Mr. and Mrs. Smith [Blu-ray]

This is a departure from the suspicion/mystery into comedy genre, and is the only pure comedy Alfred Hitchcock ever made in the U.S. A.It stars the Queen of the "Screwball" genre, (it was named after her), Carole Lombard, Robert Montgomery, Gene Raymond, and Jack Carson.It's a story about a happily married couple who love each other but quarrel once in awhile. After three years of marriage, David Smith, gets a visit from a County Official at work who informs him that his marriage is invalidated by a mistake in the county boundary line.David decides to keep this information from his wife, at least, for the night. This sounds like fun to him. Just then he glances down at his desk where he has written Mrs. Smith and changes "Mrs. to Mistress and smiles. He calls his wife and asks her out to dinner.Meanwhile, the County Official, coming from the same home town as Ann Smith, decides to stop by the Smith's apartment to say hello. While he is there, he tells Ann, and her mother who is visiting, that she is not legally married to David. At first, Ann is not worried. She is sure David will marry her after dinner. Unfortunately, David thinks he has a few days to pretend he has a mistress. David is in a lot of trouble. He just doesn't know it yet.I really enjoyed this movie. It is full of those Hitchcock touches. You can even spot Hitch walking in front of David's work building smoking a cigar (directed by Carole Lombard, who made him do it many times). Hitchcock had a dry sense of humor so don't expect the Marx Bros., but there are some priceless scenes here. When Gene Raymond is discussing why he doesn't drink, and what I call, "The Night Club" scene with Jack Carson, is classic. This film is one of/or the earliest to show a pizzeria in film.In 1941, this movie was a big hit bringing in $750,000 despite, The New York Times, panning it in it's review. Script by Academy Award winner Norman Krasna, Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Wonderful Special Features. DVD had no defects with sound or picture, and front and back covers are in English.In an 1939 interview in England, Alfred Hitchcock remarked that he wanted to make a serious film with Carole Lombard. Stories differ as to who's idea it was to make Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Some say Hitch including Hitch, then later he denied it.This was the last film released prior to Lombard's death. The film To Be or Not To Be, was her final film, released two months after her death in the airplane crash selling war bonds.

The movies include Dial M for Murder, Foreign Correspondent, I Confess, Mr. & Mrs. Smith [Hitchcock's only screwball comedy], North by Northwest, Strangers on a Train, Stage Fright, Suspicion, and The Wrong Man [the only Hitchcock film based on a true story]. Like all Hitchcock films, these are enjoyable viewing after viewing; the great craftsmanship (behind and in front of the camera) make them a pleasure to see every time I view them.The films are great condition and each comes with its trailer and a short documentary (about thirty minutes and done by Turner Classics, I think). The documentary (with comments by film director/historian Peter Bogdanovich, other film historians, Hitchcock's daughter and granddaughter, actors, and other people otherwise associated with Hitchcock or the movie itself) puts the film into context and helps the viewer appreciate it, even if it is a film we may not have heard of or may not have thought much of in the past.For example, Bogdanovich's comments about the perfect camera placement and wonderful pacing made Mr. & Mrs. Smith enjoyable for me. It turns out to be a good, enjoyable, well-made film, to my surprise, even if I prefer a regular Hitchcock film to screwball comedies.Strangers on a Train, Stage Fright, and the others I already knew and enjoyed, but now enjoy more armed with the insights and comments of various film historians and people in the documentaries.

I'm not sure what took so long (since WB has released all the other Hitchcock films in their library on Blu-ray already), but this film is finally on Blu-ray. It's definitely second-tier Hitchcock. It's not as bad as many critics have said that it is, but it's also not great. Even though Hitchcock's films are often funny to varying degrees, this is his first and only screwball comedy. And it mostly works. The first and third acts are the best. But the middle definitely drags a bit. Worth seeing.

I didn't know about this movie until I pulled up a listing of Ol Alf's movies. This is NOT Jolie/Pitt. It is hilarious! Mrs. Smith asks Mr. Smith if situations were different, would he still marry her. He answered her honestly, like she'd asked him to. She didn't like his answer. The next day, at work, Mr. Smith gets a visit from a town official, stating that the marriage license wasn't official, and legally they weren't married. Mr. Smith tried to recapture the events leading up to their wedding. Before the evening started, Mrs. Smith got a visit from the same official. The evening was a bust. Mr. Smith didn't propose. They didn't remarry. Mrs. Smith was furious. The rest of the movie was a romp through the machinations of Mr. Smith trying to get his wife back. I laughed through the whole thing. Glad to see Jack Carson--love his work. Even Ol Alf showed up. Didn't know the master of suspense could be so funny. Wanted to get this cheaper, but I had to have captioning.

This is the US Warners Bros DVD released by Turner Entertainment in 2004. It is an English audio only with English, French and Spanish subtitles. There is a Making Of documentary that is not subtitled. The film itself is an average screwball comedy, there are some funny moments but I found the main leads a little unsympathetic and the script wasn't funny enough to overcome this.

It never occurred to me that Hitch could direct a comedy (he was famously unfunny, most of all when he was trying to be funny), much less DID direct a comedy: "Mr & Mrs Smith" (1941, with Robert Montgomery and the inimitable Carol Lombard) is not just funny in a few scenes, it's funny end to end. (Example: the music in the nightclub scene, it soldiers on endlessly, like the music in the "I Married a Witch" wedding.) I bought my own copy in the unlikely event Turner Classic Movies goes belly up. Now I can laugh forever....