southfljb June Bride was not a big hit for Warner's at the time. Watching it now it seems no worse than many other films of it's type made during the late 1940's. The problem with the film is Robert Montgomery who in 1948 is way past his days playing dapper playboys or world weary correspondents. He looks old and tired in the film and he calls in the performance, there is no life to it. His chemistry with Bette is MIA, and poor Bette has to pull him along with both hands and deal with a sad script. Bette on the other hand looks great and she gives a good performance, again the only thing wrong here is the sappy script. The great supporting cast including Mary Wickes and Faye Bainter are wasted. The film is worth a watch but it is a weak Warner Bros production and Bette's second to last film for the studio.

mark.waltz The June Bride is actually married earlier to make the June issue of the magazine of which Bette Davis is the editor. She's no Meryl Streep of "The Devil Wears Prada" personality; In fact, she's a very congenial lady, except when ex-beau Robert Montgomery is around, still stung from the fact that he stood her up for a dinner date. "After three years, I figured you weren't coming", she slyly tells him, then cringes when she learns that he's been assigned by their publisher to become her newest writer. She's off to Indiana for a homey wedding where the plump mother of the bride needs constant massages to fit into her new dress, the father keeps the cork off the apple cider and ice inside it to ferment it, the sister of the bride is in love with the groom, and the bride is actually in love with the groom's brother. ...And you think us city folk live soap opera lives!!! This is Bette Davis's first comedy in six years, and she certainly knows how to throw off a witty line or two. She's given a fine sparring partner in Montgomery who did a few of these screwball comedies over at MGM during his heyday there and after war movies and film noir needed a lighter role. Surrounding them on the staff are cynical Fay Bainter and wise-cracking Mary Wickes, a bust of Julius Caesar's given to the bride's mother (Marjorie Bennett) on her wedding day which the husband (Tom Tully) secretly hates, and the sisters (Barbara Bates and Betty Lynn) who aren't exactly loyal to each other. Country folk aren't all butter churns and hog-calling contests, we learn, and the city folk have a thing or two to learn.This is a battle of the sexes comedy that only seems to be out to prove that a woman with a career is not a woman at all, and it is obvious where Montgomery wants Davis to be if he can get her to the alter. Like other career women in Warner Brothers movies (Kay Francis in "Man Wanted", Ruth Chatterton in "Female", Barbara Stanwyck in "Christmas in Connecticut"), Davis finds she can't have both worlds. Yet, you still get the impression that there will still be a tiger underneath the kitten with an apron should Montgomery get his way, 'cause after all, she's Bette Davis, and a tiger never changes her stripes.Yet, in spite of all that, this is still very amusing, and there are some truly funny moments, especially Montgomery's consumption of apple cider and his reaction to what he's doing when he wakes up. The sisters are totally different in personalities, and when Montgomery learns what the sister of the bride is really up to, his reaction is eyebrow raising. It's ironic to see Bennett as the country mother here, recalling her performance as Victor Buono's cockney mama in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" where she didn't share any scenes with Davis. A very young Sandra Gould ("Bewitched's" second Gladys Kravitz) is very funny in her brief role as Davis's boss's secretary, while a young Debbie Reynolds (who went through her own Bette Davis wedding in "A Catered Affair"), is seen in a "don't blink or you'll miss it" moment as a wedding guest, one of the bride's friends.

edwagreen Bette Davis proved in this film that she was certainly adept in comedy as well as her magnificent dramatic performances. She is not dominant in this film, but she matches co-star Robert Montgomery beautifully in this 1948 production.As a magazine editor, lusting for love with Montgomery, she gets her opportunity when he returns to the states following World War 11.The picture isn't only about the two of them. While covering a wedding in Indiana, Montgomery discovers that the bride-to-be is on the rebound from the groom's brother and he decides to rectify that.The picture must have been old home week for Bette. Her co-stars include Mary Wickes, the nurse in "Now, Voyager," (1942) and fellow Oscar winner for 1938's "Jezebel," Faye Bainter. Ironically, Barbara Bates appears briefly in the film. 2 years later she played the girl hot on the heels of Anne Baxter in "All About Eve."

bkoganbing In her next to last film before leaving Warner Brothers, Bette Davis shucked all those heavy dramas, some of her most recent ones among her worst films, for a light comedy in June Bride. Bette was not the June Bride of the film, in fact just who does become the bride is part of the story.The part of career woman Linda Gilman who edits a women's magazine is the kind of part Rosalind Russell was making a career of playing. The film would have been a classic had Russell done this part. Still Bette is capable of breaking casting barriers and she gives it her best. I've a feeling she probably was glad for the change of pace.Her leading man is an old hand at these kind of films. Robert Montgomery who played many a dapper fellow in light comedies at MGM in the Thirties is teamed with Davis and while it's an odd mix, they do create a few sparks. Montgomery had started doing some more serious stuff before World War II. After World War II he did some heavy dramas like They Were Expendable, Lady In The Lake, and Ride The Pink Horse. This film was a return to his roots.Montgomery is a famous correspondent who's called home by the head of his publication conglomerate, Jerome Cowan whose portrayal seems to be modeled on Henry Luce. Cowan's got a sense of humor, he puts Montgomery to work for old flame Davis who's just been made editor of his woman's publication. Her assignment for Montgomery is to write the feature story of a typical mid west wedding in small town Indiana of a young couple randomly selected. The arrival of Davis, Montgomery and a host of magazine employees disrupts this poor family's life and rearranges things for everyone. Some of that is Montgomery's own deliberate doing as he's trying to rekindle a flame or two from his own past.Though the references in the past from McKinley to Truman date the film somewhat it could probably be remade today. The comedic situations about wedding jitters are certainly eternal and men like Montgomery still pursue women like Davis with zest and abandon.