Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Mr. & Mrs. Smith Blu-ray Movie Review

Comedy with a hitch.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III July 7, 2024

The only American-made screwball comedy from legendary director Alfred Hitchcock, 1941's Mr. and Mrs. Smith -- which is unrelated to the 2005 film of the same name -- was penned by a well-regarded screenwriter, performed by a fine cast, and of course the direction is lean and efficient. So why isn't it a better film? In fact, Mr. and Mrs. Smith is often ranked at or near the bottom of Hitchcock's stacked résumé... and while I'd probably consider it at least a little underrated for that fact alone, it clearly isn't quite in the same league as his most well-remembered efforts.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith may not be consistently funny, but it's nothing if not at least light and pleasant most of the way through. The story couldn't be simpler, with its full plot revolving around a legal loophole that nullifies the marriage of our titular couple, Ann and David (Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery), who otherwise have more or less enjoyed three years of wedded turbulence. When Ann casually asks him if he'd marry her again if given the chance, David's answer starts yet another fight between the two, yet it's not until the loophole revelation separately spelled out by county official and family friend Harry Deever (Charles Halton) that we know things are going to change.

Their situation grows a bit more complex when David's co-worker Jeff Custer (Gene Raymond) gets involved, as he eventually dates Ann while setting David up with another woman to make his former wife jealous. Now they're almost entirely on separate paths and the resulting mess sends Ann and Jeff on an impromptu skiing trip with his parents near Lake Placid... right next door to the same cabin David already rented awhile back for a romantic retreat.

OK, I take that back: the story could be simpler, as the sheer number of twists, turns, and caveats employed during this extended lovers' spat ends up circumventing some of Mr. and Mrs. Smith's fundamental strengths. We get some nice scenery along the way, of course, and everyone acquits themselves nicely in the acting department. (Lombard is her usual effervescent self, making the sting of her tragic death less than a year later all the more potent, and Robert Montgomery does well opposite her, even if Cary Grant may have been a better fit.) The playful score by Edward Ward does its job well enough, too. Laughs are present -- more chuckles than guffaws, for sure -- and everything moves at a decent clip, yet a true sense of momentum is never achieved. This might be due to the fact we know Jeff isn't right for Ann; unrealistic suitors have long since been the bane of romantic comedies, so this one's no different.

Even so, there's a certain charm to Mr. and Mrs. Smith that extends beyond the intrigue of Carole Lombard's second-to-last film (Ernst Lubitsch's outstanding To Be or Not to Be was release posthumously), the rumor that Hitchcock only directed it as a favor to her, or the tantalizing alternate reality where she somehow cheated death and starred in any number of the director's future classics. Even so, keep your expectations in check: this isn't out-of-element magic like David Lynch's The Straight Story or Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and it's clearly neither top-tier Hitchcock nor an unmitigated disaster. Whatever your opinion of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, though, Warner Archive's welcome new Blu-ray (which replaces DVDs released in 2004 and 2014, so I guess look for the 4K UHD in another decade) adds plenty of support in the usual areas and makes this curious Hitch detour ripe for (re)discovery.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Warner Archive applies their usual touch to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, as this largely very solid 1080p transfer reportedly comes from a new 4K scan of the best-available presentation elements. It's fairly obvious where the original nitrate negative (or possibly a safety negative) were used, as a large portion of the film sports stunning clarity with supportive grain and smooth, silvery contrast levels. Only a handful of stray shots and scenes looks comparatively "dupey" or with a drop in overall quality, often showing reduced levels of grain and less refined mid-range greys. These can be a little distracting but the film as a whole still looks at least consistently good to very good from start to finish, with Warner Archive once again treating the film to a round of their proprietary manual cleanup process. Disc encoding seems to be in keeping with the boutique label's better titles during the past year or two, with few to no instances of macro blocking or other anomalies and a supportive bit rate within format limitations. All told, Mr. and Mrs. Smith earns somewhere in the neighborhood of a 4.25/5 but not quite enough to give it a courtesy bump.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The audio follows suit with a mostly crisp but typically at least intelligible DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix that splits its one-channel source to your left and right speakers. Again, just about everything here keeps pace with most recent WAC release as if late, largely retaining what seems to be a good dynamic range for this era of cinema while nonetheless retaining trace elements of hiss and light distortion from time to time. It's well within reason under the circumstances, though, and surely outpaces the older DVD's lossy Dolby Digital counterpart.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are offered during the main feature, not the extras listed below.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a standard keepcase with frankly kind of awful vintage theatrical artwork -- why not just recycle the superior design used for Warner Archive's own 2015 DVD? Either way, the on-board bonus features are well rounded, again largely mirroring earlier DVD editions, and add a good amount of value.

• Mr. Hitchcock Meets the Smiths (16:06) - This enjoyable DVD-era retrospective piece, produced by the singular Laurent Bouzereau (a staple of that format's bonus features, if ever there was one), features short interview clips with Hitchcock's friends, fans, and family -- most of whom are no longer with us -- including director Peter Bogdonavich (d. 2021), daughter Patricia Hitchcock O'Connell (d. 2021), granddaughter Mary Stone, TCM mainstay Robert Osborne (d. 2017), filmmaker Richard Franklin (d. 2007), and writer Richard Schickel (d. 2017). Brief behind-the-scenes and finished clips from the film are also included.

• Classic Cartoons - A pair of decently remastered Merrie Melodies shorts from the WB vault.

• Holiday Highlights (7:35) - This 1940 Tex Avery-directed short features a bunch of occasionally risqué vignettes that all poke fun at various holidays throughout the year.
• Stage Fright (7:23) - A "Blue Ribbon" short, this one expertly directed by Chuck Jones, in which two playful pups cause trouble behind the scenes in a Vaudeville theater.

• Cinderella's Feller (19:34) - The classic fairy tale is given a then-new facelift for 1940 in this surprisingly lavish three-strip Technicolor short, with one interesting side note being that all the main characters are played by children. It hasn't been fully restored but is at least decently upscaled and in watchable condition.

• Audio Only - A pair of vintage radio broadcasts presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 mono.

• Lux Radio Theater Broadcast (59:46) - This abridged adaptation, which originally aired on 6/9/41, features Carole Lombard reprising her role and Bob Hope filling in for Robert Montgomery.
• Screen Director's Playhouse Radio Broadcast (29:34) - This earlier (and even more abridged) version, first airing in January 1941, is prefaced by an intro from Alfred Hitchcock.

• Theatrical Trailer (0:47) - This very brief and unique trailer -- which features text, stills, and illustrations rather than finished film clips, and doesn't even credit the director -- can also be seen here.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Alfred Hitchcock's Mr. and Mrs. Smith was his only American-made comedy... and though it's never ranked among the director's best works, it still has its charms and a solid cast. Die-hard fans and curious newcomers should (re)discover the film via Warner Archive's welcome new Blu-ray, which not only gives the film its best home video A/V presentation by a fairly wide margin but serves up a decent slate of extras too. Recommended to the right crowd.