History Main / MailOrderBride

* Another documentary, ''Diary of a Mail Order Bride'', deals with three men (two from the U.K. one from the U.S.) trying to get a Russian bride. One does get married to her, another is jilted by his Russian girlfriend, and the third leaves empty handed (after being both scammed and rejected).

* Played very seriously in ''Film/BirthdayGirl'', where an Englishman hires a mail-order Russian Bride. [[spoiler: Then she and some accomplices extort him into robbing the bank that he works for using a variant on the SpanishPrisoner act.]]

* Subverted on ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle''. Francis' elderly roommate in Alaska announces he is getting a mail order bride. Francis tries to convince him not to, and on the day she is supposed to arrive, they find out it was a blow-up sex doll. It is actually quite a TearJerker when this is revealed.

* Subverted in an episode of ''Series/VeronicaMars''. A woman claiming to be a Russian emigrant looking for an ex-boyfriend she met through the Internet turns out to be [[spoiler:a member of Russian mafia searching for a witness.]]

The Mail-Order Bride plot line is where a man marries a woman from a poor country sight unseen, or seen once. Usually played for laughs or for ''very'' dark drama, but can also lead to MarriageBeforeRomance.

If the trope is dealt with in a drama, it will be in a series like ''Franchise/LawAndOrder''. The mail order bride plot causes a crime or scam that results in either an elaborate GoldDigger or ConArtist scheme if she's the perp (though usually a side of SympatheticCriminal may be at play as she's escaping her home country's poverty). If he's the perp (or if it's ''[[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit SVU]]''), it's a combo plate of forced prostitution, DomesticAbuse, MaritalRapeLicense, forced labor, and/or murder. The man played as a loser, misogynist, and creep who resorted to exploiting the desperation of women in third-world poverty, and treating her as a combination of domestic labor and SexSlave. Add plot complications caused by the bride's uncertain legal status. [[note]] Some TruthInTelevision, the case of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Reeves Jack Reeves]], who murdered two mail-order brides, being a notorious one. [[/note]]

* An OlderThanTelevision example is featured in the 1912 silent movie ''Mail Order Wife''. The twist here is that said "mail order wife" already knew one of the main characters, both having been romantically involved years ago. After breaking off the relationship, the man joined forces with a partner to run a ranch, and said partner writes to a mail-order house for a wife, which turns out to be the other man's ex. The old love awakens and the partner who was to marry her at first is forced to give her up to the other man.

* The plot of ''Film/OnceUponATimeInTheWest'' is kicked off when a mail-order bride (played by the incomparable Claudia Cardinale) arrives at her new home just hours after everyone there was slaughtered as part of a land grab. Definitely '''not''' played for yuks, since he wanted a mother for his children and she wanted a new life.
* ''The Picture Bride'' (1994) features the related early 20th century practice of "picture brides", a sort of matchmaking service where immigrants would be paired with brides from their native countries using only pictures and recommandations from their families. Here, the story follows the bride, who is at first dismayed that her husband is much older than on the photo and that she will have to work in the sugarcane fields, but tries to make the best of it.

* The Australian film ''Russian Doll'' features a Russian mail-order bride arriving in Australia only to find her groom has passed away. A CitizenshipMarriage is still arranged however, when the married man she subsequently has an affair with 'engages' her to his best friend so she can stay in the country and they can continue the affair.

* In the 1949 movie, ''I Was a Male War Bride'', Cary Grant plays the part of an Frenchman who marries a female American soldier at the end of WWII, and encounters various problems as a male version of this trope.

* ''A Short History of Tractors in the Ukraine'' has very little to do with tractors, but is actually about an older gentleman marrying a woman who is just using him to get a visa.

* In Ann Turner's ''Third Girl from the Left'' Sarah answers a classified ad requesting a wife for a cattle rancher in Montana because she's tired of her Maine hometown. Unfortunately the rancher is a bit older, and life in Montana a bit harsher, than she was led to believe.

* Aussie soap opera ''Series/{{Neighbours}}'' featured one character ordering a Russian mail order bride. She was deported when she tried to bribe the Immigration people.

* ''Series/{{Wonderfalls}}'': A boy orders up a Russian bride for his widower dad. Although, at first, the boy seemed intent on marrying her himself!

