. . . as it dispenses with the tedious courtroom climax, which was already a hackneyed film convention by the mid-1930s. But THE CASE OF THE CURIOUS BRIDE introduces racist Asian and Native American stereotyping, shows Mr. Mason to be just as cavalier when his former lover's neck is on the line as he had been with a stranger chick on the hot seat in THE CASE OF THE HOWLING DOG, and reduces Errol Flynn's role to about four seconds of saying nothing while giving up the ghost (a performance that could have been phoned in by any nameless extra on Warner's lot). Add to that a complicated murder scene as crowded as Union Station due to happenstance on top of odd congruence compounded by simultaneous coincidences, and this tale seems stuffed tighter with artificial contrivance than a goose with Foie Gras. THE CASE OF THE CURIOUS BRIDE is not even aptly titled, as the bride obviously did not have a curious bone in her body. What newlywed would allow her groom to die by sudden illness and get buried in a closed casket, without a look-see by herself or anyone she knew?! And what serial bigamist goes to the trouble of wedding a couple hundred poor chicks, with a plan that ONE of them can be blackmailed five or ten years later when she remarries a billionaire?! These sort of con artists crave instant gratification, targeting the Rich and Stupid, and breaking their banks before tying any wedding knots!
Review of The Case of the Curious Bride
