Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery are teamed successfully here in a light and gay marital farce, with accent on the laugh side through generation of continual bickering of the pair. The Smiths (Lombard and Montgomery) are happily though battlingly married. A bantering question, 'If you had to do it all over would you marry me' and the obvious husbandly reply of 'No', starts things going. Advised that the three-year-old marriage is void because of legal technicalities, Mrs Smith tosses Mr Smith out of the house. Then the yarn develops into a run-around with Mr making continual stabs to recapture his wife, while his law partner, (Gene Raymond) is a ready victim of her advances aimed at inspiring jealousy. Alfred Hitchcock pilots the story in a straight farcical groove with resort to slapstick interludes or overplaying by the characters. Pacing his assignment at a steady gait, Hitchcock catches all of the laugh values from the above par script of Norman Krasna. Trivia: With Carole Lombard already committed to the film, the task of finding her sparring partner was considerably more difficult. They initially approached Cary Grant, who was unable to take the role owing to prior commitments, and then considered practically every leading man in Hollywood before finally settling on Robert Montgomery. Montgomery received a considerably higher salary for starring in the film than Hitchcock for directing it. The genesis of Mr. and Mrs. Smith came from a discussion. Lombard had become close friends with Hitchcock and his wife Alma; indeed she was often invited for dinner at the Hitchcocks, along with her husband Clark Gable. She begged to work with her friend, and expressed a desire to appear in one of the 'screwball comedies' that were so popular at the time. The original story and screenplay, written by Norman Krasna, was submitted to RKO without a title, but both Hitch and Lombard were apparently desperate to work on it. It was only in hindsight that Hitch claimed to have never wanted to direct the film. 4 STARS OUT OF 5 UK Dvd + Scans mr & mrs smith dvds | videos al pacino | michelle pfeiffer yul brynner | christopher plummer | romy schneider the godfather | the godfather part ii marlon brando | james caan | diane keaton | al pacino laurence olivier | clark gable | vivien leigh | leslie howard | alfred hitchcock | robert montgomery | grace kelly olivia de havilland | humphrey bogart | howard hawks | frank capra | charlie chaplin | lauren bacall | fritz lang jean harlow | greta garbo | ava gardner | audrey hepburn | edward g. robinson | john garfield erich von stroheim | wim wenders | madeleine carroll | marlene dietrich | rita hayworth alfred hitchcock dvds alfred hitchcock videos mr & mrs smith dvds | videos al pacino | michelle pfeiffer yul brynner | christopher plummer | romy schneider the godfather | the godfather part ii marlon brando | james caan | diane keaton | al pacino laurence olivier | clark gable | vivien leigh | leslie howard | alfred hitchcock | robert montgomery | grace kelly olivia de havilland | humphrey bogart | howard hawks | frank capra | charlie chaplin | lauren bacall | fritz lang jean harlow | greta garbo | ava gardner | audrey hepburn | edward g. robinson | john garfield erich von stroheim | wim wenders | madeleine carroll | marlene dietrich | rita hayworth Page created by: ihuppert5@aol.com Changes last made: 2014