Child Bride, also known as
Child Bride of the Ozarks,
Child Brides (USA reissue title) and
Dust to Dust (USA reissue title), is a
1938The year 1938 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*January — MGM announces that Judy Garland would be cast in the role of "Dorothy" in the upcoming Wizard of Oz motion picture. Ray Bolger is cast as the "Tinman" and Buddy Ebsen is cast as the "Scarecrow". At Bolger's insistence,...
film directed by Harry Revier. Set in a remote town in
the OzarksThe Ozarks are a physiographic, geologic, and cultural highland region of the central United States. It covers much of the south half of Missouri and an extensive portion of northwest and North central Arkansas...
, it claims to be an attempt to draw attention to the lack of laws banning child marriage in many states. The film is very controversial both for its theme, and for showing twelve-year-old actress
Shirley MillsShirley Olivia Mills is a former American actress. Mills' most notable role was in the 1938 film Child Bride, made when she was only twelve years old...
nude during an infamous
skinny dippingNude swimming is swimming naked, i.e. without any swimsuit. Skin diving is both used as a synonym and for free diving.- Etymology :...
scene.
Child Bride, also known as
Child Bride of the Ozarks,
Child Brides (USA reissue title) and
Dust to Dust (USA reissue title), is a
1938The year 1938 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*January — MGM announces that Judy Garland would be cast in the role of "Dorothy" in the upcoming Wizard of Oz motion picture. Ray Bolger is cast as the "Tinman" and Buddy Ebsen is cast as the "Scarecrow". At Bolger's insistence,...
film directed by Harry Revier. Set in a remote town in
the OzarksThe Ozarks are a physiographic, geologic, and cultural highland region of the central United States. It covers much of the south half of Missouri and an extensive portion of northwest and North central Arkansas...
, it claims to be an attempt to draw attention to the lack of laws banning child marriage in many states. The film is very controversial both for its theme, and for showing twelve-year-old actress
Shirley MillsShirley Olivia Mills is a former American actress. Mills' most notable role was in the 1938 film Child Bride, made when she was only twelve years old...
nude during an infamous
skinny dippingNude swimming is swimming naked, i.e. without any swimsuit. Skin diving is both used as a synonym and for free diving.- Etymology :...
scene. Although the Hays Code prohibited onscreen nudity, the movie got around this by being produced and distributed independent of the studio system, and by claiming to be educational. Although it was banned in many areas, the movie's controversial nature gave it a certain infamy and it played on the so-called
exploitationExploitation film is a type of film that is promoted by "exploiting" often lurid subject matter. The term "exploitation" is common in film marketing, used for all types of films to mean promotion or advertising. Thus, films need something to "exploit", such as a big star, special effects, sex,...
circuit for many years.
This was one of Revier's final films. He had previously made a series of low-budget, independent movies including
The Lost CityThe Lost City is an independently made film serial produced in 1935 directed by Harry Revier.-Plot:The film took the premise of that year's The Phantom Empire but transferred the lost civilization motif from the west to another popular serial locale, the African jungle...
series and
Lash of the Penitentes.
The film was produced by
Kroger BabbHoward W. "Kroger" Babb was an American film and television producer and showman. His marketing techniques were similar to a travelling salesman's, with roots in the medicine-show tradition...
. This was Babb's first film. He went on to produce other films, including the infamous exploitation film
Mom and DadMom and Dad is a feature-length 1945 film directed by William Beaudine, and largely produced by the exploitation filmmaker and presenter Kroger Babb. Mom and Dad is considered the most successful film within its genre of "sex hygiene" films...
.
According to an interview with
Michael J. NelsonMichael John Nelson is an American comedian and writer, most famous for his work on the cult television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 . Nelson was the head writer of the series for most of the show's eleven-year run, and spent half of that time playing the on-air host, also named Mike Nelson...
and
Kevin MurphyKevin Murphy may refer to:* Kevin Murphy , American actor, author and puppeteer* Kevin Murphy , retired American football player* Kevin Murphy...
of
Mystery Science Theater 3000Mystery Science Theater 3000, often abbreviated MST3K, is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc...
fame, this movie was screened for the show, but it was considered too awful and disturbing by the crew.
Cast
- Shirley Mills
Shirley Olivia Mills is a former American actress. Mills' most notable role was in the 1938 film Child Bride, made when she was only twelve years old...
as Jennie Colton: This was Mills's first movie role. She went on to appear in many films over the next decade, mostly in supporting roles.
