Screwball Comedy is one of the most popular and enduring genres that came out of the 1930s and arguably Cary Grant remains its brightest star. Long before &quot;The Awful Truth,&quot; &quot;Bringing Up Baby,&quot; &quot;Holiday,&quot; and &quot;My Favorite Wife&quot; became part of the Grant/Screwball canon, this seminal forgotten gem showcased his emerging talent as a light comedian. <br/><br/>The loose and episodic plot of &quot;Wedding Present&quot; during its early scenes establishes the rapport between reporters Charlie and Rusty, played by Cary Grant and Joan Bennett. Their coverage of the breakup of a royal wedding and an improbable rescue at sea are enjoyable chiefly because of Grant. This seems to be the first film in which he exhibits the charm, deft comedic timing, and physical grace that we associate with the Grant screen persona. Although he seemed stiff and stilted in his earlier Paramount romantic comedies (like &quot;Thirty Day Princess&quot;), here he seems to have finally broken through and found the character that would make him a major romantic comedy star for three more decades.<br/><br/>The plot seems to be a prequel to &quot;His Girl Friday,&quot; but Howard Hawks has always insisted that only by reading lines with his secretary in preparation for the 1940 version of &quot;The Front Page&quot; did he hit on the idea of casting a woman as Hildy Johnson. When you consider the plot similarities between &quot;Wedding Present&quot; and &quot;His Girl Friday,&quot; it would not be surprising if Hawks got his inspiration for Friday&#39;s back-story from this film.<br/><br/>The setting is a Chicago tabloid (as in &quot;The Front Page&quot;) with Grant as a ruthless editor. Although the two reporters were never married in &quot;Wedding Present&quot; as they were in &quot;Friday&quot;, they did apply for a license in the Hall of Records. Like Hilda Johnson, Rusty becomes engaged to a stuffy socialite (Conrad Nagel as opposed to Ralph Bellamy.) Other analogous characters include his snooty mother (Mary Forbes as opposed to Alma Kruger), and Grant&#39;s gangster friend (William Demerast as opposed to Abner Biberman,) who helps him frame his rival with the police.<br/><br/>All in all, &quot;Wedding Present&quot; is an unheralded minor gem in the &quot;screwball comedy&quot; canon and would serve as a good opener on a double feature with &quot;His Girl Friday.&quot;

Screwball comedy reminiscent of His Girl Friday - which also starred Cary Grant. Zany reporters (Grant, Joan Bennett), an editor who can&#39;t live or without them, and some strictly-for-laughs gangsters. An open manhole gag worthy of any silent comedy, too. But the ending is a bit implausible. You can&#39;t really get away with that much malicious mischief, can you?

Wedding Present was the second of two films Cary Grant co-starred with Joan Bennett and the last one of his original Paramount contract. He would not return to Paramount until 1955 when he did To Catch A Thief for Alfred Hitchcock.<br/><br/>Grant and Bennett play a couple of free spirits who happen to be reporters on a Chicago paper and while they get the stories, they are bad for discipline and the bane in the existence of their editor George Bancroft. In fact the couple almost get married as the film begins, but Grant&#39;s clowning around pushed the deadline past the official closing time and you know how officious some civil servants can be. They stay &#39;almost married&#39; for most of the film.<br/><br/>But Grant gets promoted to city editor when a harried and harassed Bancroft quits and he turns into a hardnose. So much so that he fires Bennett when she tries to break up the city room. That leaves Grant disillusioned and he quits and follows Bennett to New York where she has now taken up with and is about to be married to stuffy Conrad Nagel, a fate worse than death in Cary&#39;s eyes.<br/><br/>Some have compared this film to His Girl Friday. But there is a vast difference, the humor in that classic derives from the fact that Grant in that film is all business and will do anything to keep Rosalind Russell on the job and on the story. In this one the good time is the virtue prized above all others. <br/><br/>Paramount gave Grant and Bennett a great supporting cast in this topped by William Demarest, a New York gangster who Grant saves from drowning in Lake Michigan. Demarest is looking to pay him back and in the end really does come through for him.<br/><br/>Screwball comedy fans will love the ending as an inebriated Grant and Demarest decide to give Bennett a Wedding Present. What they do is for the viewer to see, but I promise they pull all the stops out.<br/><br/>This was a good picture to leave Paramount with and enter into superstardom with the next set of roles Grant would have as a free lance artist.