Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

kidboots When Mary Astor flunked her talkie test (hard to believe but true) Fox, who had been paying her a top salary, didn't want to know her anymore. After a lean time being rejected for jobs she was picked up by Pathe/Radio where she was reunited with Lloyd Hughes for the distinctly underwhelming "The Runaway Bride". 1930 was a strange year for talkies with most of the studios (especially small ones like Pathe) still fine tuning and finding their way. For example a film from Tiffany - "Extravagance" (also with Lloyd Hughes) to me seemed to be a lot more "filmic" and interesting than this one. It just didn't seem to know what it wanted to be. The credits began with the jaunty song "Lovable and Sweet" so you thought - romantic comedy!! Even the initial scenes of Mary and Dick (Mary Astor and David Newell, an actor who got lost in the early thirties shuffle) driving off to marriage and happiness. But by the time they reach the motel Mary realises what a sap she has been - Dick is a spoiled rich kid who won't work and whose idea of economizing is ordering 8 suits instead of 12!! He then becomes a caveman and when she won't go through with the marriage, locks her in the apartment. Meanwhile the previous tenant, a jewel robber, has just pulled a job and breaks into his old apartment where a gunfight ensues. There are snatches of action but like all early talkies when people engage in conversation the action stops and everyone stands around hoping the hidden mike will pick up their conversation.The reason to keep watching is Natalie Moorehead. Mary Astor is completely first class but Moorehead just grabs your attention. Initially she plays a typical maid (in these pre-coders) whose IQ would be stretched if it went to double digits. She informs Mary of a job she has just secured as cook to a wealthy businessman, Mr. Blaine (Lloyd Hughes) and Mary gives her $300 to change identities. She wants to escape her husband-to-be and also the robbers and the police, who think she is mixed up in it. When Moorehead reappears it is in another guise completely. She is now a hard talking gun moll (that's more like the Natalie I know) who is after the pearls she thinks Mary has - of course she is planning to double cross everyone!!!Suddenly everyone turns up at Blaine's house for a showdown, Mary is kidnapped and Blaine is shot in the arm as he attempts to rescue Mary from the gang's clutches, who also have their hideout at the back of a local hospital. Dick just fades out of the movie.Mary Astor was clearly an asset to any movie, no matter how dire, and talkies revealed she had a beautiful clear voice. Her next movie was class all the way - she played Ann Harding's materialistic sister in "Holiday".

MartinHafer Wow...this is one of the strangest first half hours of any film I have ever seen. Believe it or not, the first 15 minutes of the film have just about NOTHING to do with where the film goes next--and in the process, it strains credibility WAAAY past the breaking point! The film begins with Mary Astor being driven by a fiancé who is an irresponsible thrill-seeker. Again and again, he nearly gets them killed by his reckless and super-high speed driving. Yet, despite this, she STILL plans on marrying the jerk--which irritated me quite a bit.Eventually, Mary starts to have doubts about following through with the marriage--but his driving (oddly) didn't seem to be the final straw. Here is where things get really, really contrived--and rather crazy!! The fiancé steps out of the room they rented and Mary somehow gets locked in the place. In the meantime, a detective stops by and demands to be let in--and she lies that she's not dressed when all she really needed to say was she couldn't get out of the room! And, by the way, did he stop by and why did she lie?! This made no sense--nor did it make sense when, out of the blue, a criminal climbs into the room between the time the detective knocks on the door and before he returns with a pass key!! What are the odds?!? And, in the process, the criminal shoots a cop who is chasing him!!! So, Mary is locked in a room, a detective stops by BEFORE there is a crime committed, a real crime is then committed and the criminal chooses this particular room for a hideout, the crook shoots and kills another cop before he is also shot dead, but before dying he hides the loot in Mary's bag!!!! If all this doesn't sound utterly ridiculous, it gets worse! After the detective leaves but before he returns with the pass key, the maid arrives and lets Mary out of the room. Now what would any SANE person do? Well, according to this film, you pay the maid a fortune (for 1930) and take a job the maid was going to take in another part of town--going undercover to avoid the cops even though you'd done NOTHING (other than appear in a bad film). All this mess involving the police occurred in only about eight minutes in the film!! The next portion of the film is like yet another film crammed into one very, very busy movie. Mary is now a cook and the bachelor for whom she is working is very taken by her--and it's PAINFULLY obvious that they will fall in love by the end of the film. Why couldn't they have just kept the first portion of the film with the irresponsible fiancé and this section where she becomes the cook for this swell guy? After all, the intervening portion is just too goofy and stupid...and really undoes the entire film. Overall, the impact is very poor--and a movie that isn't really worth your time unless you LIKE 3rd rate films with occasionally bad sound (which was not terribly uncommon for an early talking picture). It's a bad film for so many reasons...but rarely is it boring!!