- Bob Bollinger as Freddie Nulty: This was Bollinger's only film role. According to Mills's website, the two young actors became friends, and Bollinger later asked her to marry him, which she declined.
- Angelo Rossitto
Angelo Rossitto was an American actor. He had dwarfism and was 2'11" tall.Rossitto was discovered by John Barrymore and made his screen debut opposite Barrymore in The Beloved Rogue . In 1932 he appeared in the controversial film Freaks by Tod Browning. During the 1940s, he appeared in several...
as Angelo the dwarf: Rossitto has a long career in movies, strectching from the 1920s to the 1990s. He is perhaps best known for his role as Master in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.
- Warner Richmond
Warner Richmond , was an American actor. He appeared in 141 films between 1912 and 1946.He was born in Racine, Wisconsin and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:* Child Bride...
as Jake Bolby: Along with Mills and Rossitto, Richmond was one of the few actors involved in this film who had any sort of film career. He appeared in films between 1912 and 1946, including the Gene Autry serial The Phantom EmpireThe Phantom Empire, starring Gene Autry the Singing Cowboy, was a 12-chapter 1935 Mascot serial that combined the western, musical, and science fiction genres. The first episode is 30 mins, the rest about 20 minutes...
.
- Diana Durrell as Miss Carol
- Dorothy Carrol as Flora Colton
- George Humphreys as Ira Colton
Plot
Miss Carol is an idealistic teacher in a remote one-room school house. A native of the Ozarks herself, she is determined to stop the practice of child marriage, in which older men wed teen or preteen girls. Her campaign raises the ire of some local men, led by Jake Bolby, who drag her into the woods one night with the intention of
tarring and featheringTarring and feathering is a physical punishment, used to enforce formal justice in feudal Europe and informal justice in Europe and its colonies in the early modern period, as well as the early American frontier, mostly as a type of mob vengeance .-Description:In a typical tar-and-feathers attack,...
her. Before they can do this however, Angelo the dwarf and Mr. Colton arrive with a shotgun to save the day.
Following this, Jake Bolby spots young Jennie Colton swimming naked. When her father dies, he decides to take advantage of the opportunity to
blackmailBlackmail is the crime of threatening to reveal substantially true information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand made upon the victim is met. This information is usually of an embarrassing and/or socially damaging nature...
her mother into letting him marry the girl, threatening that he will see her
hangedHanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. It hurts a lot. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", although it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would...
for murder otherwise. After he "courts" her by giving her a doll, the two are married. It later turns out that this marriage was unlawful, as child marriage had been banned several days prior, but this point quickly becomes moot. Before Bolby can consummate the union, he is gunned down by Angelo. Jennie leaves his house with Freddie, and the movie ends.
The skinny dipping scene
The movie is perhaps best known for its lengthy skinny dipping scene. Allmovie described this scene as "completely gratuitous" and "obviously Child Brides main selling point and the reason for its longevity on the exploitation circuit."
The scene begins with Jennie and Freddie approaching a pond in a wooded area. Freddie tells Jennie that he will "beat (her) undressed," but Jennie tells him that they can no longer swim naked together. When Freddie asks why, Jennie replies "because we're not what we used to be."
Freddie asks how they are different, and Jennie turns to answer him, briefly revealing her breasts to the camera. The film then cuts to a lengthy
long shotIn photography, film and video, a long shotor cheese faces! typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings...
showing Jennie and Freddie, both topless and separated by a stand of trees, as they discuss how these changes will affect their relationship. Freddie asks if he can still kiss Jennie; she replies that he can but only when she is wearing her clothes.
Jennie then removes her dress entirely, runs naked through the woods and dives into the pond. The next two minutes of the movie consist largely of shots of Jennie swimming nude and frolicking with her dog. Jake Bolby appears on a ridge above the pond, and observes the naked girl. An old woman sees what Bolby is doing, and says to him "purdy, ain't she?" Freddie hears this and alerts Jennie to the fact that someone is watching her, and she swims for cover.
Finally she asks Freddie to bring her clothes to her, without looking at her. He uses a long stick to give her the dress, she pulls it on, and climbs out of the pond.
Some prints of the film have censored this scene. Alpha's DVD presents the film in its uncensored form.
External links