According to Patrick McGillian’s remarkable biography of Alfred Hitchcock, “Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light”, the legendary “Master of Suspense” agreed to direct this 1941 light comedy “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” only because his friend, legendary Hollywood star, Carole Lombard, asked him to.
Dying in a plane crash when she was only 33, Lombard was a mega-star in the 30s. A gifted comedienne, she shone in films like “Twentieth Century” (1934) and “My Man Godfrey” (1936). Sadly, a terrific talent lost to Hollywood and the world far too early.
Here, Lombard and Robert Mongomery (“Here Comes Mr. Jordan”, “Ride the Pink Horse”) play a young married couple who, as the film opens, are in the midst of another one of their notoriously epic fights. How epic? They’ve spent the last 3 days in their bedroom because they have a rule that they cannot, under any circumstances, leave until they have made up. Thankfully, they finally do and all is well again.
Unfortunately, their negotiated peace lasts only up until the very next scene when Mr Smith makes a doozy of a boo-boo when he answers “No,” to Mrs. Smith’s question, “If you had to do it all over again, would you still marry me?” Oh, boy. That a tap in. Instead, he shoots it up into the netting.
A few scenes later, that “No,” suddenly becomes very important when Mr. Smith is informed that, surprise, he and Mrs. Smith are not and never have been officially married. Oh, boy, oh, boy.
Unbeknownst to Mr. Smith, Mrs. Smith is informed of their non-hitched status as well. So, when her hubby invites her out to dine at a place they frequented prior to getting hitched, Mrs. Smith naturally assumes that the meal is merely a warm up to the main event – another priest, another ring and another round of “I dos.” Instead of being “surprised” in a good way, Mrs. Smith is surprised in a bad way, when that new ceremony fails to materialize.
Following some fireworks, an incensed Mrs. Smith tells Mr. Smith to stuff it. Oh, boy, oh boy, oh, boy.
Slight, charming and genuinely funny, M&MS is a delight, if a bit overlong. Lombard and Montgomery are terrific together. Both more than capable comic actors, the two give us plenty to smile and laugh at as they go toe to toe in an attempt to convince the other (and maybe even themselves) that they are perfectly happy being single.
The comic highlight comes at “The Florida Club” – a ritzy place where each has come on a post-marriage date with someone else on their arms. Montgomery is a hoot as he mugs it up trying to make his never-sorta-ex-wife jealous.
Hitchcock may have viewed the film as a silly little favour for a friend, but that doesn’t mean that his trademark visual touch is absent in M&MS. It’s there in a delightful wide shot of Mrs. Smith in bed – prior to the end of their initial stalemate. The camera smoothly dollies into a close up of her face just as she opens one eye to take a quick peek at what her hubby’s up to. It’s also there in a cute shot under the breakfast table, when a happy again Mrs. Smith playfully slips her feet up Mr. Smith’s pant legs and rests them there, on his shins, while they both eat. Following Mr. Smith’s boneheaded “No” to the “Would you still marry me?” no-brainer, Hitchcock cuts back to the shot as Mrs. Smith pulls her feet back out of Mr. Smith’s pant legs and drops them to the floor. These and about a half dozen other moments of visual fun are sprinkled throughout M&MS’s slender 95 minute run time.
There isn’t much going on underneath the surface level charms of M&MS. It’s as straightforward as movies get. Yet, that’s okay. It’s breezy and funny and the two stars are terrific as they stomp and shout and point fingers at each other with great enthusiasm. Plus, Hitchcock is on hand to occasionally show us how a well chosen camera angle can say more than a page full of dull yakking.
While doing a favour for a friend, Hitchcock did one for us, as well. Well worth checking out.
