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Child Bride

 Child Bride
type
TVTItem
 Child Bride
label
Child Bride
 Child Bride
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ChildBride
 Child Bride
comment
Child Bride, also known as Child Brides, Child Bride of the Ozarks, and Dust to Dust, is a 1938 American film directed by Harry Revier and produced by Raymond L. Friedgen. The film was promoted as educational and as an attempt to draw attention to the lack of laws banning child marriage in many states.Or at least, that's what the opening text claims to be doing.Set deep in the Ozark Mountains, the plot revolves around Miss Carol (Diana Durrell), an idealistic teacher in a remote one-room schoolhouse. A repatriated native of the Ozarks herself, she is determined to stop the practice of child marriage, in which older men marry teen or preteen girls. Her campaign raises the ire of some local men, led by Jake Bolby (Warner Richmond), who drag her into the woods one night, and tie her to a tree planning to tar and feather her back. Before they can do this, however, Angelo the dwarf (Angelo Rossitto) and Mr. Colton (George Humphreys) arrive with a shotgun to save the day.Following this, Jake Bolby comes across young Jennie Colton (Shirley Mills) skinny-dipping while her friend Freddie Nulty (Bob Bollinger) keeps watch, and develops an unwholesome interest in her. Later that afternoon, when her father starts abusing his wife in a drunken rage, Jennie's mother injures him with a knife. Bolby, seeing an opportunity for revenge, sneaks in and finishes him off. Then he helps Jennie's mother hide the body by chucking it over a cliff, and blackmails her into letting him marry her little daughter, threatening that otherwise he will see her hanged for murder.After a revolting scene in which he "courts" Jennie by giving her a doll, the two are married. It later turns out that this ceremony was illegal, 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. Jennie then leaves his house with Freddie.This film is infamous for the topless and five-minute-long nude scene with Jennie (who is eleven years old in the film, played by the twelve-year-old Shirley Mills). Some "soft reel" prints and screenings of the film have simply cut out the topless scene, leaving only the skinny-dipping sequence which was shot at more of a distance with the distortions of the water and the family dog's joining her for the swim helping conceal most of the potentially prurient parts. (Also, since Shirley Mills didn't know how to swim very well, most of the distant shots were actually of stand-in Bernice Stobaugh, a local girl.) Mike Nelson and Kevin Murphy also screened this movie for Mystery Science Theater 3000, but the crew found it too awful and disturbing to feature on their show, with Murphy saying that he had "a good cry, a little liquor, and a shower" after watching it. Frank Conniff called it the absolute worst film he had seen as a potential selection for the show. Considering it was his job to screen films for the show, that's a lot of competition.This page is about the censored versions only.
 Child Bride
fetched
2023-06-24T07:58:03Z
 Child Bride
parsed
2023-06-24T07:58:03Z
 Child Bride
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Child Bride / int_117c6f30
type
Old Man Marrying a Child
 Child Bride / int_117c6f30
comment
Old Man Marrying a Child: The premise of the film.
 Child Bride / int_117c6f30
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1.0
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1.0
 Child Bride
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 Child Bride / int_267ce120
type
Dirty Old Man
 Child Bride / int_267ce120
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Dirty Old Man: Jake Bolby, of the creepy and loathsome kind.
 Child Bride / int_267ce120
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1.0
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 Child Bride / int_49f20c6a
type
Gory Discretion Shot
 Child Bride / int_49f20c6a
comment
Gory Discretion Shot: The audience doesn't actually see the knife go into Jennie's father. We do see his body, however.
 Child Bride / int_49f20c6a
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1.0
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Child Bride / int_49f20c6a
 Child Bride / int_5f146203
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Dissonant Serenity
 Child Bride / int_5f146203
comment
Dissonant Serenity: When Jennie finds her mother on the floor, after being beaten by her husband. Can also cross over into a Funny Moment, given the offhanded nature of how the scene is acted.
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1.0
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Child Bride / int_5f146203
 Child Bride / int_75a91f67
type
Tar and Feathers
 Child Bride / int_75a91f67
comment
Tar and Feathers: What Bolby and his gang were planning for that meddlesome teacher.
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1.0
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 Child Bride / int_8ed5c6e4
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Asshole Victim
 Child Bride / int_8ed5c6e4
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Asshole Victim: Jake Bolby, who's so despicable that neither his killer nor any of the other potential suspects evidently has much reason to believe anyone is going to investigate his homicide.
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 Child Bride / int_bc00493f
type
Precision F-Strike
 Child Bride / int_bc00493f
comment
Precision F-Strike: Though it was not considered to be such when this film was released, one of the Assistant District Attorney's men casually drops this bomb near the end:
 Child Bride / int_bc00493f
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1.0
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 Child Bride / int_c3c91506
type
Depraved Dwarf
 Child Bride / int_c3c91506
comment
Depraved Dwarf: Rather shockingly subverted, given this is a '30s exploitation film. Angelo the little person is a decent fellow who saves the day with a shotgun.
 Child Bride / int_c3c91506
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-0.3
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 Child Bride / int_c660bc15
type
Fan Disservice
 Child Bride / int_c660bc15
comment
Fan Disservice: Those "courtship" scenes with Bolby particularly, since the actress portraying Jennie is underage.
 Child Bride / int_c660bc15
featureApplicability
1.0
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 Child Bride
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 Child Bride / int_d7c81cd3
type
Exploitation Film
 Child Bride / int_d7c81cd3
comment
Exploitation Film: Shot on the cheap? Check. "Educational" in order to get it past The Hays Code? Check. Skimpily-dressed women and a sequence with female nudity in order to draw a certain kind of crowd? Check.
 Child Bride / int_d7c81cd3
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1.0
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 Child Bride
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Child Bride / int_d7c81cd3
 Child Bride / int_daa59ba1
type
Puppy Love
 Child Bride / int_daa59ba1
comment
Puppy Love: Freddie and Jennie, who already argue like an old married couple.
 Child Bride / int_daa59ba1
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1.0
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Child Bride / int_daa59ba1
 Child Bride / int_name
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ItemName
 Child Bride / int_name
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 Child Bride / int_name
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 Child Bride / int_name
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Child Bride / int_name
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Child Bride

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Child Bride
hasFeature
B-Movie / int_197c9f98
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Brain Bleach / int_197c9f98
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Don't Shoot the Message / int_197c9f98
 Child Bride
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Exploitation Film / int_197c9f98
 Child Bride
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Old Man Marrying a Child / int_197c9f98
 Child Bride
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Skinny Dipping / int_197c9f98