Made for Each Other (1939): watch the full film free, legally

A one-day courtship in New York

Made for Each Other is a 1939 American romantic comedy drama directed by John Cromwell and produced by David O. Selznick. Carole Lombard, James Stewart, and Charles Coburn star in a story of a couple whose marriage begins after they have known each other for only one day, then faces pressures intensified by the Great Depression.

John Mason is a mild-mannered young New York City attorney working for Judge Doolittle. A partnership at the firm seems possible, particularly if John marries Doolittle's daughter, Eunice. Instead, during a business trip, John meets Jane. They fall in love and marry immediately. Eunice later marries Carter, another lawyer in the firm.

John's mother disapproves of Jane, and an important trial makes John cancel the honeymoon. Although he wins the case, Judge Doolittle selects Carter as the firm's new partner. The marriage must also contend with John's mother, who moves into the couple's small apartment and drives a succession of housekeepers to quit.

Bills, family tension, and a medical crisis

After John and Jane have a baby, Jane urges John to ask for a raise and promotion. The financial restrictions of the Depression bring a different response: Judge Doolittle requires every employee to take a pay cut. Unpaid bills discourage John, while friction at home adds to the strain between him and Jane.

John's mother gives the baby a severe cold. On New Year's Eve, the child is taken to hospital with pneumonia. Doctors say the baby will die within hours unless serum can be flown from Salt Lake City. Doolittle agrees to provide the $5,000 needed for delivery, but a raging storm makes the assigned pilot refuse the flight. John pleads by telephone, and the pilot's friend agrees to take the job in a small biplane.

Selznick production and 1939 response

The film was listed as in production in September 1938 and was filmed at Selznick Studios in Culver City, California. It had a preview screening at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on January 31, 1939. Premieres in Miami and Seattle followed on February 3, with a New York City premiere on February 17.

At the box office, Made for Each Other lost $292,000. Contemporary critical response was favorable. Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times called it "thoroughly delightful," and The New York Times named it among the ten best films of 1939. Variety called it "an exquisitely played, deeply moving comedy-drama... A happy combination of young love, sharp clean-cut humor and tearjerker." Time wrote, "This mundane, domestic chronicle has more dramatic impact than all the hurricanes, sandstorms and earthquakes manufactured in Hollywood last season."

The original film negative is owned by the Walt Disney Company. A 35 mm print was given to the Museum of Modern Art by ABC Pictures International.

Film details from the Wikipedia article “Made for Each Other (1939 film)”. Text adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0.