Hollywood Magazine (1941) - Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Details
- article: Mr. and Mrs. Smith
- journal: Hollywood Magazine (April 1941)
- issue: volume 30, issue 4, pages 72-73
- journal ISSN:
- publisher: Fawcett Publications, Inc.
- keywords: Alfred Hitchcock, Carole Lombard, Gene Raymond, Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941), Robert Montgomery
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Article
MR. AND MRS. SMITH ★★★
RKO-Radio
The opening scene of Mr. and Mrs. Smith will floor you. It did Bob Montgomery—who sits on the three-days-dish-littered-floor sulkingly "eating his curds and whey," while Ma Smith (also known as Ma Gable) reclines in an over-sized satin-trimmed four poster. Pa and Ma have an agreement between them, to wit : Neither member is to leave the bedroom after a spat without first making up. These delightful brawls, it is brought out, have been known to last as long as eight days!
This unique angle is well established when suddenly things really start popping around the Smith household. The justice of the peace who performed the Smith ceremony shatters their heretofore comparatively peaceful life by informing them that their three-year-marriage is not legal. Mrs. Smith and Bob's legal partner (Gene Raymond) fix things up brown for hubby who teases wifey along and purposely neglects to suggest legalizing their union.
Bob Montgomery's deft handling of the misunderstood husband is superb. Carole Lombard returns to her former screen antics and executes the familiar Lombard contortions in admirable fashion. Gene Raymond makes his return screen debut in Mr. and Mrs. Smith with a new dye job. The improvement of his darkened locks, however, does not accomplish any improvement in Gene's acting technique.
Hilarity is rampant in this mad comedy of domesticated love. Its risque banter and intimate intrigue will evoke the double entendres Director Alfred Hitchcock intended.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith is a good antidote for the country's current day war jitters.
