[6]
Cary Grant and Joan Bennett star in this fast-paced screwball comedy about two newspaper reporters who flirt with the idea of marriage during their headline-chasing adventures. Through no fault of the capable and charismatic leads, Wedding Present is maybe a little too madcap and zany for its own good. After a while, the serendipity and happenstance start to wear on the viewer. The script shows promise early on when the two stars take a ‘missing’ archduke (Gene Lockhart) out for a night on the town in exchange for his news-worthy story. They end up saving a well-connected gangster (William Demarest) from drowning in Lake Michigan — a plot point that makes several other incredulous things possible throughout the movie.
The large ensemble cast all have their moments, including George Bancroft as Grant and Bennett’s long-suffering boss, driven to a nervous breakdown from his inability to wrangle his star reporters. The climax is among the film’s stronger moments, when Grant summons all the fire trucks in New York City to help him stop Bennett’s wedding to another man. Wedding Present is an interesting watch if only to see how far into live-action cartoon territory a screwball comedy can go — and a simultaneous indicator of why more screwballs aren’t quite this screwy.
Directed by Richard Wallace (the wonderful A Girl a Guy and a Gob). With Conrad Nagel, Inez Courtney, and Edward Brophy in the stereotypical role of the gangster’s goony sidekick.