* Series three of ''Series/LittleBritain'' had Dudley and Ting Tong, the characters of a repulsive middle-aged man and his Thai mail-order wife. Each episode would reveal something untoward about Ting Tong (such as that she was actually a [[UnsettlingGenderReveal "ladyboy"]] and born in London) until she eventually invites her whole family to Britain, kicks Dudley out of his house and turns it into a Thai restaurant. ''Little Britain Abroad'' shows that Dudley's brother has a Russian mail order bride as well.
* ''Series/{{Wings}}'' had Roy order a Russian mail order bride. The bride showed up and it was clear that she really didn't like him. But, she had no choice but to marry him. At the last minute, Roy had a change of heart and let her go to marry a man she fell for.

* In ''Series/TheAdventuresOfBriscoCountyJr'' Brisco & Bowler help a trio of women who had set themselves up as brides to some western characters sight-unseen. Brisco talks to them about how awful this idea is and they agree - although apparently it's better than the alternative.

* One episode of ''Series/LawAndOrder'' had a mail order bride desperate for a real life, whereas her husband just wanted a maid he could fuck. The bride and her lover were two of the more {{sympathetic murderer}}s in the franchise history.

* In the German improvisational comedy show {{Series/Schillerstrasse}} Cordula get's the direction to believe Maddin's new girlfriend is a mail order bride from Russia.
* An episode of ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' had Salem suddenly gain enough money to buy whatever he wants, a Japanese mail order bride being one of them. [[BrickJoke At the end of the episode]], the bride shows up, and merely shrugs when she learns her new husband is a talking cat.

* In ''Theatre/TheyKnewWhatTheyWanted'', Tony never even spoke to Amy, he just saw her once at an Italian restaurant in San Francisco. He then contacted her boss, and wrote her a letter proposing marriage, which she accepted.

* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' features Carl and Shake going halfsies on a mail order bride...only to have her barricade herself in Carl's house when she first sees the two of them.
* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' had a second season episode about this, "To Helga and Back". Johnny ordered a girl from a dating service who turned out to be a very large German tomboy. He did eventually fall for her after many {{Zany Scheme}}s to repulse her, but lost her when he started acting like his usual, narcissistic self.

* A throwaway gag on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' referred to Groundskeeper Willie ordering a mail order bride but being too cheap to pay the postage and her being held at the post office.

* ''Picture Bride'' A novel by Yoshiko Uchida about a Japanese woman who comes over to America and is later imprisoned in internment camps

* Played in the short-lived sitcom ''Thanks''. Differing from the usual, she was an English woman being sent to Puritan-era America. When she arrives looking like a modern-day supermodel, her husband-to-be is horrified. (People of that era having a much more healthy ideal of beauty.) She ends up with the town's mayor instead.

* ''Series/QuantumLeap'' once had Sam leap into a man that just got back from WWII in time for his new Japanese war bride wife to introduce herself to his family.

* ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0339607/ Mail Order Bride]]'' (2003), comedy.
* OlderThanTelevision: ''[[http://imdb.com/title/tt0002337/ Mail Order Wife]]'' (1912)
* ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377088/ Mail Order Wife]]'' (2004), comedy.

* ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114129/ The Picture Bride]]'' (1994), not a comedy.

* In the 1932 drama, Joan (played by Creator/BarbaraStanwyk) decides to be a mail-order bride to escape her gangster ex-boyfriend and begin a new life.

* A similar episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' had the detectives learning that their VictimOfTheWeek was one of these and that her husband had been abusive as well as being like the husband described above (he wasn't her killer, however).

* ''Sarah Plain and Tall'', a children's book published in 1985, later made into a movie and stage play, is about a mail-order bride in the late 19th century.

* The astonishingly bad 1971 movie ''Film/{{Blindman}}''. A blind, but deadly, gunman, is hired to escort fifty [[http://www.mailorderbridesonline.com/ mail order brides]] to their miner husbands. His business partners double cross him, selling the women to bandit Domingo. Blindman heads into Mexico in pursuit.

* ''Series/BlackSaddle'': In "Client: Dawes", Clay defends a mail order bride who is accused of murder when he new husband dies in a seeming accident.

* The astonishingly bad 1971 movie ''Blindman''. A blind, but deadly, gunman, is hired to escort fifty [[http://www.mailorderbridesonline.com/ mail order brides]] to their miner husbands. His business partners double cross him, selling the women to bandit Domingo. Blindman heads into Mexico in pursuit.

