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Child Bride, also known as Child Brides, Child Bride of the Ozarks and Dust to Dust (US reissue titles), is a 1938 "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, lists it as 1941. 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 toplessness 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 film, independent film features including The Lost City series and Lash of the Penitentes.
Following this, Jake Bolby comes across young Jennie Colton (Shirley Mills) swimming naked. When her father dies, Bolby decides to take advantage of the opportunity to blackmail her mother into letting him marry the girl, threatening that otherwise he will see her hanging for murder. After 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 by Angelo. Jennie leaves his house with Freddie Nulty (Bob Bollinger).
Cast notes:
Freddie asks how they are different, pointing out that he had seen her many times in the nude, and Jennie turns to answer him, briefly exposing her and to the camera. The film then cuts to a lengthy long shot showing Jennie and Freddie, both topless and separated by a stand of trees, as they discuss how these changes will affect their relationship. Freddie asks if he can still kiss Jennie; she replies that he can but only when she is wearing her clothes.
Jennie then removes her dress entirely, runs naked through the woods and dives into the water. The next two minutes consist of shots of Jennie swimming nude and frolicking with her dog. Jake Bolby appears on a ridge above the pond, and watches the naked girl. An old woman sees what Bolby is doing, and says to him, "Purty, ain't she?" Freddie hears this and alerts Jennie to the fact that someone is watching her, and she swims for cover. She asks Freddie to bring her clothes to her, without looking at her. He uses a long stick to pass her the dress. She pulls the dress on, unseen to the camera, and climbs out of the water.
Some prints and screenings of the film have cut out the topless scene, leaving only the long shot nude swim sequence.
The film had been submitted to the Production Code Administration for a certificate of approval, but was denied because of its subject matter, which was said to be "a sexually abhorrent abnormality which violates all moral principles", and because of the onscreen child nudity. The censors also objected to the murderer never being punished for his deeds.
The production of the film in 1938 followed shortly after mass media coverage of the 1937 marriage of 9-year-old Eunice Winstead to Charlie Johns, causing the film to be compared to it.
Note: The 1943 date cited refers to the copyright/release/re-release date. It was filmed in 1938/1939 because Shirley Mills was born in 1926, and it is widely known that she was 12 at that time, and not 17.
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