I was so surprised to discover that this screwball comedy starring Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery, with a script by Norman Krasna (he wrote The Devil and Miss Jones), had been directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery are a bickering couple - in the extreme. When they argue, they have a rule that neither one of them can leave the bedroom until they've made up. As the film opens, they are resolving their latest blow-up: this one lasted three days. (The gossip about this in the kitchen is priceless.)
An official from a faraway town arrives at Montgomery's office to inform him that due to a boundary dispute, his marriage to Lombard three years earlier is not legal or binding. Of course, it seems like a minor matter: easy enough to just get married again.
The official then drops by the couple's apartment, where Lombard is being visited by her mother, just to visit. It comes out that the reason that he's in town is to inform the couple that their marriage was not legal and is not binding.
Lombard's mother is upset and tells Lombard that this is going to be a big problem. Lombard's unconcerned and tells her mother that her husband will tell her what happened and propose to her before the evening's out. In fact, when Montgomery invites her to go for dinner that evening, Lombard is convinced that he's arranged for them to get married that very evening.
When that doesn't happen, there are some very hurt feelings -- Lombard throws Montgomery out -- and hijinks ensue. Lombard is wonderful here, but the pace of film drags after a little while. To me, the back and forth between the battling spouses goes on just a little too long, and after its escalating intensity, the resolution seems abrupt and insufficiently motivated. It suprised me a little bit, because this screenplay is by Norman Krasna, who also wrote the screenplay for the Devil and Miss Jones, a screenplay that seemed perfectly paced.
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