And So They Were Married

Widowed Melvyn Douglas and son Jackie Moran (in his screen debut) show up at a ski resort just before Christmas. So do divorcee Mary Astor and daughter Edith Fellows. Adults wrangle and then fall in love, to the chagrin of the children, who decide to sabotage the romance.

This wan romantic comedy is not without its attractions, particularly the adult leads. However, the comedy set pieces don't seem to come off. At the beginning, for example, because of excessive snowfall, these are the only guests in a place fully staffed for hundreds. Activity directors and waiter descend on them in their efforts to be doing their jobs, and we are supposed to find this funny. I found it annoying.

Mine, of course, may well be a minority reaction, but there is something about the dogged delivery of lines, situations, and changes of heart that results in a purely mechanical movie.

And So They Were Married (1936)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A man hating divorcée (Mary Astor) goes to a snow lodge where she meets a woman hating widow (Melvyn Douglas) and the two quickly hit it off but their children decide to make sure they don't get married. This romantic comedy has a lot going for it but the screenplay starts to go off in all directions and it doesn't go after the most appealing aspects of the film. Astor and Douglas are both terrific in their roles as they manage to be quite charming, romantic and endearing. The two have wonderful chemistry together and they shine whenever they're together. The problem comes when the children (Judith Fellows, Jackie Moran) start to take over the picture. Their fighting and bickering works for a while but when it starts to take the story away from the adults it becomes rather annoying. There's one hilarious sequence where the kids feed a dog soap and when it takes off through the hotel it sets off a panic that the dog is rabid.

Recent divorcée Mary Astor (Edith Farham) and daughter Brenda, spend Christmas at a fashionable mountain hotel - ski lodge. At the same time, Melvin Douglas (Stephan Blake) a long time widower arrives awaiting his ten-year-old son, also to spend their Christmas holidays together. Brenda is a man hater, apparently because daddy left her and mommy. When Steve's son (Tommy) arrives both children take an immediate dislike of one another -- to the point of physically beating each other up! Both children can't stand the fact that Edith and Steve are becoming attracted to each other, and both are determined to derail any chance of Steve and Edith becoming a couple. In most romantic 1930's comedies kids are not as mischievous or in fact, as delinquent as this pair is, but it's done in funny ways that keeps the kids from becoming obnoxious. A good cast with fine supporting actors drives this film merrily along. Columbia Pictures was good at making comedies. This is worth a look, if you like that genre.

Both Astor and Douglas had been in films for years by this time, so we know it'll be a good film. And with Donald Meek, there should be some good antics coming ahead. Too bad they didn't give him a larger part. Blake (Douglas) and Farnham (Astor), and Farnham's daughter are the only guests in a hotel locked in by snow. SO much talking.. this one MUST have started out as a play. According to IMDb, the snow scenes were done at Donner Pass. That is just west of Reno, about 7 hours north of Burbank, so that would have made for a fun winter outing for the actors. Mr. Snirley and Miss Peabody are hotel employees, determined to accompany the only two guests every second, much to their (and OUR !) annoyance. Then Blake's son shows up, and the rest of the film is about the plotting between the two children. Kind of a fun note to hear them talk about esperanto, which has actually been around since 1887. It's okay. No big surprises. Mildly entertaining. Pretty whitewashed and bland for the film code. Astor and Douglas would also make "There's always a Woman" together, as well as a couple television episodes. Directed by Elliott Nugent.

At the beginning, Ms. Astor is delightful. Her performance seems pitched somewhere between the lovely one in "Dodsworth" and the brilliant one a few years later in "The Great Lie." She throws her head back and laughs. She speaks in that unusual mezzo. I started out with high hopes.

Melvyn Douglas, too, was one of the best comic actors of the time. He does OK. And small roles are well cast, as with Porter Hall as the owner of the lodge where most of the movie takes place.

But alas! It degenerates into a movie primarily about children we're supposed to find adorable. I love children, make no mistake. But this is icky. Edith Fellows, who was good in other movies, is unappealing as Astor's daughter. The boy isn't much better.

It isn't the fault of the child actors, though. It's the script. It's forced, almost desperate.

And so we find the prolific and versatile Ms. Astor in one of her lesser outings.