FemaleFirst.co.uk: DVD: Mr Mrs Smith [DVD] [1941]

Mr Mrs Smith [DVD] [1941]
enlarge	Director: Alfred Hitchcock Actors: Carole Lombard, Robert Montgomery, Gene Raymond, Jack Carson, Philip Merivale Studio: Universal Pictures UK Category: DVD List Price: ~~£19.99~~ Buy New: £2.34 as of 23/11/2009 05:44 GMT details You Save: £17.65 (88%) New (15) Used (4) from £2.32 Seller: findprice Rating: 13 reviews Sales Rank: 16510 Format: Black White, PAL Language: English (Original Language) Rating: Universal, suitable for all Region: 2 Discs: 1 Number Of Discs: 1 Running Time: 90 Minutes Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2 Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6 EAN: 5050582004243 ASIN: B00008Z78C Theatrical Release Date: January 31, 1941 Release Date: April 21, 2003 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days


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Editorial Reviews: Amazon.co.uk Review Before Hollywood had entirely typecast Alfred Hitchcock as the master of suspense, with IMr Mrs Smith/I he was allowed to fashion an elegant romantic trifle starring Robert Montgomery and Carole Lombard. It probably won't replace IRear Window/I or IPsycho/I 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 IThe Awful Truth/I (1937) and IBringing Up Baby/I (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. p The intriguing thing about the movie is how Hitchcock takes Norman Krasna's paper-thin script and adds sly undercurrents of menace. You may note, for instance, that the ostensibly happy Smiths treat each other with subtle sadism right from the start, and that David's tactical pursuit of his ex-wife (spying on her and deliberately offending Jeff's parents) involves them both in humiliations that are really quite sinister and ugly. Violence seems about to erupt in the recurring scenes where Ann shaves her husband (suggestively holding a razor up to his throat)--and make what you will of our hero's symbolic nosebleeds. There's a touch of IVertigo/I in one scary moment when a jammed amusement park ride leaves two characters dangling helplessly high above the ground--and a touch of shall we say relief for Hitchcock's well-known love of toilet humour in another oddball sequence. 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. --IPeter Matthews/I

Customer Reviews: Showing reviews 1-5 of 13 1 2 3 Next » Probably one of the nastiest screwball comedies ever made. January 4, 2001 4 out of 5 found this review helpful A gloriously acidic screwball comedy, with three astonishingly good lead performances. Probably my favourite Hitchcock, easily his most underrated. Who is Mamma Lucia? March 16, 2009 Chris Pin (South Wales) 0 out of 2 found this review helpful See the film to find out. This is Hitchcock in perverse, cynical mode, just the right bloke to direct a screwball comedy. With Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery deliciously OTT, this exploration of matrimony is right at the top with those by the Loy/Powell team ("I Love You Again" and "Love Crazy"), though a tad more acidic. I love you Ann Krausheimer. Sowing the seeds of greatness. February 26, 2005 10 out of 11 found this review helpful There is something quite disconcerting about watching a Hitchcock film, the man who has the reputation, rightly, as the best maker of suspense films ever; a man whose work has irrevocably changed how the world sees filmmaking as a whole through the suspense medium, and knowing also that one is watching a comedy.pWatching 'The Trouble With Harry' one gets a similar feeling and that film too, accompanying the comedy, however dated some of it can be at times, has a real sense of the macabre, a quite horrible darkness to the overall feeling of the film. The way in which the couple, (having spilt up, Mr. wants to get back together with his uninterested wife), and particularly him, treat each other, the constant dogging, spying and overalll attempt at malicious sabotage is quite disconcerting if also fairly funny.pThere's no getting away from the fact that the film isn't a great. Though there are echoes in some of the symbolism, though some images bring others from greater films to mind, Vertigo, Psycho, still, like HItchcock's films as a whole from that era, we aren't treated to a wonderful cinemtaic experience but a good one, and, far more interestingly, we are shown, like most of Hitchcock's earlier and less successful film, the seeds of the future, those reminders, fleeting though they may be, of what comes out of this work and one can hardly fail to wonder at it.pWorking with, shall we say, not the best screenplay ever made, the actors performances are all strong, as macabre as they needed to be, when they needed to be and likewise for the comedy. That is perhaps what gets the film through, the very decent balance between the seriousnees of the film and the comedy.pIt is well worth the watching and, as with virtually all of his work, essential for any true Hitchcockians. The original May 1, 2006 Political Manoeuvre (London) 3 out of 3 found this review helpful Lots of people don't seem to like this film. Perhaps they were expecting something different from Hitchcock. However, I find it a brilliant comedy, and Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery are superb in this. This film isn't perfect, and it especially lags in the last half. Agreed that it is a departure from Hitchcock's normal style of film, but that makes it all the more better. Hitch made this film so he could work with Carole Lombard his favourite actress, and I think that it wasn't a half bad attempt. People, stop trying to view this as a Hitchcock masterpiece, just watch it as a hilarious screwball comedy! A Hitchcock Curio: his only screwball comedy! November 19, 2000 Nettlewine (UK) 8 out of 9 found this review helpful First off you might note that this movie was made early in Hitchcock's American career as a favour to Carole Lombard. Poignant too, as Lombard was killed in a plane crash between this film's completion and its release.pIt's odd Hitchcock fare, but fluff enough to keep you engaged. Mr and Mrs Smith are constantly at each other's throats, but with one condition -- they never leave the bedroom until their score has been settled.pBut what do they do when they find that their marriage was not legal in the first place? Batten down the hatches, kids, this one's not pretty.pThe virtues of this film are to be seen in Hitchcock's dealing with the married couple. There aren't that many married-couple stories in film, because all that lusting has been tamed. But Hitch has his own way of telling these tales. This film is in good company with earlier English attempts Rich Strange, The Lady Vanishes and The Man Who Knew Too Much pitching themselves on the far side of the marriage boundary.pThat said, this is a particularly lusty marriage, and of course when it is annulled, the lust goes mad. Only in different directions.pWorth checking out for the farce -- but don't approach it with your Hitchcock-snobbery head on. Showing reviews 1-5 of 13 1 2 3 Next »

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