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"Made for Each Other" is a drama about newlyweds roughing it out with some tough times. Even with stars James Stewart and Carole Lombard and a top supporting cast, this one bombed at the box office. It was a risk that David Selznick took that didn't work. Making serious family and love films about people having serious problems wasn't a wise thing to do during the Great Depression. Even though the country was pulling out of it with help from some of the New Deal programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the world economy was still shaky and threats of war in Europe bode of more tough times ahead.

Perhaps a better screenplay and/or some changes in the story would have helped this film. It had the cast, but the characters, roles and script just didn't seem to settle right with the audiences of the day. And, one can say the same thing viewing it decades later and well into the 21st century. This wouldn't be considered a plus in either repertoire of Lombard or Stewart.

Louise Beavers stands out in her fine supporting role as the Mason's cook, Lily. Her couple of wise remarks about life are little touches of humor and warmth.

Jimmy Stewart and Carole Lombard make an incredibly appealing couple, one whose everyday middle-class joys and sorrows you like sharing. That's all there is to the movie, pretty much, Jimmy and Carole get married, have a baby, deal with in-laws, money troubles, changes in their relationship, all the things everyone does. It's the opposite of an Action Flick, here domestic sorrows like pay cuts and not having a baby sitter on New Year's Eve are treated as seriously as real people treat them, and the movie is well made enough that you care. Who couldn't care about such nice, funny, sensitive people? For much of its length, it's a better "Penny Serenade".

The place where it falls apart is the ending, which is a ludicrously inappropriate melodrama about flying medicine in from thousands of miles away in a storm, it just doesn't belong in the same movie. But, I like the story behind it: Like a character in the movie, producer David Selznick's brother Myron (a power agent) was taken seriously ill, and was basically given up for dead. A doctor said that the only thing that could save him was a rare/experimental drug that wasn't available in LA, it had to be flown in from the east coast in terrible weather. The Selznick family sweated for hours, trying to keep in touch with a heroic pilot who was risking his life to save a stranger. When the pilot landed safely and Myron was saved, David Selznick the workaholic producer said "This it too good to waste on Myron. Let's put it in a picture!" I just wish he'd waited for a better place to use it.

Made for Each Other (1939)

"Last year there were half a million divorces in this country. Congratulations."

And that is the beginning of a sometimes-screwball comedy that turns very serious by the end, with James Stewart leading the charge. It could be screwier, and Jimmy Stewart is more lovable than hilarious, so the humor revolves around him as the foil. Carole Lombard, his partner in crime, can be more zany, for sure, but even there, she is more restrained than other films (like "Twentieth Century"). It's the situation, and the rest of the cast, who make this funny...and eventually tragic.

How exactly it drags at times is hard to say. Oddly, even Stewart is a little off base, exaggerating too much. The plot, overall, lacks drive. You might think this doesn't matter in a silly comedy, but it does very much. In fact, because this comedy is laced with a fair amount of normal drama, it needs a basic conflict that dramas need. There are some terrific scenes--the New Year's moment is really moving, and the scenes after that--and these are the reason to watch.

On some level, this is a type of drama/comedy that is aimed at new parents, or newlyweds. The couple's focus on the baby reminded me of "Christmas in Connecticut," and "Penny Serenade." I wish it just worked better, but too often it bumbles along, one little moment after another, the result of imperfect direction (John Cromwell) and a weak script. So it does the best it can, and the last half hour is its best, with high drama kicking in. This is a David O. Selznick production in the same year as his slightly more famous movie, "Gone with the Wind."

NY lawyer John Mason (James Stewart) is newly married to Jane (Carole Lombard) despite the disapproval of his mother. They are supposed to take a honeymoon cruise to Europe but his nearly-deaf boss Judge Doolittle implies taking a big case away from him. Doolittle promotes co-worker Carter as partner over him. The couple has a boy and they struggle to make ends meet.

The pairing of Stewart and Lombard is very promising. In the end, this lacks a structure for the drama. It's more like a run-on sentence of a family drama. It also doesn't help to be missing the courtship. It needs a meet-cute and a good relationship progression. It feels like a laundry list of melodramas rather than a good flowing plot. Their difficult marriage leaves any chemistry with the leads in a precarious position. At its core, I find it hard to feel the love sometimes. Their individual screen presence is undeniable but this movie fails to capitalize on them.

Lombard was tired of doing screwball comedies, and still had her eye on the Selznick ultimate prize, Scarlett O'Hara - but she had to prove she could handle dramatic parts, to herself and to the public. This film is low-key, charming in its own way, but rather schizophrenic in plot. James Stewart is a convincingly earnest young husband and fledgling attorney who meets and marries the Lombard character in a whirlwind romance, before the couple comes crashing back to earth with a loud thud. Baby soon makes three, and Mother-in-Law makes an uncomfortable four -- in a tiny apartment, with an even tinier household budget.

The plot peculiarities begin on a New Year's Eve -- although in the midst of a huge party, Jane and Johnny don't feel much like celebrating. They argue all the time, and can't really remember what they loved about each other to begin with. Then their baby gets desperately ill, and the plot appears to belong in a different movie. After some pretty dramatic twists, the movie returns to its original focus and becomes relatively normal again.

All in all, a fairly entertaining domestic soaper, until the Plot Twist from Mars rears its alien head. You'll be making faces at the screen, saying to yourself, "Hunhhhh?????"