Child Bride (1938) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Cult	Short Film
Rating
Year Of Production	1938
Running Time	59:29 (Case: 62)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Harry Revier
Studio Distributor	Gryphon Entertainment	Starring	Shirley Mills Bob Bollinger Warner Richmond Diana Durrell Dorothy Carrol George Humphreys Frank Martin George Morrell Angelo Rossitto Al Bannon
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Dual
RPI	$19.95	Music	Felix Mills

     Under the guise of educating the public about the perils of sexual promiscuity, such as sexually transmitted diseases, unmarried mothers, prostitution and homosexuality, filmmakers from the 30s to the 50s sought to get away with raising otherwise forbidden topics in a titillating way, “sexploitation”, as long as there was a message and moral at the end. Gryphon have released a 6 film, 3 DVD collection entitled Horny – Sexplotation Films from the 30’s to the 50’s, which is a fascinating look at how sexual topics were portrayed in films during those three decades.

     Child Bride (aka Child Bride of the Ozarks) was written and directed by Harry Revier, who directed 28 titles in his career including the serial Lost City in 1935. The star Shirley Mills was 12 years old when it was made; she had few other roles but she did play in John Ford’s acclaimed The Grapes of Wrath in 1940 with Henry Fonda.

     Child Bride, despite the tagline “ a throbbing drama of shackled youth”, is not about youthful lust at all, rather the opposite. Instead, Child Bride is a film with a social message, campaigning against the custom, still then legal in some states of the U.S., of men marrying girls as young as twelve years old. The film starts with a disclaimer, and a message that could not be plainer:

”we aim neither to ridicule nor defend their mode of living . . . and if our story will help to abolish Child Marriage – it will have served its purpose”.

     Pre-teen Jennie (Shirley Mills) lives with her father Ira (George Humphreys) and mother Flora (Dorothy Carrol) in a cabin in the backwoods of Thunderhead Mountain. She plays innocently with her friend Freddie (Bob Bollinger) and attends school where Ilene Carol (Diana Durrell), herself a girl from the area who was fortunate enough to leave and get an education, has returned to be the town’s teacher. Ilene campaigns against the practice, prevalent in the mountain community, of men taking girls as young as 12 as brides and her actions alienate some of the men in the community, including brutal bully Jake Bolby (Warner Richmond). One night Jake and his cronies abduct Ilene and take her into the woods where she is saved in the nick of time by Ira. Although a decent man, Ira has his own problems, including drink, and one rainy night Jake sees his chance to get even. When Ira returns home drunk and fights with Flora, Jake stabs him to death and places the blame on Flora. The price for his silence is taking Jennie in marriage. Powerless to resist, Flora agrees, although other forces are in play that may just be able to prevent another child bride being taken.

     Child Bride is a melodrama with a message; or rather, a message with a melodrama. While the film has some tense sequences, such as the abduction of the teacher that is well handled, plus a thread of humour, the plotting of the story is all over the place. For example, Freddie’s father Mike is shot early in the film, and vows revenge, but this goes no-where. Part way through Ira, who has been portrayed as a decent man, turns violent and unsympathetic in an instant. The role of the school teacher, so much a catalyst for the early sequences, pretty much disappears towards the end. It is as if the admirable campaign against child brides and the resolution of the main story line are pretty much unrelated. Yet, and despite the dialogue and acting being very stilted and melodramatic, this is an interesting film with an important message.

     Child Bride is included in the 6 film, 3 DVD collection Horny – Sexplotation Films from the 30’s to the 50’s, a box set from Gryphon. The films are: Sex Madness (1938) and The Wild and Wicked (1956) on disc 1 with the additional short film Boys Beware (1961), Damaged Lives (1933) and Gambling with Souls (1936) plus the short film How Much Affection (1957) on disc 2 and Test Tube Babies (1948) and Child Bride (1938) with the short film What Makes a Good Party (1950) on disc 3.

Video

     Child Bride is presented in a ratio of 1.33:1, and is not 16x9 enhanced. The original ratio was 1.37:1 and certainly at times the cropping is apparent.

     This is a soft print, however, and perhaps surprisingly, it has the best detail of any film in this box set. This is not to say that the print is sharp, it’s not and there is considerable variation, but sequences such as the rainstorm (37:25) are not too bad at all. Shadow detail is still mostly indistinct, but at least you mostly can see what is happening during the night abduction of the teacher. Blacks are also better than usual, although they still have problems and are sometimes quite mottled in appearance. Contrast and brightness varied, there is macro blocking and missing frames. There are also numerous scratches throughout the print, and both positive and negative artefacts, although most are not too bad. The Mill Creek Logo appears in the bottom right hand of the frame at 23:51, 37:25 and 53:15.

     There are no subtitles.

     The summary? This is an over 70 year old unrestored print. It certainly does have issues with softness and artefacts, but is still the best print in this box set, better than films 10 and 20 years younger. Note that the scores given have been adjusted, as it is not valid to compare this print with those of modern films.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is an English Linear PCM track at 1536 Kbps. It comes with a hiss, especially noticeable in places without music, a few crackles and the occasional drop out. Mostly it is acceptable except for the very loud crackle that persists for about 20 seconds around 22:27. Dialogue is mostly OK, effects such as the rain storm, while flat, are not too bad for a film of this age There is no surround or sub woofer use.

     The score is uncredited. It is quite melodramatic and suits the film, resisting the temptation to use “hill-billy” music.

     I did not notice any lip synchronization issues.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     There are no extras as such, but on the same disc as Test Tube Babies and Child Bride is the short film (10:32) What Makes a Good Party (1950). This is an instructional film produced with the collaboration of the Head, Homemaking Education Department, Mississippi State College, and it really shows an innocent time of well dressed boys and girls, party games and not a hint of alcohol! The key apparently to a good party is planning. Black and white, with numerous small artefacts and obvious analogue tape origins, a slight hiss on the audio and some lip sync issues.

     I cannot find a record on sales sites of Child Bride being available in other regions.

     I cannot find any equivalent of the Horny box set package in any other region.

     Child Bride is a melodrama with a social message, campaigning against the custom, still then legal in some states of the U.S., of men marrying brides as young as twelve years old. Despite the dialogue and acting being stilted and melodramatic, this is an interesting film with an important message.

     The video has issues with softness and artefacts, but is still the best print in this box set, better than films 10 and 20 years younger. The audio is as one would expect from an over 70 year old unrestored non-mainstream film.

     Child Bride is included in the 6 film, 3 DVD collection Horny, a box set of sexploitation tales from the 1930s to 1950s from Gryphon for a RRP of $19.95. The films taken together are a fascinating window on how sexual topics were portrayed in films during those three decades.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall