Mr. & Mrs. Smith
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Movie Reviews of Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Movie Review: Curiously
Summary: 5 Stars
Coming from director Alfred Hitchcock, MR. AND MRS. SMITH is a curiosity piece. Not fitting into any of the director's usual genres this comedy is a lot of fun. Robert Montgomery and Carole Lombard make a great team. Pretty good scripting.
Movie Review: mr and mrs smith
Summary: 5 Stars
great classic movie of the pre-WWII comdey traditon. high quality video and audio in the standard theatrical version format. hard case dvd includes special features and original theater trailer. Most definitely recommend.Movie Review: A Classic Comedy with hints of romance
Summary: 5 Stars
Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery are a perfect pair in Hitchcock's comedy. Plot already OVER discussed in other reviews. If you are a fan of black and white comedies of the 30's and 40's then give this one a try.Movie Review: Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Summary: 5 Stars
Great movie! Carole Lombard is wonderful in this movie and Robert Montgomery is such a hoot!Movie Review: The Queen of Screwball Comedy in Fine Hitchcock Film...
Summary: 4 Stars
Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a very different kind of film compared to Alfred Hitchcock's other films. The first obvious difference that strikes the audience is the absence of murder or other wicked elements. Instead Hitchcock created a comedy with Carole Lombard whom he held in high esteem. Lombard made several great films during the 1930s among these My Man Godfrey (1936), unfortunately she passed away in a plane crash at the age 33. Nonetheless, she left the world with a number of wonderful performances one of which can be seen in Mr. & Mrs. Smith while leaving the legacy of being the queen of screwball comedy for people to reminiscence.
The camera captures a hotel room with several dirty plates with half eaten deserts and meals in the beginning of the film while slowly panning towards an rough looking David Smith (Robert Montgomery) who is playing solitaire. It is obvious that David tries to silently squander some time while waiting for his wife Ann (Carole Lombard) to get up from the bed. David studies Ann who has cocooned herself with the blanket, as he knows that she is pretending to sleep. Simultaneously, room service knocks on the door with breakfast. Ann peaks out from under the blanket when David receives the breakfast, but rolls over to overtly express her silent contempt for some unknown reason. Her husband, on the other hand, seems to be used to this, as he merely picks up his breakfast and silently moves away from her in order to let her calm down.
The opening set up displays Hitchcock's ingenious story telling technique, as he creates intrigue and a clear beginning of the film. In addition, the framing and mise-en-scene are exceptional throughout the film, which helps enhance the messages in the film. Several different notions can be deduced from this scene such as that they are married, there is tension between them, and both expect one another to be able to do the right thing without communication. Yet, Ann and David find a way to fix the quarrel between them, which has gone on for three days. This suggests that they took the ceremony when they said, "until death do us part", very seriously, as they work things out.
Shortly after the opening, Hitchcock displays an interesting scene where Ann shaves David. It displays tremendous trust that David has for Ann, as she carefully shaves him with a sharp blade. Maybe this could draw some suggestive thoughts to the shower scene in Psycho of what could happen, if she still was angry with him. However, this is a comedy and it will not happen, yet the idea still lingers in the mind for those who have seen other Hitchcock films. Instead, Ann talks about faithfulness, honesty, and other decent concepts that generate a healthy marriage. In the following scene Ann warms her feet against David's legs. Those who have a significant other might recognize themselves in this amusing scene when Ann asks David if he would marry her, if they would do the whole thing over again. David responds that he would not, as he wants to be honest with Ann. Consequently, Ann removes her feet from David's warm legs.
As the story unfolds, David and Ann find out that their marriage is invalid by human error. This leads the film into an interesting journey with role reversal in regards to David's previous comment at the breakfast table. Shrewdly, Hitchcock depicts his comic tale in the light of the current, 1940s that is, society's perceptive of a proper marriage and decent living. The film also illustrates how unbalanced women's rights were at the time, as Ann tries to make a living by herself. This is interesting, as Carole Lombard was very progressive and active for her own right, as she was aware of the male dominating film industry. She even managed to get herself top salaries, which at the time paid her as much as $35,000 per week. Consequently, Hitchcock's attempt to make a comedy received mixed opinions, but the film itself offers a solid cinematic experience with both humor and social concepts that should be pondered.