Love Crazy by Jack Conway (1941)
29 July 2008Another wonderful Myrna Loy and William Powell romantic comedy. This one where their anniversary gets ruined, and things go bad until the wife believes her husband is cheating, and is willing, and will have to do anything to get her back before things are made final. These two have such great chemistry, and this film is just plane old funny, with some great slapstick, especially with the carpet and the elevator. A load of fun, and the last on the Warner Brothers collection on disc, really worth checking out.
Steve (WIlliam Powell) and Susan Ireland (Myrna Loy) have been happily married for 4 years, and Steve has happily given up his old party ways. Steve is a very successful architect with a big business, and plans a special night for their fourth anniversary, reliving their wedding night, though this time they plan on doing it in reverse, but the plans are ruined when Mrs. Cooper (Florence Bates), Susan’s mom shows up, she ruins dinner, and makes Steve go downstairs to mail a letter for her. On the way he runs into Isobel Grayson {Formerly Kimble] (Gail Patrick) who was Steve’s old love interest, and who has moved into the building. When the elevator breaks down, much hilarity ensues, and things like steve getting hung by his neck, so he ends up in her room having a drink, and forgets his hat. Steve returns home, disheveled but OK, but things get bad when Mrs. Cooper goes to leave and slips and sprains her ankle on the rug she gave them. Then Susan has to go drive her aunt, and Steve must take care of Mrs. Cooper, but ends up sneaking out to have a drink with Isobel, with him not knowing that Mrs. Cooper heard him. Mrs. Cooper tells Susan when she returns, and she calls Isobel’s husband Pinky (Donald MacBride) to make Steve jealous, but she goes to the wrong apartment, that of a Ward Willoughby (Jack Carson) and starts kissing him, and confusing him. When Pinky, Steve and Isobel arrive, they argue, and go back to their apartments, and all is forgiven, until the front desk calls with a cab that has been waiting, and Susan is convinced Steve was in Isobel’s room that night, and she leaves him right then and there.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
The next day Steve gets a call from his lawyer George Renny (Sindey Blackmer) to come down because Susan wants an immediate divorce. When George won’t help her, and she won’t listen to Steve she goes to get another lawyer. Susan then disappears until the night before the divorce hearing, and she is at a party where George is at. Susan won’t talk to Steve, so he hears from George the only chance to stop the hearing is if he was crazy, so he acts mad. Most guests think he is playing his regular practical jokes, but he does convince one old man.
At the hearing George argues that Steve has lost it to get a 30 day extension, but Susan asks for him to see the Lunacy commission and expose the farce.
Steve thinks he will be fine, but he goes, and low and behold, the old man with white hair is the head of the lunacy board, and is going to have Steve committed, and when Steve hears he will be put in Susan’s care he is all for it. Susan doesn’t like it though, and has him committed.
Dr. Kluge (Vladimir Sokoloff) is convinced Steve is nuts, and though Susan tries to stop him, Steve has a run in with Ward, who Susan is not seeing, and gets him committed, but he escapes. Steve then gets Kluge to go with him, and shows how Ward escaped, and escapes, but he is declared dangerous.
Steve meanwhile just wants to get to Susan, and is having to dodge police in their building. Steve ends up sneaking into Isobel’s place, and dresses up in some of her clothes, pretending as his own sister Miss Ireland. When he sees Susan, she agrees to hide him, though Ward is hot on his trail, and even her mother is making trouble. And we see that Mr’s Cooper always hated Steve, and would do anything to break them up. And Susan finally learns that her mother saw Steve walking to a bar with Isobel that night, so Steve was not lying that they went to a bar and talked about her all night. Susan and Steve finally make up.
Ward calls to tell them the police think he is Steve, but Steve answers and laughs, and Ward is taken away.
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So much fun, and a great love story as well.
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