Jimmy Stewart and Carole Lombard, two of the most sparkling comedians of the 1930s, are trapped in Made for Each Other, a somber soap opera about marriage.
The 1938 release, produced by the legendary David O. Selznick, sets the stage right off the bat for what looks like a screwball comedy (something Stewart and Lombard excelled at). The lanky, likable Stewart plays John Mason, a young attorney who dreams of becoming a partner in the law firm run by the grouchy Judge Doolittle (Charles Coburn). As the film opens, Stewart has just returned from Boston where he’s taken a deposition in a very important case. And oh by the way, he married a gal he fell in love with at first sight. She had a cinder in her eye, he helped her get it out and wedding bells started to chime.
We soon meet Jane (Lombard) and we see why Mason fell head over heels for her: she’s down-to-earth, loving and very beautiful. Lombard (who had an all-too-short Hollywood career before a plane crash killed her at age 34) was one of those glamour queens who had plenty of brains behind the beauty; someone who sparkled both in looks and wit.
In Made for Each Other, she and Stewart mostly play it straight in a standard story that throws all kinds of hard times at the middle-class couple. The bright optimism of their marital bliss is marred by a meddling mother-in-law, a demanding boss, an unplanned pregnancy and mounting debt.
The movie gets grimmer and grimmer as the Masons face increasing adversity. Oh sure, there’s a good share of laughter along the way—it’s impossible to put these two stars in front of the camera and not get a grin on your face—but the story gets so overloaded with melodrama that you can hardly bear to watch their struggles. It all cascades into the soapiest of operas in the final reel: the baby’s sick, the only life-saving serum is in Salt Lake City, there’s a blizzard and the pilot wants $5,000 to fly the medicine to New York. Will he make it in time to save the baby? Will the music swell? Will Stewart hug Lombard and tearfully say, "It’s okay, dear—we’ll always be together…no matter what happens"?
Aw come on, this may be dramatic piffle, but it is after all the 1930s and it is Jimmy Stewart and Carole Lombard we’re talking about here. You know how everything turns out.
Despite the sappy turn of events, Made for Each Other is still a nice flick to plug into the VCR when nothing else is in at the local video store. The charm of its stars will carry you through the corniest moments of the script. I doubt that Stewart and Lombard ever made a stinko movie in their careers…though this one did come close.
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