Harrison's Reports (1941) - Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Details
- article: Mr. and Mrs. Smith
- journal: Harrison's Reports (01/Feb/1941)
- issue: volume 23, issue 5, page 19
- journal ISSN:
- publisher: Harrison's Reports, Inc.
- keywords: Alfred Hitchcock, Carole Lombard, Gene Raymond, Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941), Norman Krasna, Robert Montgomery
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Article
"Mr. and Mrs. Smith" with Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery
(RKO, January 31 ; time, 95 min.)
Good ! It is another one in the long line of marital comedies that have been produced recently. The story itself is thin, depending on different farcical situations for most of its entertainment value. The fact that it holds one's attention throughout is owed to the deft direction and the engaging performances. Another attraction is the picture's lavishness. Audiences who know Alfred Hitchcock as a director of thrilling melodramas may expect this to be another one in that class ; for that reason, exhibitors should stress the fact that it is a comedy so as not to disappoint their patrons :—
Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery manage to keep happily married by following one rule : should they quarrel, neither one was to leave the bedroom until they had finally made up. Sometimes this rule kept Montgomery away from his law office for a week; but his partner (Gene Raymond) did not complain. After one such session lasting three days, Montgomery and Miss Lombard finally make up and he goes to his office. The first visitor is the man who had married them; he informs Montgomery that, owing to a technicality, he and Miss Lombard were not legally married. This amuses Montgomery. He sees Miss Lombard that evening, little realizing that she, too, knew of the situation. After waiting an entire evening for him to suggest that they remarry, Miss Lombard, in disgust, throws him out of their home. Since she was a free woman, she goes out with Raymond, who loved her ; she promises to marry him. Montgomery goes wild. He follows them wherever they go and humiliates Miss Lombard in the presence of Raymond's parents, who are shocked at the idea of their son marrying such a woman. After many adventures, Miss Lombard finally succumbs, realizing that she loved only Montgomery.
[Norman Krasna]] wrote the story and screen play, and Harry E. Edington produced it. In the cast are Jack Carson, Philip Merivale, Lucile Watson, William Tracy, Esther Dale, Emma Dunn, and others.
The dialogue is a little too risqué for children.
Class B.
