Bedřich Smetana the Czech opera repertory, but of these only "The Bartered Bride" is performed regularly outside the composer's homeland. After reaching Vienna in 1892, and London in 1895, it rapidly became part of the repertory of every major opera company worldwide. Newmarch argues that "The Bartered Bride", while not a "gem of the first order", is nevertheless "a perfectly cut and polished stone of its kind." Its trademark overture, which Newmarch says "lifts us off our feet with its madcap vivacity", was composed in a piano version before Smetana received the draft libretto. Clapham believes that this has few precedents in
Happy Is the Bride - if there is one - is going to be an unforgettable occasion. Leonard Maltin called the film a "mild farce"; while Bosley Crowther in "The New York Times" wrote, "Mr. Boulting has assembled and directed a typically fine British cast, which plays the farcical proceedings with skill and apparent enjoyment...all the characters are amusing. That's usually the way in a Boulting film." Happy Is the Bride Happy Is the Bride is a 1958 black and white British comedy film written and directed by Roy Boulting and starring Ian Carmichael, Janette Scott, Cecil Parker, Terry-Thomas and Joyce Grenfell. It is