* In the SpaghettiWestern ''Film/{{Blindman}}'', the protagonist Blindman is tasked with delivering 50 mail order brides to their husbands-to-be in a small mining town.

* In the 1951 movie "Westward the Women", an entire wagon train made up of over a hundred women looking for a second chance is led to a male-only settlement in California. Due to a loss of male workers on the wagon train, the leader has to train the entire group of women into tough, capable [[DeterminedHomesteadersWife Homesteader Wives]], much to the delight of the men when they arrive. Lots of implied happy pairings ensue.

* The documentary ''Love Me'' covers the experiences of five middle-aged men who attempt to get a mail-order bride from Ukraine; two of them do end up HappilyMarried by the end of the documentary, two end up getting scammed, and one ultimately decides that [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere this is not for him]].
* Another documentary, ''Diary of a Mail Order Bride'', deals with three men (two from the U.K. one from the U.S.) trying to get a Russian bride. One does get married to her, another is jilted by his Russian girlfriend, and the third leaves empty handed.

* In the "Army War Bride" films, the most famous is probably ''Film/IWasAMaleWarBride'', a Creator/CaryGrant comedy vehicle where he marries a Women's Army Corps member. HilarityEnsues.

If the trope is dealt with in a drama, it will be in a series like ''Franchise/LawAndOrder''. The mail order bride plot causes a crime or scam that results in either an elaborate GoldDigger or ConArtist scheme if she's the perp (though usually a side of SympatheticCriminal may be at play as she's escaping her home country's poverty). If he's the perp (or if it's ''[[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit SVU]]''), it's a combo plate of forced prostitution, DomesticAbuse, MaritalRapeLicense, forced labor, and/or murder. The man played as a loser, misogynist, and creep who resorted to exploiting the desperation of women in third-world poverty, and treating her as a combination of domestic labor and SexSlave, Add plot complications caused by the bride's uncertain legal status. [[note]] Some TruthInTelevision, the case of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Reeves Jack Reeves]], who murdered two mail-order brides, being a notorious one. [[/note]]

** A similar episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' had the detectives learning that their VictimOfTheWeek was one of these and that her husband had been abusive as well as being like the husband described above (he wasn't her killer, however).

* In ''Film/{{Dodgeball}}'', one character is shown to have an Asian mail order bride that hates him. Hubby is completely oblivious.

If the trope is dealt with in a drama, it will be in a series like ''Franchise/LawAndOrder''. The mail order bride plot causes a crime or scam that results in DomesticAbuse, MaritalRapeLicense, forced labor, and/or murder. In ''[[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit SVU]]'', it will be prostitution, or rape, the man played as a loser, misogynist, and creep who resorted to mail-order, exploiting the desperation of the woman in third-world poverty, and treating her as a combination of domestic labor and SexSlave, Add plot complications caused by the bride's uncertain legal status. [[note]] Some TruthInTelevision, the case of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Reeves Jack Reeves]], who murdered two mail-order brides, being a notorious one. [[/note]]

The Mail-Order Bride plot line is where a man marries a woman from a poor country sight unseen, or seen once. Usually played for laughs, but can also lead to MarriageBeforeRomance.

If the trope is dealt with in a drama, it will be in a series like ''Franchise/LawAndOrder''. The mail order bride plot causes a crime or scam that results in murder. In ''[[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit SVU]]'', it will be prostitution or rape, with plot complications caused by the bride's uncertain legal status.

* [[ProfessionalKiller Achimas Welde]] from ''[[Literature/ErastFandorin The Death of Achilles]]'' orders brides every half a year or so (with time-limited "service contracts"). He never marries them, of course, given his job, but treats them as legitimate wives for as long as they stay with him.

* Briefly referenced in ''Discworld/TheShepherdsCrown'' as available for the lumberjacks in the remote forest areas of the Ramtops. This being the Literature/{{Discworld}}, the "mail-order" bit is taken entirely literally, with the brides available from the same catalogue the lumberjacks use to buy everything else.

Briefly referenced in ''Discworld/TheShepherdsCrown'' as available for the lumberjacks in the remote forest areas of the Ramtops. This being the Literature/{{Discworld}}, the "mail-order" bit is taken entirely literally, with the brides available from the same catalogue the lumberjacks use to buy everything else.