As legendary as Hollywood stars get, Bette Davis and James Cagney first worked together on 1934’s Jimmy the Gent. For their second – and final – collaboration, we head to 1941’s The Bride Came COD.

Joan Winfield (Davis) enjoys a carefree life as the daughter of oil tycoon Lucius (Eugene Pallette). She plans to elope to Las Vegas so she can marry Allen Brice (Jack Carson), a vain bandleader she only met four days earlier.

When Lucius gets wind of this, he objects vehemently and he hires charter pilot Steve Collins (Cagney) to bring her home unmarried. In the face of this semi-kidnapping, wacky antics ensue as Steve and Joan get to know each other.

Gee, you don’t suspect they’ll start out as enemies but fall for each other, do you? Predictable plot aside, the movie comes with plenty of opportunities for laughs and charm.

Immensely talented as they were, that doesn’t mean Cagney and Davis could pull off everything they touched. Given its existence as a screwball comedy, I went into COD with doubts that it would match their particular skills.

Did I assume incorrectly? No, as Davis and Cagney never really connect to the material.

Not that they actively damage COD, as they manage minor charms. However, Davis and Cagney lack real chemistry and they tend to feel as miscast as I feared.

Let’s face it: COD brings the kind of screwball comedy much better suited to the talents of Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. They could pull off this sort of “mismatched couple who fall in love” tale in a superior manner.

It doesn’t help that both seem too old for their roles, especially Davis. 33 at the time, the movie wants us to buy her as a 23-year-old, and that becomes laughable. Steve also makes more sense as someone in his early 30s vs. the 42-year-old Cagney, especially if we need to swallow him as the romantic suitor of a woman in her early 20s.

The age domains don’t become the biggest issue, though. The lack of sizzle between the two leads remains the main problem, as our legends simply feel wrong for their roles and they can’t compensate with any form of actual chemistry.

Perversely, this means COD works best when it features its supporting characters. The script from siblings Julius J. and Philip G. Epstein manages a fairly bright and clever enterprise, and the actors below the leads add zest to the proceedings.

However, they can’t compensate for the flat connection between its stars. COD does enough keep us moderately entertained but given the talent involved, it disappoints.

The Bride Came COD appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a nice transfer.

Sharpness looked largely solid. Some interiors lacked great delineation, but the image usually seemed well-defined.

No jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Gain felt natural, and print flaws remained absent.

Blacks seemed dark and rich, while contrast appeared appealing. Shadows came across as smooth and concise. This turned into a strong presentation.

Though competent, the DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack of COD seemed less than stellar. In particular, dialogue tended to come across as a little edgy, though the lines remained easily intelligible.

Music came across as fairly bright and lively, though dynamic range seemed limited given the restrictions of the source. Effects were similarly modest but they showed good clarity and accuracy within the confines of 85-year-old stems. The moderate roughness of the speech made this a “C+” mix but it still felt acceptable given its era.

As we head to extras, Warner Night at the Movies becomes the primary attraction. Here we get a collection of elements that attempt to reflect the cinematic experience circa 1941.

We find musical short called Carnival in Rhythm (17:52), a semi-documentary featurette entitled Forty Boys and a Song (10:13), a newsreel (1:11), animated shorts Porky’s Pooch (7:08), Rhapsody in Rivets (7:35) and Saddle Silly (7:35) and a trailer for Honeymoon for Three.

“Play All” lets us run these components in a batch. I always enjoyed the “Warner Night At the Movies” idea and it continues to be a fun addition to the disc.

Note that because other “Warner Night” compilations included Leonard Maltin introductions, I assume this one did as well. If so, it doesn’t appear here.

Broadcast December 29, 1941, we get a Lux Radio Theater version of COD (59:28). This one uses Bob Hope and Hedy Lamarr as the Cagney and Davis roles, respectively.

Usually I prefer the film to the radio adaptation, but not here, entirely due to the casting. While Cagney and Davis seemed mismatched, Hope and Lamarr show real sparks.

Obviously it helps that Hope handles the movie’s comedy much better than Cagney did, and because it lacks visuals, we don’t need to deal with the age discrepancies that mar the movie. The radio version becomes a lively and enjoyable take on the tale.

Odd footnote: whereas the movie uses Joan’s as the catalyst for Steve’s pursuit of her, the radio version changes this to become her uncle who wants her unmarried. I can’t figure out why.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we conclude with a 1942 cartoon called The Bird Came COD (7:41). On a job to deliver a plant to a movie studio, a cat plays with a magic hat and contends with a feisty avian occupant.

None of that relates to Bride Came COD at all, of course, so the title exists as the only connection between the two. Bird seems moderately amusing but makes so little sense that it doesn’t really fly.

With two Hollywood icons as its stars, The Bride Came COD sounded like a sure-fire winner. However, Bette Davis and James Cagney never really connect so this becomes a spotty screwball comedy. The Blu-ray comes with very good picture, mediocre audio and a moderate assortment of supplements. I didn’t dislike COD but it didn’t live up to expectations.