Child Bride

Child Bride
Theatrical release poster
Directed byHarry Revier
Written byHarry Revier
Produced byRaymond L. Friedgen
StarringShirley Mills
Angelo Rossitto
Warner Richmond
CinematographyMarcel Le Picard
Edited byHelene Turner
Music byFelix Mills
Production
company
Distributed byAstor Pictures
Release date
  • January 1938 (1938-01)[1]
Running time
62 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$24,000 (est.)

Child Bride, also known as Child Brides, Child Bride of the Ozarks and Dust to Dust (US reissue titles),[citation needed] is a 1938[1] American drama film written and directed by Harry Revier, and produced by Raymond L. Friedgen. It was promoted as educational in an attempt to draw attention to the lack of laws banning child marriage in many states.

Set in a remote town in the Ozarks, the film was very controversial at the time—both for its theme and because of a topless and nude swimming scene by then-12 year old Shirley Mills. The film bypassed the onscreen nudity ban under the Hays Code by being produced and distributed independently of the studio system, and by claiming to be educational. Although the film was banned in many areas, its controversial nature gave it a certain infamy and it played on the so-called exploitation circuit for many years.

Child Bride was one of Revier's last. His previous work included a variety of low-budget, independent features including The Lost City series and Lash of the Penitentes.

  1. ^ a b "Child Bride (1938) AFI Catalog of Feature Films American Film Institute. The film is widely listed as dating from 1938 (IMDb, AllMovie, YouTube etc.), but the copyright date on the print of the film shown by Turner Classic Movies on January 12, 2014, and also the ones available on YouTube and the Internet Archive is "MCMXLIII" (1943). Despite this, Schaefer, Eric (1999). "Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!": A History of Exploitation Films, 1919-1959. Duke University Press. pp. 282–283. ISBN 9780822323747. lists it as 1941.