Made For Each Other (1939)

Toronto Film Society presented Made For Each Other (1939) on Saturday, January 25, 2025 as part of the Season 77 Virtual Film Buffs Screening Series, Programme 5.

Production Company: Selznick International Pictures.  Distribution: United Artists.  Producer: David O. Selznick.  Director: John Cromwell.  Screenplay: Jo Swerling, Frank Ryan (uncredited), story by: Rose Franken.  Cinematographer: Leon Shamroy, A.S.C.  Editor: James E. Newcom.  Production Design: William Cameron Menzes.  Composer: Lou Forbes & Oscar Levant (uncredited).   Released: February 10th, 1939 (U.S.A).  93 minutes.

Cast:  James Stewart (John Mason), Carole Lombard (Jane Mason), Charles Coburn (Judge Doolittle), Lucile Watson (Mrs. Harriet Mason), Eddie Quillan (Conway), Alma Kruger (Sister Madeline), Irving Bacon (Newark Radio Operator), Louise Beavers (Lily – Cook #3), Ward Bond (Jim Hatton), Esther Dale (Annie – Cook #1).

In very simple terms, John Cromwell’s Made For Each Other reads like this: John Mason, performed by the inimitable James Stewart, comes home from a trip to Boston only to reveal he’s met someone – a woman…whom he has married after only one day of meeting.

This being only a snippet of the insanity that follows: a baby, a judgemental mother-in-law, 15 nannies, pay decreases, an almost-divorce, pneumonia of the 9th kind, a nerve-wrecking flight from New Jersey to New York to deliver a serum in a raging snowstorm, and ending with John Mason finally making partner of his law firm, the film finds small moments of comedy in interactions that soften the blow of its heavy-hitting and chaotic storyline.

James Stewart’s performance as John Mason is the perfect vision of a mousey man, new to his own adulthood. Carole Lombard is his phenomenal “party of the second part”. Her performance as Jane Mason, his wife, is a perfect contrast to that of Stewart’s character – a tough woman, living within her own romantic fantasy. Charles Coburn takes the stage as Judge Doolittle, a heavy-handed, hard-of-hearing, and unexpected character, who evolves ever so slightly through the film and whose character arc follows its own path. Mrs. Harriet Mason, an unsmiling, judgemental, but caring, mother and mother-in-law is performed by the wonderful Lucile Watson, who brings drama into every corner of the frames she inhabits.

Loyalty is a very prominent theme here. On the surface, this looks like a run-of-the-mill romantic comedy, where they meet, fall in love, go through hard times and strengthen their love through it. However, looking closer, this is a story of how quickly a relationship can turn for the worst, and how quickly the thought of leaving when things go wrong can emerge. This is clear in John’s need for success and feelings of failure as a man and provider for his wife, mixed with Jane’s wanting to be a proper wife and caregiver of their child, bring them to their absolute lowest point, stripping away their rose-tinted visions of marriage.

Not only do we see this in the deteriorating communication of John and Jane, but this becomes increasingly apparent with their housemaids. One by one, each of them quits when things change or go sour, until Lily, their final housemaid, has to leave for budget cuts. Loyalty comes in to save them when they least expect it, when Lily returns to them on a dreary New Years Eve with a cooked chicken and some wine. A small gesture but a sign of goodness, nonetheless. John Mason’s loyalty to Judge Doolittle despite a pay cut and refusing him partner of the firm comes around in the film with a quick five-thousand-dollar cheque to save his child from pneumonia.

At the time it was released, Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times felt the film was “thoroughly delightful”, but it’s pull at the box office said otherwise, with it losing $292,000. The film was not without any more follies, when Edmund E. Fellegi, a special effects technician on the production, released balloons for the New Years Eve party scene, and fell 40 feet from the catwalk he was on, resulting in his death. In more recent news, the film’s original copyright holder failed to renew the film’s copyright, which sent the film into the public domain, leaving many new copies floating around of poor quality or inaccurate editing. The film also has many credits unlisted for undisclosed reasons, from music, to the art department.

Though the film does not boast any awards, it does boast two Canadian connections:

Lucile Watson (born in Québec City, Québec, May 27, 1879) was a prolific matriarch of Hollywood, bringing out many roles as a prickly, narrow-minded, overt, and opinionated mother throughout the 1930’s and 1940’s. She mostly coloured Victorian dramas and is most notable for: The Women (1939), The Thin Man Goes Home (1944), The Razor’s Edge (1946), and Watch on the Rhine (1943), the latter of which won her a single Academy Award for her performance as Fanny Farrelly. She passed away in 1962 in New York City of a heart attack.

Edward G. Boyle (born in Cobden, Ontario, January 30th, 1899) was an interior decorator for film productions with notable credits such as: Gone With the Wind (1939), Some Like it Hot (1959), and The Apartment (1960), the latter of which won him an Academy Award. He was a favourite of Billy Wilder and worked on countless films with him. He passed away in 1977.

Notes by Lorenza de Benedictis