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Made for Each Other (1939 film)

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Made for Each Other
1939 theatrical poster
Directed byJohn Cromwell
Screenplay byJo Swerling
Frank Ryan (uncredited)
Story byRose Franken
Produced byDavid O. Selznick
StarringCarole Lombard
James Stewart
CinematographyLeon Shamroy
Edited byJames E. Newcom
Music byOscar Levant (uncredited)
Production
company
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • February 10, 1939 (1939-02-10)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Made for Each Other is a 1939 American romantic comedy film directed by John Cromwell, produced by David O. Selznick, and starring Carole Lombard, James Stewart, and Charles Coburn. Lombard and Stewart portray a couple who get married after only knowing each other for one day.

The film is now in the public domain in the United States, with the original film negative owned by Disney.[1]

Plot

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Made for Each Other (1939)

John Mason is a young attorney in New York City and a milquetoast. He works for Judge Doolittle and has been doing his job well, and he has a chance of being made a partner in his law firm, especially if he marries Eunice, the daughter of his employer, Judge Doolittle. However, John meets Jane during a business trip, and they fall in love and marry immediately. Eunice eventually marries another lawyer in the firm, Carter. John's impertinent mother is disappointed with his choice, and an important trial forces him to cancel the honeymoon. He wins the case, but by that time Judge Doolittle has chosen John's kowtowing yes-man coworker Carter as the new partner.

After they have a baby, Jane encourages John to demand a raise and a promotion, but with finances tightened by the Depression, before John has a chance to demand more, Doolittle instead requires that all employees accept pay cuts. After Jane has a baby, John becomes discouraged by his unpaid bills, and his mother, who lives with them in their small apartment, is destroying their marriage.

At home, John's mother comes to live with them, causing a stream of different housekeepers each to quit. John's mother gives the baby a bad cold.

On New Year's Eve, 1938–39, the couple go out to celebrate alone. As Auld Lang Syne is sung, Jane decides to phone home and discovers their child is sick. The baby is rushed to the hospital with pneumonia. The baby will die within hours unless a serum is delivered by plane from Salt Lake City. Doolittle agrees to provide the $5000 funding to deliver the serum, but with a storm raging, and with a wife and children to consider, the pilot refuses to fly. John pleads over the telephone, and the pilot's unmarried friend takes the job, agreeing to give the first pilot half in order to borrow the plane or all if he is killed. He gets into the small biplane in heavy snow. The new pilot almost crashes in the mountains, and the plane's engine catches fire over the Allegheny River, a short distance from New York. He parachutes out clutching the serum. The pilot is injured on landing and knocked unconscious, but he crawls to a nearby farm house after he recovers. The farmer sees the box containing the serum and telephones the hospital, and the baby is saved. A few months later, John is made partner at the law firm and his son speaks his first words.

Cast

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Reception and legacy

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Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times called the film "thoroughly delightful",[2] but it lost $292,000 at the box office.[3]

The film was re-edited into a short film by Jeff Baena for an episode of the Showtime anthology series Cinema Toast. Lombard, Stewart, Charles Coburn, and Lucile Watson were dubbed by Alison Brie, John Reynolds, Nick Offerman, and Megan Mullally, respectively.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Scott MacQueen and Phil Feiner (August 1, 2000). "First Person: Restoring Film with Digital Recombination". Millimeter Magazine. Prism Business Media. Archived from the original on June 1, 2006.
  2. ^ Nugent, Frank S. (1939-02-17). "In the Best of Humors Is 'Made for Each Other,' at the Music Hall--New Western at the Rialto". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  3. ^ David Thomson, Showman: The Life of David O. Selznick, Abacus, 1993 p. 269
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