Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Better Late Then Never

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Copyright 9 July 1936 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 9 July 1936 (ran one week). Australian release (as a "B" feature): 7 October 1936. 75 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Working-class couple separate when wife has a yen for clothes and luxuries that husband cannot afford.COMMENT: The film has its moments, thanks to an agreeable cast, fighting their way through a script that is not nearly as amusing or scintillating as it obviously thinks it is, plus some very attractive photography (e.g. the scene in the lightless apartment) - though Miss Stanwyck is not lit all that flatteringly. Willie Best is prominently featured in the credits, though his part has been removed and is now limited to a two-shot of him entering the marriage bureau and a long shot of him in the background of same! Unfortunately, the cast is also saddled with Ned Sparks, whose monotonous cigar-faced delivery of quite ordinary lines makes them seem even slower and less funny. This character just doesn't belong in what was doubtless conceived as a light comedy of manners. Gene Raymond is more animated than usual and Robert Young is very effective as a pestiferous playboy.

Fashion model Barbara Stanwyck is making $50 a week. Aspiring but as-yet-unsuccessful engineer Gene Raymond is only making $25 but wants her to marry him and quit her job and stay at home. Like a dummy, she lets herself be talked into it. Presumably in 1936 some viewers would have been sympathetic to Raymond's insistence that "No wife of mine is going to work." That's not the problem with this movie. The problem is that Raymond's character is pushy and arrogant and we just don't see any sparks between him and Stanwyck that would make us believe that she could find him tolerable, much less irresistible. Anyway, Stanwyck stays home and keeps house, eventually getting behind on the bills to the point where she secretly goes out and starts modeling again. The bills are getting paid now and she can even afford to hire Hattie McDaniel to come in and cook.... But what will happen if Raymond finds out that she's working? Oh my. Solid supporting actors do their best to cheer things up but they don't have much to work with. Ned Sparks and Helen Broderick play the wisecrack-spouting old married couple who hang out with Stanwyck and Raymond. Robert Young is a rich drunken playboy who hangs around trying to help. Unfortunately, the strong cast and decent production values just can't keep this picture moving...it's one of those that seems longer than its 81 minutes.

Bride Walks Out, The (1936) ** (out of 4) Disappointing film from RKO has Barbara Stanwyck playing fashion model Carolyn who is courted by a blue collar working man (Gene Raymond). The two are married and he forces her to quit her job as he thinks they can survive on his $35-a-week paycheck but soon she goes to work behind his back and is courted by a rich man (Robert Young) who is in love with her. THE BRIDE WALKS OUT starts off pretty flat and just continues to go downhill from there. Despite the good cast there's really no life in this comedy-drama for a number of reasons but the biggest has to be the lack of chemistry between Stanwyck and Raymond. Not for a second did they feel like a real married couple and throughout the movie I had a hard time believing these two people would ever actually be together. Another problem is the screenplay, which for some reason makes the husband out to be the dumbest man I've seen from any Hollywood film of the 1930s. I watch dozens, if not hundreds, of films from this era and for the life of me I was struggling to come up with a dumber male character. The film has a very sexist attitude about it, which goes against many of the roles Stanwyck played throughout the decade but there are several bits of dialogue where it's said that for a man to be "manly" that he should hit a woman. Add on more sexist stuff including the fact that he doesn't believe women should work and that he's constantly doing and saying one dumb thing after another, the viewer really can't help but hate the guy and want to see Stanwyck get away from him. The one good thing in the film is the chemistry between Stanwyck and Young but you'll be disappointed in how the screenplay plays this off in the end but what's an even bigger head-scratcher is that it's never really explained why Young becomes such a vital part in her life. Ned Sparks tries to add some comic relief and fails and film buffs will also enjoy seeing Hattie McDaniel and Billy Gilbert in small roles. You can also quickly see Willie Best at a court sequence but he's not given a single line of dialogue. This attractive cast might make fans tune in when the film is shown on TCM but you're bound to be disappointed.

Comparing this film to THE PALM BEACH STORY is an exercise in ignorance. It's OK, but lacking in wit and spark. If anything, it's yet another example of how films of this era shot down women who had hopes of making something of their lives. For that, it is perhaps worth seeing. If you're looking for a sparkling, witty comedy, move on. Fans of Stanwyck will find her at her best, as always...but Gene Reynolds, as always, brings things to a crashing halt. Helen Broderick is at her wise-cracking best, but it's not really good enough to save what is basically a formulaic, Depression-era comedy...one with an all-too-familiar ending. Ho-hum, and all that.