A Wrestler's Bride: A goofy, short-lived disaster

Is this thing worth your time?

Honestly, only if you have a very specific craving for black-and-white slapstick and don't mind when a plot just sort of... evaporates. If you like classic screwball dynamics, you might get a kick out of the confusion here. But if you hate movies that feel like a sketch that stayed at the party two hours too long, stay away.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of A Wrestler's Bride (1933) through its definitive frames.

The whole premise is built on a guy named Scissors Jackson who is just completely, hilariously wrong about his own life. He thinks the wrestling match is rigged for him to win. It’s not. Watching him act like a king while the reality is about to slam him into the mat is painfully funny. Joyce Compton is doing a lot of heavy lifting here trying to keep the momentum going, but the script is thin.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of A Wrestler's Bride (1933) through its definitive frames.

Oddly specific details

• There’s a moment where the wrestling choreography looks less like a sport and more like two people trying to fold a giant, angry rug.
• The background extras in the crowd look like they were told to just 'act excited' and never stopped, even when the scene was clearly over.
• The lighting in the ring is so harsh it feels like everyone is being interrogated by the police.

It’s funny how these old shorts try to cram so much 'drama' into such a tiny window of time. Unlike the emotional weight found in something like The Last Dance, this movie is purely about the physical gag. It doesn't care if you believe the stakes.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of A Wrestler's Bride (1933) through its definitive frames.

There’s a scene about halfway through that just lingers on a reaction shot of an opponent looking confused. It goes on for probably five seconds too long, which makes it accidentally hilarious. I swear the actor forgot he was still on camera.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of A Wrestler's Bride (1933) through its definitive frames.

Is it better than The Peach Girl? I don't know, they're not even playing the same game. This feels like a quick experiment. It’s not trying to change your life, and that's probably for the best. 🤼‍♂️

The dialogue is mostly just shouting. There’s a lot of 'Hey!' and 'Wait!' which serves as the glue for the whole thing. If you took out the shouting, the runtime would be about three minutes shorter. I'm okay with that.