Mr. Smith Goes to Washington vs. Made for Each Other

nclysander

on 12/28/2011

Two Jimmy Stewart classics from 1939. Honestly, Made for Each Other deserves more notice. It gave Stewart his darkest pre-War role -- there are shades of George Bailey here -- and Carole Lombard remains lovely, even outside her accustomed genre of screwball comedy. The film is a surprisingly honest and trenchant examination of the first years of marriage, surprising because most Hollywood films from this era that I know of END with a marriage as the happily-ever-after. Make no mistake: this is a heart-pulling movie, and the nadir is when, during a New Year's celebration, Stewart and Lombard see other couples kissing, but are unable to kiss themselves. Unfortunately, no one seemed to know where to go from there, so what follows is an improbable third act in which the baby contracts a rare disease requiring cross-country deeds of derring do by unrelated characters. Still, 2/3 of this movie is still brilliant, and it's still close to my heart. That 2/3 is probably more original and less idealistic than Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, but Mr. Smith is a bona fide classic and worthy of its reputation. It's great all the way through, and if Made for Each Other provided a slight exception in terms of the kinds of roles Stewart got before the war, Mr. Smith is the greatest example of the type: an "aw, shucks" hero you can really root for.