mechanics are dispensed with quickly and it's all Cagney and Davis at their most sparkling from there on. I actually think it's best to watch this not knowing what happens, so I'll just say WATCH IT if you have a liking for either -- or both -- of these stars. And the Epstein-brothers' script is hilarious; it should be studied by today's comedy writers.