Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

good back-story, and good acting

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

I thought with Stewart and Lombard as leads, I would get a light marital comedy. What I got instead was a well made tear-jerker, with a few lighter moments but with a whole lot of heavy dramatics. A film like this, I suspect, is mainly a matter of taste. No matter how well done, the results still amount to slickly done soap opera.The two young marrieds go through a series of ups and downs much as most marriages do. Stewart's hectic as the bright young attorney, who thinks himself a failure because of money problems. Lombard plays his loyal wife who provides the strong support he and their marriage need, even though she has to put up with a disapproving mother-in-law. But it's a very glum Lombard, not the typical free spirit of her best roles. As Stewart's penny- pinching boss, Coburn manages as a likable grump, who comes through when needed.The production's wise enough to break up the prosaics with a hair-raising flight for life, as a bi-plane races across storm-tossed skies to deliver life saving serum to the couple's sick baby. It's the movie's high point and with a twist or two. I expect a lot of folks can still identify with the couple's difficulties even though the production comes from the hard- pressed Depression era. Nonetheless, I can't help thinking that the dead-serious roles do not make use of the stars' special talents. Given the movie's unexceptional storyline, I also can't help thinking any number of lesser actors could have adequately filled the two leads. And in that important casting sense, the movie remains a disappointment. In short, the cast deserves better.

Your enjoyment of "Made For Each Other" is entirely dependent on your appreciation for Jimmy Stewart. If you're a big fan of his, you should find this movie mildly entertaining. If, however, you find Jimmy Stewart vastly overrated as an actor, like I do, then you're in for a painful slog.All of Stewart's quirks, gimmicks, affectations, and stammers are fully on view here. In this movie, he plays a wimpy lawyer who lets everyone and everything in his life overwhelm him. That would be fine if the movie gave us any kind of story to attach to the character he plays. It doesn't. There's a co-worker at the law firm where Stewart works who seems to be the film's villain early on. They're competing for a firm partnership, so it seems like we might get some heated office politics. We don't. Stewart had been dating the boss' daughter before meeting his wife, so it seems like we might get some interesting romantic rivalry sparks in the movie. We don't. Stewart's boss (Charles Coburn) pushes Stewart around, possibly because Stewart ditched his daughter, so we might get some "boss vs. employee" friction. We don't. Stewart's new wife and his mom rub each other the wrong way, so we might get some interesting family in-fighting. We don't. In fact, not much really happens in this movie at all.After about an hour of listlessness, Stewart and Lombard decide to get a divorce. At this point, I thought, "Well, maybe their baby will get sick and die and that'll end this dreary movie." Shazam! The next scene, that very thing started to happen! All of a sudden Stewart is sobbing on the phone, demanding help from his boss, praying for help, all in the most melodramatic way possible. Some random pilot decides to fly from Salt Lake City to New York during a raging blizzard (in an open air bi-plane!!!) in order to save the day. Why couldn't the movie be about THAT guy? Stewart's character is such a mama's boy that its hard to root for him at all. I could never see what Lombard's character saw in him in the first place. Charles Coburn's character started off as really irritating, with the old "hard-of-hearing" schtick that seems to be prevalent in so many old movies. He really takes control of the situation (and the movie) by becoming a man of action once the baby gets sick. His role became the most interesting part of the movie at that point.If you want to see Jimmy Stewart at his best (in 1939), stick with "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington".

Terrific comedy which soon falls into dramatic overtones with Jimmy Stewart, Carole Lombard and Lucille Watson providing great acting.Stewart marries Lombard after meeting her during a business trip. He brings her home and she is immediately disliked by mother-in-law Watson. Watson takes the role of the find-fault mother-in-law with relish and in comedy never lets Stewart forget that he could have married Charles Coburn's (the boss) daughter.The young couple can't seem to make it. When Stewart asks Coburn for a raise, Coburn beats him to it and tells that with hard times, everyone must take a 25% pay deduction. When the baby comes, everything seems to go downhill.Now, the picture takes on dramatic overtones with a new year's bout between Lombard and Watson. It looks like this marriage is going, going gone.With the baby's sudden illness, we see how people can come together in times of distress. The cooperating boss, the pilot flying the serum, the understanding maid, quite a difference from nasty Alma Kruger, who quit during a dinner party, and the couple that called the hospital when they came upon the collapsed pilot holding the serum. This sequence basically shows what America is all about.

I decided to watch this movie because I'd not seen Carol Lombard before in any movie. I'm sorry it had to be this one because, quite frankly, this is a dog – and even with Jimmy Stewart and Charles Coburn, both of whom were great actors.The problem with the film is simple: it tries to put too much, too quickly, in to a story about a young lawyer (John Manson played by Stewart) who marries Jane (played by Lombard) within an hour of meeting her. What's that cliché? Marry in haste, repent at leisure... In short, the story is a series of episodes that show the couples' worsening financial status, their troubles with John's live-in mother, their struggles to pay the bills, John's diminished status at the office, the arrival of their baby son, John Jnr (unexpected and causing additional friction at home with mother), the couples' angst about their marriage, the baby's sickness which worsens, thus necessitating an heroic flight by a lone pilot (in a fierce storm) to bring a special serum to save the child, and finally John being accepted as a junior partner at the law firm.How many more clichéd situations could the writers include? Maybe Mother dying soon after? There wasn't much comedy; the drama was lacklustre, at best; the dialog was painful to hear. Only the acting of the four main players was adequate.This was the period at the end of the Great Depression with the USA coming out of its long downturn – during which many people experienced all of the events portrayed in the movie.So, it made sense for Selznick to reaffirm good ol' home spun American values of family, relationships, heroism, perseverance, and initiative – all against the backdrop of the "average" American family. Who better to use than Jimmy Stewart and Carol Lombard? And, it should be noted that the film was released in early 1939; so, it was planned in 1938 – soon after the USA began to get production going for the coming World War II. Hence, this sort of film was a great booster for the general public, at that time, many of who would soon have to join England in war. As many here would know, Hollywood and Washington formed an uneasy alliance before, during and after the war.However, I'm glad I saw it – as a piece of disguised socio-political propaganda. But, I'll have to see other Lombard films to gain a better appreciation of her acting range.As another reviewer noted: see this one just to say that you've seen all of Stewart's movies; otherwise, don't bother.