Made for Each Other (1939 film)
1939 film by John Cromwell
- February 10, 1939 (1939-02-10)
Running time
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
John Mason is a young attorney in New York City and a milquetoast. He 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.
Jane encourages John to demand a raise and a promotion, but with finances tightened by the Depression, Doolittle 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.
On New Year's Eve, 1938–39, 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 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. The new pilot almost crashes in the mountains, and the plane's engine catches fire a short distance from New York. The pilot is also injured and knocked unconscious after jumping from the plane and parachuting to safety, but he crawls to a nearby farm house after he comes to. 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
- Carole Lombard as Jane Mason
- James Stewart as John Horace Mason
- Charles Coburn as Judge Joseph M. Doolittle
- Lucile Watson as Mrs. Harriet Mason
- Eddie Quillan as Conway
- Alma Kruger as Sister Madeline
- Louise Beavers as Lily, Cook #3 (uncredited)
- Ward Bond as Jim Hatton (uncredited)
- Donald Briggs as Mr. Carter (uncredited)
- Esther Dale as Annie, Cook #1 (uncredited)
- Harry Davenport as Dr. Healy (uncredited)
- Fern Emmett as Famer's Wife (uncredited)
- Ruth Gillette as Tipsy Blonde at New Year's Eve Party (uncredited)
- Olin Howland as Farmer (uncredited)
- Nella Walker as Dr. Langham's Nurse-Receptionist (uncredited)
- Mary Field as Johns Hopkins technician (uncredited)
- Milburn Stone as Newark official (uncredited)
Reception and legacy
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
References
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ David Thomson, Showman: The Life of David O. Selznick, Abacus, 1993 p. 269
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Made for Each Other (film).
- Made for Each Other at the TCM Movie Database
- Made for Each Other at IMDb
- Made for Each Other at AllMovie
- Made for Each Other at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
- Made for Each Other at Rotten Tomatoes
- Made for Each Other is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
- Made for Each Other on Lux Radio Theater: February 19, 1940
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Films directed by John Cromwell
- Close Harmony (1929)
- The Dance of Life (1929)
- The Mighty (1929)
- Street of Chance (1930)
- The Texan (1930)
- For the Defense (1930)
- Tom Sawyer (1930)
- Scandal Sheet (1931)
- Unfaithful (1931)
- The Vice Squad (1931)
- Rich Man's Folly (1931)
- The World and the Flesh (1932)
- Hell's Highway (1932)
- Sweepings (1933)
- The Silver Cord (1933)
- Double Harness (1933)
- Ann Vickers (1933)
- Spitfire (1934)
- This Man Is Mine (1934)
- Of Human Bondage (1934)
- The Fountain (1934)
- Village Tale (1935)
- Jalna (1935)
- I Dream Too Much (1935)
- Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)
- To Mary – with Love (1936)
- Banjo on My Knee (1936)
- The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)
- Algiers (1938)
- Made for Each Other (1939)
- In Name Only (1939)
- Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)
- Victory (1940)
- So Ends Our Night (1941)
- Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake (1942)
- Since You Went Away (1944)
- The Enchanted Cottage (1945)
- Watchtower Over Tomorrow (1945)
- Anna and the King of Siam (1946)
- Dead Reckoning (1947)
- Night Song (1948)
- Caged (1950)
- The Company She Keeps (1951)
- The Racket (1951)
- The Goddess (1958)
- The Scavengers (1959)
- A Matter of Morals (1961)
