The Marrying Kind (1952)

Working Class New York in the Fifties

Seen today, The Marrying Kind, a film about a young married couple and the hardships they endure in their marriage, demonstrates how the social safety net used to protect the working class in a way it doesn't today. Florence and Chet Keefer live in a two-bedroom rent-controlled apartment in Peter Cooper Village in Manhattan. Chet's a rough-around-the-edges guy with steady manufacturing job that gives him enough income to support his family, even though he constantly complains about money and dreams of making it big (he's sort of an unfunny Ralph Kramden). Florence is realistic and plain-spoken.

The film has a nice social-realist feel with fascinating location shots of postwar New York City, a more sedate city than today, filled with orderly well-behaved people dressed up in suits, ties, dresses and hats. Chet even puts on a tie before he leaves the plant to go home. After their oldest son drowns at a picnic, Chet is so distraught he walks in front of a truck. His health insurance pays for a month of convalescence and not only does he keep his job, he gets a promotion when he gets back. That doesn't happen to factory workers these days. In the meantime, Florence has gone back to work to help support the family. It looks like she does bookkeeping at the old Fulton Fish Market, another fascinating period touch. At first, Chet grumbles about her working, but then comes around.

The strains of marriage and parenthood wear them down and they decide to get a divorce. A motherly woman judge actually has the time to listen to them talk about their relationship and we learn about their marriage in a series of flashbacks. We're meant to sympathize with the hard life this couple leads, but (outside of the death of their son) by today's standards, their life seems pretty good. They both have steady jobs (Chet's probably in a union), their Manhattan apartment is rent-controlled and affordable and they have good health insurance--a lot of New Yorkers would give anything to live that way today. The film is most striking in the way it sympathetically portrays women workers--Florence, her co-workers and the judge. When Chet complains about Florence going back to work, we can see that he's the problematic one in the marriage. Unlike so many other fifties films, The Marrying Kind doesn't idealize female domesticity. September 8, 2007

Unpretentious

I had known that this movie was listed in "The New York Times Guide to the Best 1000 Movies Ever Made" which I have found to be a good general guide for great movies off the popularity radar screen. Thus I came to it with some expectations but those expectations did not turn into disappointment. This is a very good movie although I rated it "4 stars" because, frankly, I've seen a lot of movies of a higher quality. What "The Marrying Kind" has to offer is a look at ourselves in a way that leaves us with a better understanding of our own marital relationship. It does so in a way that challenges us to compare our weaknesses to those displayed in the movie and it challenges us to also compare our ability to communicate with one another to the couple in the movie.

Judy Holiday is the star of this film which happens to be the "introduction" movie for Aldo Ray. The way these two work together is a great asset to the film. The movie begins in Divorce Court which immediately tells a lot and it's helpful to know that as we watch the couple relate how their relationship evolved into marriage (and, later, into the Divorce Court). The various snippets we see along the way are amusing, embarassing, endearing, and, unfortuately, tragic. We get to know a couple who seem to like each other but never took enough time to get to know each other. It is the typical sit-com marraige with all the stereotypes.

There isn't a lot to add because the beauty of "The Marrying Kind" is in its' simplicity. I enjoyed the movie and am saving it to watch with my wife. I hope to hear a lot more "you don't do that" than "that's just like you!".

June 23, 2007

Fine Acting

It's a shame Judy Holliday died so young and that the McCarthy Hearings hurt her career and, it's a crime that she did not do at least 3 movies a year for all of us to enjoy forever. She gave such natural performances you hardly felt it was acting. In this movie she was every bit as brilliant as she was in Born Yesterday. Aldo Ray in his first starring role gives a fine performance. The only thing I found wrong with the movie is that it mixes comedy and tragedy. The tragedy is not the pending divorce but the death of their son. Comedy can also contain high drama and personal tragedy, but the death of a child is taking the mix too far. December 23, 2006

A Lot of Fun

Judy Holliday and Aldo Ray make for a great screen team. They both have very unique acting styles that make for great screen chemistry. This is great film from director George Cukor. There was only one Judy Holliday and only one Aldo Ray when he was at the height of his popularity. October 10, 2006

The Superb Kind You'll Love

Movie: ***** DVD Quality: ****1/2 Extras: ****1/2

Judy Holliday and Aldo Ray are incandescent in this exquisite film, beautifully directed by George Cukor from a Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon script. The story concerns an average married couple who find themselves in divorce court, telling the history of their courtship and marriage to a wise and experienced judge (Madge Kennedy). As might be expected, their life together has been layered by incidents both happy and heartbreaking, the extraordinary moments outnumbered by the mundane. What makes the film so incredibly moving are the masterful, intelligent direction of Cukor, who unfolds each scene with great subtlety; and the sensitive underplaying of Holliday and Ray, who invest their characters with just the right mixture of shading, both sympathetic and non. This was Holliday's first film after she won the Oscar for Cukor's "Born Yesterday", and she is undeniably at the peak of her powers. As for Aldo Ray, he was receiving a major boost toward stardom after appearing in small roles in two previous films; sadly, despite a long career, he would never fulfill the astonishing promise he showed in this freshman effort.

Columbia's DVD transfer of this minor masterpiece is generally commendable. The frame jumps around a bit during the opening credits, but this annoyance stops once the story begins. Video contrast and sharpness are acceptable; and the sound is good throughout. The DVD extras include the trailer for this film, and two other Columbia offerings: "Born Yesterday", and the 1956 Tyrone Power-Kim Novak drama "The Eddy Duchin Story". Overall, "The Marrying Kind" is highly recommended entertainment, a delicate balance of drama, comedy and tragedy that is a working definition of the term "neglected cinematic gem." April 12, 2006

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