Made for Each Other Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Made for Each Other Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson September 21, 2022

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Hollywood films underwent something of a transition. The screwball comedy had been a constant since the early to mid Thirties but had began to wane. While Hollywood continued to make comedies well into the next decade (e.g., I Was a Male War Bride), it shifted its focus to domestic dramas, noir, and, not coincidentally, war pictures. The Selznick International Production of Made for Each Other (1939) was perhaps part of the last breed. In fact, a Life magazine review even pronounced it the last of the screwball comedies. Even though the New York Times named it one of the ten best films of 1939 (it'd be an understatement to say that was a banner year in Tinseltown), it's relatively forgotten today. That's a trifle surprising considering its two leads. MGM loaned James Stewart out to David O. Selznick on a two-picture deal and Carol Lombard's appeared in her second film for Selznick two years after co-starring with Frederic March in Nothing Sacred.

John Mason (James Stewart) is a New York attorney returning to a Manhattan law firm following a trip to Boston where he has love at first sight with Jane (Carole Lombard). Though John and Jane have only known each other for a couple days, they've agreed to marry. This upsets the firm's senior partner, Judge J. M. Doolittle (Charles Coburn), who would much rather have John devote his energies to a new and important case. In addition, Doolittle prefers that John marry his daughter, Eunice (Ruth Weston), instead. This also does not go over well with John’s mother, Harriet (Lucile Watson). She meets with both of them and tell her son that she doesn't entirely approve of Jane. Nonetheless, the new couple board a honeymoon cruise on a transatlantic liner bound for Europe. Before the ship departs, however, Carter (an uncredited Donald Briggs) from the firm comes on board to inform John that he absolutely must stay in New York to take on a recent case. At an unsettling dinner party celebrating the newlyweds, it's announced that Carter is marrying Eunice, which propels him to vice president/junior partner of the firm. When Jane and John are expecting their first child, she asks him to request a raise from Doolittle. John only somewhat follows through as he can't get the proper words out of his mouth to his hearing-impaired boss.

Made for Each Other deftly executes the generic tropes of screwball comedy throughout much of the picture's first two-thirds. However, the last third segues more into familial melodrama that doesn't work as well. Evidently, this was an editorial decision by Selznick following ho-hum test screenings. In his 1984 biography of James Stewart, author Allen Eyles wrote that sneak previews demonstrated the original ending to not be strong enough on a dramatic level. So, re-shoots were needed. The last part of the film was actually inspired by an incident involving Selznick's brother Myron, who lay gravely ill at beside until a miracle drug was flown in from New York. For those who haven't seen the film, I won't reveal how the filmmakers have translated that event into this fictional story, which was scripted by Jo Swerling (No Greater Glory; Pennies from Heaven.)

My mass research indicates that Made for Each Other was a marginal success at the box office and also critically well-received. Lombard liked the picture more than Stewart. Both were disappointed with the added sequence. In his 2007 biography of Stewart, author Marc Eliot wrote that Stewart blamed the picture's deficiencies on the lack of a strong director like Frank Capra or screenwriter such as Sam Riskin. Made for Each Other was helmed by theatre and film director, John Cromwell (Little Lord Fauntleroy; The Prisoner of Zenda), who, according to Stewart, couldn't get the actor to cry when he learns of his son's illness. Author Gary Fishgall (Pieces of Time: The Life of James Stewart) found an archival interview transcript (ca. 1950) in which Stewart explained to Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper how he struggled to get emotional with the scene: "I couldn't work up the tears," Stewart told Hopper, "and didn't have the nerve to ask for that stuff that makes you cry when put in your eyes." "I walked outside," Stewart recounted during a break in filming, "and held a lighted cigarette near my face so the smoke could pour into my eyes. When I was called into the scene, I was nearly blind. My bloodshot eyes looked as if I'd been on a week's binge. Somebody poured Murine into them, but that ended my work for the day. We finally got the scene next morning." By contrast, Lombard found Cromwell to be a more effective director. As Larry Swindell recorded in his 1975 biography, Screwball: The Life of Carole Lombard, the actress became friends with Cromwell when they met on the Paramount lot. Indeed, Cromwell was put on "Carole’s inventory of favorite directors."

Made for Each Other Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

With the exception of a no-frills DVD-5 MGM put out in 2004, all other video editions of Made for Each Other have largely been mediocre from smaller labels released outside the public domain. This MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-25 is a welcome addition to the Kino Lorber Studio Classics library. Kino has advertised this print as a brand new HD master from a 2K scan of the restored fine grain master. The transfer isn't as clear as Intermezzo: A Love Story, another SIP production from 1939. If you examine Screenshot #s 7 and 18-19, you'll see light scratches across the frame. Furthermore, little damage marks appear with more consistency than they do throughout Intermezzo. It's very possible that the extant master of Made for Each Other wasn't in as good a shape. The picture is quite watchable, though. Black levels are whole and deep. I still feel that Kino could have done some more work to remove the scratches as well as some tramlines I spotted. Kino has encoded the feature at an average video bitrate of 26747 kbps.

Eight scene selections accompany the 92-minute movie.

Made for Each Other Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Kino has supplied a DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono track (1559 kbps, 16-bit). Spoken words are delivered on the high register on this uncompressed mix. They come across as intelligible and very crisp. Kino has kept any audible hiss to a minimum. I am most satisfied with how Kino has presented this lossless audio track.

Optional English SDH can be switched on or off through the menu or via remote.

Made for Each Other Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

MGM's DVD was no frills (not even a trailer) but Kino recorded a commentary and included the original trailer. In James Stewart: A Bio-Bibliography (Greenwood, 1992), author Gerard Molyneaux stated that the actor returned as Johnny Mason in a Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of Made for Each Other that aired on December 17, 1945. The hour-long CBS radio play co-starred Marsha Hunt, who took over Lombard's role of Jane. Criterion has occasionally put these radio theatre productions on their discs as an extra so here's hoping that this one still exists for possible future inclusion.

• NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Lee Gambin - Gambin is his typically witty and chatty self on this feature-length track. He covers as much about the filmmakers and cast members of Made for Each Other as he can. He spotlights Stewart's relationship with Henry Fonda, which began in the theatre. The commentary is noticeably unscripted as evidenced by Gambin's semi-frequent filler words. He occasionally goes on tangents such as when he brings up Gremlins (although Dante's picture has a connection with It's a Wonderful Life). In English, not subtitled.

• Original Theatrical Trailer (2:05, 1080p) - an unrestored trailer for Made for Each Other, which was originally exhibited by United Artists.

• Bonus Trailers - additional trailers for KLSC titles: Nothing Sacred, No Highway in the Sky, and I'll Be Seeing You.

Made for Each Other Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Made for Each Other (1939) features James Stewart playing his customary common man but the other lead role inhabited by Carole Lombard is a detour from her comedienne persona seen earlier in the decade. But she still excels at comedy here, too. The film's screwball aspects fare considerably better than its standard melodrama during the last third. I also thought that the movie could have featured Stewart's lawyer character at work and in the courtroom a lot more than it does. But Stewart and Lombard forge a fine screen partnership. Made for Each Other must look the finest it's ever looked but semi-frequent print blemishes still exist on this 2K scan. The lossless audio presentation is outstanding. Lee Gambin's commentary rambles but the viewer comes away knowing quite a bit about the film's players and crew members. A FAIRLY SOLID RECOMMENDATION.