Picture Brides (1934)
*** (out of 4)
Delightfully wicked Pre-code has a group of women headed from New Orleans to the jungle of Brazil. Mary Lee (Dorothy Libaire) thinks she's going down there to be a hostess but the other women have to set her straight. Where they're going is a diamond mind where criminals have gone to work and stay away from the law. The women, known as picture brides, are heading down there to become wives.
PICTURE BRIDES isn't a very well-known movie but it was clearly inspired by SAFE IN HELL and it should be noted that both films rank quite high on the Pre-code charts of naughty things. It's pretty funny watching a movie like this nowadays because you watch it and really don't see anything objectable. However, if you're a film buff familiar with this decade then you know that Hollywood started playing it quite safe by the time 1935 came around so a film like PICTURE BRIDES was one of the last naughty pictures to get through without edits.
There's a lot of sexuality on display here as it's quite simple why these women are needed as wives. The film takes place in a seedy bar and when the picture opens we've got a group of guys talking somewhat naughty about white women being needed in the location. From here we get all sorts of back and forth between the sexes but we've also got a murder subplot as well as some blackmail for good measure. The story itself certainly isn't anything original but that doesn't matter because the extra goodies just add to the entertainment factor.
The cast is also pretty good with Libaire doing a nice job in her part but there's also good performances from Dorothy Mackaill, Will Ahern, Regi Toomey and Mary Kornman. Mae Busch is also on hand as is Alan Hale who gets to sink his teeth into a real creep of a bad guy. The cast is certainly a lot of fun and helps keep the picture moving at a nice pace. At just under a hour there's really no time to waste and film is certainly entertaining.
