Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
1941
***
The premise of Alfred Hitchcock's 1941 Mr. & Mrs. Smith had legs but the story became pretty stupid halfway through. It was the first of its kind in many respects, the role-reversal between Man and Wife was new but the sad old cliche that women are totally unreasonable and that men are stupid is somewhat tiresome. I quite liked it all the same though, the script was sharp and Carole Lombard and Gene Raymond gave good performances. For me though, Robert Montgomery's brilliant performance was enough to make the film for me, although Hitchcock fans should understand, this isn't really a Hitchcock film and I hate to say it but it may well be the birthplace of the insulting (to women I might add) and loathsome (to all) genre known as the 'chick flick'.