The Bride Wore Crutches
Cast & Crew
Shepard Traube
Lynne Roberts
Ted North
Edgar Kennedy
Robert Armstrong
Lionel Stander
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Newspaper editor Bill Daly is infuriated when his publisher, mousy E. J. Randall informs him that he must hire Johnny Dixon, an inexperienced reporter just graduated from journalism school. Randall's wife Dixie is friends with Johnny's aunt and so promised she would get the boy a job. Daly grudgingly hires Johnny, who gets off to a bad start the next day when he arrives at the newsroom late. Johnny explains that his train was derailed, and Daly castigates him for not telephoning in the story and thereby scooping the other newspapers. Ace newspaperwoman Midge Lambert takes pity on Johnny and helps him write a thrilling story about the crash, which pacifies Daly. A week passes as Johnny learns more about the newspaper business, and on the day he is depositing his first paycheck, the bank is robbed. He borrows a policeman's motorcycle and chases the robbers, but the car he pursues and eventually stops is a police car. An aggravated Captain McGuire arrests Johnny for obstructing justice, but relents when Johnny states that he can identify one of the thieves, whom he calls "Flannel-mouth" because of his distinctive voice. When Johnny picks out a photograph of a criminal who has already been executed for murder, however, McGuire angrily sends him away, and Daly fires him. The other reporters then get Johnny drunk and talk him into taking a punch at Daly, which ends with Johnny passed out on the floor. The next day, Johnny apologizes to Midge for his foolish behavior and she decides to help him once again. Following the road used by the bank robbers, Johnny and Midge find their abandoned car, and by using the battery's serial number as a clue, Johnny is able to find the apartment of the gang's leader, Pete. Johnny rents an apartment in the same building, but is unable to relate his findings to Midge, as she is away investigating another story. Johnny convinces Pete that he is a wanted criminal, and after Pete allows him to join the gang, the mystery of Johnny's incorrect identification of Flannel-Mouth is cleared up when Johnny learns that the gangster's brother was the one who was executed. Pete orders Johnny to participate in a bank robbery, but just before he leaves the apartment to join the others, Johnny is able to call McGuire and warn him. McGuire refuses to take Johnny seriously, but Midge, who has returned and understands Johnny's message, pesters McGuire into going to the bank. They arrrive after the robbery has taken place and just as one of the gangsters is about to shoot Johnny, who is trying to prevent them from escaping. The gang is rounded up, but when Johnny drops the machine gun he is holding, the weapon accidentally goes off and wounds Midge in the leg. Soon after, McGuire and Daly are the witnesses as Midge, who is on crutches, weds Johnny.
Director
Shepard Traube
Cast
Lynne Roberts
Ted North
Edgar Kennedy
Robert Armstrong
Lionel Stander
Richard Lane
Grant Mitchell
Harry Tyler
Edmund Macdonald
Horace Macmahon
Anthony Caruso
Billy Mitchell
Oscar O'shea
George O'hanlon
Murray Alper
Lester Scharff
Frank Orth
Hy Howard
Sarah Edwards
Emmett Vogan
David Kerwin
Frank Fanning
Lee Phelps
Arthur Aylsworth
Clark Morgan
John Ellis
Cyril Ring
Crew
Harry Brand
Charles [g.] Clarke
Richard Day
Nick Demaggio
Alan Drady
George Dudley
Herschel
Lucien Hubbard
Harry M. Leonard
George Leverett
Thomas Little
Emil Newman
Lynn Shores
Lee Vallee
E. E. Verdier
E. E. Verdier
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The opening title cards indicate that Twentieth Century-Fox copyrighted this film in 1940, but the picture is not included in the Catalog of Copyright Entries. Although studio publicity stated that the picture marked the screen debut of actor Ted North, he had previously appeared in films. The Bride Wore Crutches was the first film worked on by writer E. E. Verdier, who created the comic strip "Little Annie Roonie."
