- If you had been married to someone for several years, and you had the chance to do it all over again, would you? That's the question that the eponymous Smiths, David (Robert Montgomery) and Ann (Carole Lombard), discuss one morning over breakfast. It seems like a dangerous topic, considering that they've just completed a multi-day row. Still, Ann demands an honest answer, and David provides one. Unfortunately, it is not the answer Ann was hoping for. Of course, Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a screwball comedy, so it isn't long before they discover that, as a result of a zoning technicality, they aren't really married at all. Hilarity ensues.
- So which hammy American director made this film, you ask? Well, you'll never believe it, but Mr. & Mrs. Smith was directed by none other than Alfred Hitchcock. This was his only real romantic comedy, which, in my opinion, is just as well. The acting by Montgomery and Lombard is fine, and a few of the scenes are witty (particularly the Smiths' return to an old dating spot), but the overall experience is much less compelling than the rest of Hitchcock's (admittedly exceptional) filmography. In his interview with Francois Truffaut, Hitchcock confesses that he only did the film as a favor to Lombard and that he didn't really understand the characters. I didn't understand them either, but at least I'm in good company.
- I spotted Hitchcock walking around with a newspaper. Apparently, Lombard directed this scene and made Hitchcock repeat it several times.
