At one point, Mickey Shaughnessy's character refers to his address as being "20-11 35th Avenue, Jackson Heights.
" Actually, that address would be in Long Island City.
BAFTA Film Award |
| Best Foreign Actress |
The Marrying Kind is one of those films that is truly about ordinary people. It also bears a resemblance to the Walter Matthau/Carol Burnett film Pete And Tillie done two decades later, with a whole lot of similar issues and situations.
The best thing about my recently-purchased Mill Creek 'Classic Romances' 8-pack (though I previously had two of them from a Mill Creek Rita Hayworth 5-pack--they were cheap so I didn't squawk too much, mind you) is that it offered me three more of Judy Holliday's nine films before her untimely demise at 43 from breast cancer. I previously loved her in 'Adam's Rib', 'Phffft', 'The Solid Gold Cadillac' and of course her Oscar-winning role, amidst very stiff competition, in 'Born Yesterday'), but this was a surprisingly dramatic turn for one of my favourite American actresses ever, particularly noted for her comedic touch.
I happened to catch George Cukor's "The Marrying Kind" on TCM right after watching "Love Crazy," the 1941 screwball comedy starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. In the middle of Cukor's film, I turned to my wife and commented on how much good direction matters in making the difference between an excellent film and an average one.
After the success of "Born Yesterday", a film adaptation of the play co-written by Garson Kanin and starring Judy Holliday, Columbia wanted to replicate those results and hired Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon to write a film specifically for Judy. The result is "The Marrying Kind".
Some reviewers note that any couple thinking divorce should see this film and while that is good advice, the truth is few husbands about to leave are as conflicted as this one who really never wants to go and whose affection is demonstrated by the jealousy that is the last straw. I agree with those who say Judy is a charmer.
"The Marrying Kind"surprised me. Judy Holiday and Aldo Ray are very good in this movie that starts out in one direction and kind of implodes in the last half.
"The Marrying Kind" is a 1952 comedy and drama about everyday life for a young middle-income couple. Judy Holliday had become a star just two years before with her Oscar-winning performance in "Born Yesterday.
While she never gave a bad performance this film contains Judy Holliday's best work, supposedly she felt so too, and probably Aldo Ray's as well. The situations are as relevant now as they were then and played with infinite sensitivity.
The magnificent Judy Holliday had been entertaining audiences for nearly a decade before she came to Hollywood's attention as the gun-toting wife in "Adam's Rib". The following year, she shot to stardom by winning an Oscar for "Born Yesterday".
