The Bartered Bride romantic comedy. Thus on its opening night the opera, in its two-act version with spoken dialogue, was poorly attended and indifferently received. Receipts failed to cover costs, and the theatre director was forced to pay Smetana's fee from his own pocket. Smetana's friend Josef Srb-Debrnov, who was unable to attend the performance himself, canvassed opinion from members of the audience as they emerged. "One praised it, another shook his head, and one well-known musician ... said to me: 'That's no comic opera; it won't do. The opening chorus is fine but I don't care for the rest.'" Josef Krejčí, a
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