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List Price: $19.98 | | Label: Turner Home Ent
Salesrank: 37266
Released: September 7, 2004 |
| Our Price: $1.61 |
| Used Price: $1.85 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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| Features:
Black & White Closed-captioned Dolby NTSC Subtitled | |
Editorial Review:
They're married for bitter or worse - until a technicality renders the union void. But now Mr. misses Mrs. and he's desperate to win her back. A rare and delightful foray into screwball comedy from suspense master Hitchcock. Year: 1941Running Time: 95 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 053939680720
Description of Mr. & Mrs. Smith:
Before Hollywood had entirely typecast Alfred Hitchcock as the master of suspense, with Mr. & Mrs. Smith he was allowed to fashion an elegant romantic trifle starring Robert Montgomery and Carole Lombard. It probably won't replace Rear Window or Psycho in your affections, but the film is more than a curious footnote to the director's career. The two leads play David and Ann Smith, a devoted but endlessly squabbling couple who discover their three-year marriage isn't legal. When he unexpectedly hesitates to arrange a second wedding, she storms out in a huff and soon begins dating his solid, dependable business partner Jeff (Gene Raymond). The rest follows the formula laid down by such previous screwball comedies as The Awful Truth (1937) and Bringing Up Baby (1938): David employs fair means or foul to win back Ann's heart, causes all sorts of complicated mischief, then... well, three guesses what happens in the end.
The intriguing thing about the movie is how Hitchcock takes Norman Krasna's paper-thin script and adds sly undercurrents of menace. Violence seems about to erupt in the recurring scenes where Ann shaves her husband (suggestively holding a razor up to his throat)--and there's a touch of Vertigo in one scary moment when a jammed amusement park ride leaves two characters dangling helplessly high above the ground. Montgomery and Lombard keep the mood acceptably frivolous, while indicating the flawed nature of the marital relationship. From the evidence of this one-off, Hitchcock might have been among the best comedy directors in the business, had he so wished. --Peter Matthews
Mr. & Mrs. Smith Reviews:
Hitchcock and Lombard - an unmissable combination! 
2009-07-06 - Carole Lombard's second-last movie before her tragic death, MR. & MRS. SMITH (1941) saw her under the direction of Alfred Hitchcock and paired with the devilishly handsome Robert Montgomery.
After Ann and David Smith (Lombard and Montgomery) discover their wedding wasn't in fact legal, the obvious solution, to Ann at least, is to quickly get married again. But to her horror, David seems quite relaxed about the whole affair. Ann's mind tracks back to a recent conversation where she asked David about marriage and whether he'd do everything the same if he ever got a second chance. His reply was to remain a bachelor instead!
Ann storms out of the "marriage", takes up her maiden name and starts dating David's strait-laced business partner (Gene Raymond); whilst David tries every trick in the book in his quest to win her back.
While this was a real change-of-pace for Hitchcock, the comedy genre wasn't completely new territory for the director, having helmed some enjoyable silents in the comedy vein like "The Farmer's Wife" in 1928 (and when you think about it, most of his films had some degree of comedy or a knowing comic sensibility to them).
MR. & MRS. SMITH was directed as a favour to Carole Lombard, with whom Hitchcock had recently struck up a friendship. Professionally, Ms. Lombard was firing on all cylinders, delivering some of her finest work. She was beginning to find her feet in dramatic movies (like "They Knew What They Wanted" and "Vigil in the Night", both filmed in 1940); and was also preparing for what would be her last role, as Maria Tura in Ernst Lubitsch's comedy "To Be or Not to Be". In 1942, Lombard and her mother were both killed in a plane crash, on it's way back from a war-bonds drive.
MR. & MRS. SMITH is one of the screwiest (and most subversive) screwball comedies you'll ever have the pleasure of seeing. Highly recommended.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith 
2008-01-12 - Great movie! Carole Lombard is wonderful in this movie and Robert Montgomery is such a hoot!
Being Married..Yet Not Married...and Starting All Over Again 
2007-07-15 - In a candid moment, Mr. Smith tells his wife that, had he to do it over again, he would not marry her. He says that this doesn't mean that he would like to marry someone else: He simply would enjoy the life of the bachelor again.
By a freak of the law, it turns out that their 3-year marriage is legally invalid. To him, this is simply a matter of the formality of a new marriage. To her, however, this is a chance to dump him and find someone new. Or so it seems...
Mr. Smith is told by another man that it is "really bad" when the man is forced out of his house for two nights instead of just one. Mrs. Smith reverts to her maiden name, and starts dating other men. He follows her around, trying to persuade her that he loves her and would want to marry her anew. He says that his very pursuit of her proves that he loves her and wants her. But she remains aloof and resistant. Some viewers may see in Mrs. Smith a portrayal of women as fickle, impossible to please, unable to make up their minds, and even flippant and childish.
And so it goes. Will Mr. and Mrs. Smith ever get back together again?
This flick has obvious old-fashioned themes: huge cars, smoking in public and on film, women discouraged from working outside the home if they are unmarried, etc.
Curiously
2007-03-01 - 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.
The queen of screwball comedy meets Hitchcock
2007-02-26 - Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Robert Montgomery and Carole Lombard) have a marriage with many ups and downs. One day at the office Mr. Smith finds out that he is not legally married. Surprise Mrs. Smith finds out also and waits for Mr. Smith to propose the make it legal. Some how he forgets to do this and drives her into the arms of his friend and partner.
Why won't the cat eat the soup?
How will all this turn out?
This formula was popular in the time the movie was made. This version is a tad more complex but still is necessary to suspend reality. We do get a good look at the 1939 Worlds Fair. Carole Lombard is not quits as noisy. Robert Montgomery is good at almost slapstick situations.
