It's unusual -- unique, even -- for a director's "big departure" to be a screwball comedy. And here it is: A disastrously ill-advised bickering couple's comedy from none other than Alfred Hitchcock.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith offers a potentially rich setup: Married couple discovers there vows weren't quite legal, and the wife (Carole Lombard) decides she prefers it that way, sending husband (Robert Montgomery) into a tizzy. The usual setups follow: Montgomery checks into his men's club and stalks his "wife," who immediately begins dating a series of men.

Alas, Hitchcock took just one film to prove he had no sense of humor that didn't involve bloodshed, and Smith blows one comic opportunity after another. It's far too staid and extremely wooden, you can practically hear Hitchcock snoring in the director's chair. Skip it.

Frankly, the upcoming 2005 film of the same name sounds a lot more interesting -- the married couple turn out to be assassins hired to kill each other.