Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 29-August-10
Spoiler Rating: Medium

The Marrying Kind (1952)

When I sit down for a couple hours' entertainment, the subject of love dissolving into heartbreak is not what I have in mind. It's a matter of taste: a soap opera lover's pleasure is a literalist's torture. Yet The Marrying Kind might satisfy any viewer with its handling of the subject. It offers a straightforward yet hopeful look at a couple wrestling the irritations and occasional tragedy of working-class life.

Much of the movie's accessibility derives from its stars, Judy Holliday and Aldo Ray. With their comedic/dramatic dexterity and funny voices (and despite their Hollywood physiques), they make Florence and Chet Keefer feel like neighbors whose happiness deserves consideration. The movie's structure also helps. It opens in a courtroom during the Keefers' divorce proceedings, where a wise old judge asks them to recount the road they have traveled. This promotes the idea of reconciliation and invites the viewer to look for clues, as their story unfolds, as to what might keep them together.

From a chance meeting in Central Park to raising two kids in a modest apartment, theirs was never a grand passion. Florence and Chet simply got on well. She kept the home fires burning and managed their social calendar while he tried to advance in his job at the Post Office. The gulf between ambition and inescapable mediocrity continually strained Chet's ego and relationship with his wife. He remembers a dream, both funny and disturbing, in which he embarrasses himself in front of his boss and the President of the United States because of a swarm of pesky ball bearings. In real life he sometimes responded to frustration with stupidity, as when he got drunk and carried on with a floozy while Florence watched in disgust. "If I knew what was good for me, I wouldn't be me!" he wailed after that incident. The lament of the average man.

A contrast often emerges between what the Keefers relate and what is shown on the screen, which provides insight and amusement for the viewer. (The wise old judge doesn't have this advantage, but one senses that she understands it all anyway.) Florence asserts that during one fight she stated her case calmly, but the scene behind her voice-over shows her howling like a banshee. Similarly, Chet states that at a certain point there was no joy left in the family, although we see them all laughing around the breakfast table. The universal squishiness of memory points to a means of reconciliation. Their talk with the judge shows that as the hardships piled up they used them to redefine their marriage, losing sight of the small triumphs and underlying affection. On the brink of separation, reliving their history helps them gain (or regain) perspective. The movie does not conclude that life is easy for the marrying kind, only that it may be sweeter and less desperate than it seems.

Copyright © 2010 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.