{"id":32097,"date":"2013-08-01T17:40:56","date_gmt":"2013-08-02T00:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=32097"},"modified":"2022-01-27T00:44:58","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T07:44:58","slug":"marrying-kind-the-1952","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=32097","title":{"rendered":"Marrying Kind, The (1952)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;You don&#8217;t seem to remember anything &#8212; and when you do, you remember it all wrong.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Marrying-Kind-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Marrying-Kind-Poster-202x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-32098\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Marrying-Kind-Poster-202x300.jpg 202w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Marrying-Kind-Poster-86x128.jpg 86w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Marrying-Kind-Poster.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA couple (Judy Holliday and Aldo Ray) on the brink of divorce relate the story of their rocky marriage to a sympathetic judge (Madge Kennedy).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Aldo Ray Films<\/li>\n<li>Divorce<\/li>\n<li>Flashback Films<\/li>\n<li>George Cukor Films<\/li>\n<li>Judy Holliday Films<\/li>\n<li>Marital Problems<\/li>\n<li>Romantic Comedy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary accurately argues that this &#8220;captivating film&#8221; &#8212; directed by George Cukor, and scripted by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin &#8212; is &#8220;way ahead of its time&#8221; in its hard-hitting blend of &#8220;comedy and extreme tragedy&#8221;, telling the tale of a &#8220;lower-middle-class couple [who] experience a kind of therapy&#8221; while relating their story to a judge, &#8220;revealing feelings that they never expressed to each other&#8221;. He writes that while Holliday and Ray&#8217;s characters clearly &#8220;loved each other&#8221;, they &#8220;have ego problems which could be solved if they just expressed their true feelings for each other&#8221;. He notes that they &#8220;seemed to bring each other bad luck&#8221;, citing an instance he refers to as &#8220;one of the most painful scenes in movie history&#8221;, in which Holliday &#8220;has the opportunity to win a lot of money on a radio quiz by correctly naming a tune&#8221;, but instead &#8220;gives Ray&#8217;s guess instead of her own and they lose&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>I actually don&#8217;t find this scene particularly painful, given Holliday&#8217;s loving attempts to smooth the situation over: &#8220;Money you get that way doesn&#8217;t do you any good&#8221;, she reassures her depressed husband. It&#8217;s a later, tragic scene &#8212; one following on the heels of Holliday singing a delightful ditty (&#8220;Dolores&#8221;) while strumming a ukelele &#8212; that tears me up inside each time I think of it (though I won&#8217;t say more at risk of spoiling). <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Marrying-Kind-Ukelele.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Marrying-Kind-Ukelele.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"384\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-55854\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Marrying-Kind-Ukelele.png 512w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Marrying-Kind-Ukelele-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Marrying-Kind-Ukelele-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Marrying-Kind-Ukelele-360x270.png 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Indeed, Kanin and Gordon&#8217;s willingness to include truly hard-hitting scenes such as this one is part of what sets <em>The Marrying Kind<\/em> apart from other romantic comedies of its era. Equally innovative is their incorporation of voice-overs during flashback scenes, as we hear either Ray or Holliday telling their version of what happened while we simultaneously watch the &#8220;truth&#8221; unfold in front of us; it&#8217;s a remarkably effective strategy, shaking us out of our complacency as viewers. <\/p>\n<p>Hunky newcomer Aldo Ray was an interesting choice to play Holliday&#8217;s postman-husband, Chet. While he suits the bill nicely in many ways (he&#8217;s believable as a blue collar worker, and seems invested in his role), his acting lacks nuance at times. More than making up for this, however, is Holliday, who gives a typically stellar performance as Florence (a.k.a. Florrie). In <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em>, Peary names Holliday Best Actress of the Year, noting that the role &#8220;was designed as a showcase for her, to prove that she had enough versatility to play in all kinds of films and that she could play a <em>real<\/em> character&#8221;.  He writes that &#8220;like other Holliday characters, Florence is funny and endearing, and has a singular logic about life, which completely befuddles everyone else, including Chet&#8230; She seeks happiness along a rocky road, stubbornly refusing to compromise her way of doing things&#8221;. Yet he points out that &#8220;she can be extremely aggravating, insensitive, unsupportive, unforgiving, even selfish&#8221; &#8212; in other words, she&#8217;s an equal partner in the dissolution of her marriage. Holliday&#8217;s performance makes this film must-see viewing at least once, though the film itself is also a hidden gem.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Judy Holliday as Florrie (named Best Actress of the Year in <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em>)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Marrying-Kind-Holliday.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Marrying-Kind-Holliday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-32101\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Marrying-Kind-Holliday.jpg 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Marrying-Kind-Holliday-128x85.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Marrying-Kind-Holliday-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin&#8217;s creative, incisive script\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as an unsung classic, and for Holliday&#8217;s performance. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Good Show<\/li>\n<li>Important Director<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0044888\/\">IMDb entry<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s968marry.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/27658\/the-marrying-kind#articles-reviews?articleId=176178\">TCM Article<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/london\/film\/the-marrying-kind\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;You don&#8217;t seem to remember anything &#8212; and when you do, you remember it all wrong.&#8221; Synopsis: A couple (Judy Holliday and Aldo Ray) on the brink of divorce relate the story of their rocky marriage to a sympathetic judge (Madge Kennedy). Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Aldo Ray Films Divorce Flashback Films George Cukor Films Judy Holliday Films Marital Problems Romantic Comedy Response to Peary\u2019s Review: Peary accurately argues that this &#8220;captivating film&#8221; &#8212; directed by George Cukor, and&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=32097\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32097"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80689,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32097\/revisions\/80689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}