Review for Happy is the Bride

What better way to while away 80 minutes on a lazy Sunday than to brew a nice cup of tea, indulge in a couple of shortcake biscuits to dip in and watch a cosy, gentle British comedy from the late 1950’s. ‘Happy is the Bride’ certainly fits the bill with its undemanding story-line, its gentle humour, its veritable ‘who’s who’ cast of British comedy greats and it’s wonderful, high contrast black and white cinematography. In short, it may be a bit short on thrills but it’s a corker of a film if the mood is right.


It doesn’t quite qualify as a Boulting Brothers comedy (just Roy involved in this one as Director and writer) but all the key ingredients are here and in my view it feels like part of the canon, sitting comfortably aside ‘Private’s Progress’. ‘I’m Alright Jack’ and ‘Carlton-Browne of the FO’. Just for starters it features many of the same cast – notably a young Ian Carmichael and Terry Thomas, untypically playing a local-yokel policeman in this one.


The film opens on a village cricket green, perfectly positioned outside a picture-card pub (in Bray for those who like to know where their films were made).


Dithery upper-class lad David Chaytor ( Ian Carmichael ) proposes, after a great deal of stuttering, to the very pretty Janet Royd ( Jeanette Scott ) and she accepts. As her young sister is within ear shot, within minutes the whole village is buzzing with the news.


Almost immediately Janet’s parents (played superbly by the constantly sighing Cecil Parker and Edith Sharp) start to make plans. Naturally, things do not go as smoothly as they might hope.


Relatives start to arrive and a parade of locals also become involved (including the wonderful Joyce Grenfell and Irene Handl as the dress-maker). It’s not long before the family home descends into chaos. Her sister arrives and appears to have left her husband, and her brother (Nicholas Parsons) turns up with his own fiancé in tow – an irritating ‘hipster’ who flirts with any male available including David.


As a result, Janet breaks the whole marriage off, convinced David has fallen for her brother’s fiancé. In the meantime, David’s grumpy Father (a cold City man played to perfection by John Les Mesurier) arrives but is mistaken for ‘help’ and ignored for half an hour and the house descends into total farce.



David, determined to make a go of it, drives Janet to their new apartment in London to patch things up but on their way back (and to the wedding) he manages to run over police-man Terry Thomas’s bike with a consequent court case to further hold up their arrival.



Whilst a bit thin on any narrative beyond the classic farce, it’s great fun and an effortless watch with some laugh aloud moments.

The cast is British comedy gold and even makes room for smaller players like Eric Barker ( as the vicar ), Athene Sayler, , Cardew Robinson Sam Kydd, Thorley Walters, Miles Malleson and Victor Maddern. If the names mean anything to you then you’ll kind of know what to expect and you won’t be disappointed.


The picture quality on the disc is as good as you could expect for DVD, an almost flawless print beautifully transferred by StudioCanal. Every frame looks fantastic.



Apart from the original trailer and an image gallery, by accessing the disc on a computer, a period publicity booklet is also provided. This a great feature of Network’s British releases and one which I really value.




All in all, you’ll know if this type of film is your bag. It’s definitely mine and although this is too light to be considered an absolute classic, it’s still a worthy addition to the collection.