Today’s quick review: The Wedding Night. Tony Barrett (Gary Cooper), an alcoholic writer in need of a hit, moves out to the countryside to rework his latest book. There he finds unexpected inspiration in the form of Manya Novak (Anna Sten), a hard-working young woman from a Polish farming community. As the two grow close to each other, they incur the wrath of Manya’s father Jan (Sig Ruman), who expects her to marry another man (Ralph Bellamy).
The Wedding Night is a classic romantic drama about the relationship between a struggling writer and a Polish farm girl. The movie follows Tony as he overcomes his writer’s block and falls in love with a girl who is engaged to another. The Wedding Night draws its tension from this forbidden pairing, made even more dangerous by Tony’s marriage to Dora (Helen Vinson). In spite of a shaky start, the movie shapes up into an effective drama.
The Wedding Night has a few hurdles for the audience to overcome. First, Tony makes for an uneven main character. He has deep flaws but hardly does anything to overcome them, remaining an alcoholic, a flirt, and a liar throughout the movie. His chemistry with Manya is not as apparent as the movie seems to believe, although they do have their moments. Finally, the writing can come on strong in places, especially with Manya’s traditional family.
The payoff for all of this is a dramatically rich ending that neatly ties together the conflicts of the movie. The Wedding Night does not get off to an inspired start, but once its pieces are on the board, it does some clever things with them. The odd rapport between Tony and Manya, the heavy-handed control exerted by her father, and the strains on Tony’s marriage are all interesting consequences that justify the movie’s premise.
The result is a drama with a clear ending in mind, and which sacrifice some of its beginning and middle to set it up. The Wedding Night does not have the frills of other romances, with a relatively chaste courtship and little of the character growth seen in other such stories. But its payoff makes it worth a watch for anyone in the mood for an older movie with a melancholy tone and a few insights into human nature.
For a more upbeat romance about a fiance from a traditional family, try The Quiet Man. For a modern romantic comedy about a writer finding love, try Ruby Sparks.
[6.7 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027189/). I give it a 6.5 to 7.0 for flawed but ultimately effective writing.