wes-connors Wealthy young Mary Astor (as Mary Gray) and tall playboy David Newell (as Richard "Dick" Mercer, Jr.) leave New York for Atlantic City, intending to elope. But, when Mr. Newell says he'd rather travel than work, Ms. Astor gets cold feet. Newell locks her in their hotel room, hoping a scandal about the couple running off and not marrying will make Astor change her mind. But, Astor prefers likewise attractive Lloyd Hughes (as George Edward Blaine), who is not only more responsible, but also rich.While Astor is locked in her hotel room, a jewel thief enters through the window and secretly stashes some pearls in her handbag. The thief dies in a shoot-out, while Astor screams. Then, lead thug Francis McDonald (as Barney Black) arrives, looking for the jewels, which are secretly stolen by moll and maid Natalie Moorhead (as Clara Muldoon). Local lawman Paul Hurst (as Daly) investigates. Astor is wanted by the police, then kidnapped and molested by thugs. Mr. Hughes must save her in time… This thick-plotted "talkie" was directed by actor Donald Crisp, who did some impressive work with D.W. Griffith, Douglas Fairbanks, and Buster Keaton. Though a success directing silent films, Mr. Crisp decided to concentrate solely on acting, after turning in one all-talking film. This turned out remarkably well, in the long run. "The Runaway Bride" does have some good locations, featuring 1920s automobiles - those old tires wore out quickly. Astor has a fun rapport with Hughes and Newell.***** The Runaway Bride (5/4/30) Donald Crisp ~ Mary Astor, Lloyd Hughes, David Newell, Paul Hurst

calvinnme ...one, of course, is Mary Astor in a very early role that she handles quite well in spite of the fact that the plot, the direction, and all of her male costars are so wooden that you could probably build a small bonfire out of the lot of them. Mary's good girl looks and natural handling of dialogue cause her seem like the only thing three dimensional on the screen, with one exception.That exception would be the second reason to watch this film, and the only other female in the cast. For you precode fans out there, look really close at the frumpy seemingly dense Clara, the maid at the sea-side resort - that's Natalie Moorhead looking incredibly unglamorous considering all of her femme fatale appearances in movies like "The Office Wife".As for the rest of it all I can say is it is ponderously bad. The jist of the plot is that Mary (Mary Astor) is a society girl that has eloped with one of her society crowd only to find out that, after they have registered as man and wife in a seaside hotel but before they actually get married, that her potential husband seems to think that a man's place is in a deck chair - he has no desire to work at all. She changes her mind about the marriage. Her fiancé may be a lay-about but he apparently also has some caveman in him too. He locks her in the hotel room while he goes to find a minister, ignoring her wishes. While she is trying to find a way to escape, her room is invaded first by a mortally wounded jewel thief and then by the cops that think that Mary must be part of the gang that planned the caper.The police sergeant is a real bully and as for his police work, he makes Barney Fife look like Sherlock Holmes. He seems to really enjoy pushing around women when he isn't having trouble reciting his lines. When he comes across the real bad guys, he practically tips his hat to them - actually I think he does tip his hat to them.This is real tough sledding to get through, and only the performances of the two female players distinguish it. Stagey beyond belief and with acting technique left over from the silent era, I guess it's almost a toss-up as to whether or not it's worth your time.