jacobs-greenwood Though much of its plot is ridiculously improbable, most will be entertained by this Myrna Loy-William Powell comedy that was directed by Jack Conway and written by David Hertz, William Ludwig, and Charles Lederer.As in their Thin Man series, Powell and Loy played a married pair and this story opens on their fourth wedding anniversary, with his character literally singing the praises of their wedded bliss. Unfortunately, their routine celebration is interrupted by Loy's mother (Florence Bates plays a perfectly annoying mother-in-law) and events then spiral out of control until she is ready to sue him for divorce!. She believes that her husband had lied to her about time spent with an ex-girlfriend (Gail Patrick), who just so happens to live in the apartment beneath theirs, even though she'd tried to get even with the ex-girlfriend's husband (Donald MacBride) but mistakenly ended up in the ample arms of Jack Carson, who is forever introducing himself as Ward Willoughby, a championship archer.To get his wife back, on the advice of his lawyer (Sidney Blackmer), Powell pretends to be crazy to delay the proceedings, but ends up getting committed to an insane asylum (run by Sig Ruman) by Vladimir Sokoloff's character, a place where Sara Haden's character runs loose.Among the other character actors who appear are Elisha Cook Jr. as an elevator operator, and Selmer Jackson and Ian Wolfe as doctors.

classicsoncall Most of the stuff that occurs in the story stretches the limits of credibility but at least Powell and Loy have a good time doing it. This is screwball comedy in high gear, paced by the high energy of the players, especially after Steve Ireland's (William Powell) attorney recommends an insanity defense in a divorce proceeding brought by Mrs. Ireland (Myrna Loy) over a misunderstanding. Did you notice though, even after four years of marriage the Ireland's were sleeping in separate beds.I'm pretty sure I saw something about this in another film but just chalked it up to a writer's imagination, but this time when the story introduced a Lunacy Commission I had to look it up. Turns out there was such a thing; in England a Lunacy Commission was a public body established to oversee asylums and the welfare of the mentally ill. In New York, the state legislature did away with it's own version of a Lunacy Commission which it considered a patronage racket. That occurred in the Winter of 1940, so it appears that the screen writers got this one in just under the wire.Reading some of the other viewer comments there seems to be high regard for Powell's cross dressing caper in this one and he did do a pretty good job as his own sister. But the stunt that really caught my eye was that time he did a remarkable flip with a ladder on the grounds of the sanitarium, with his head winding up in between the rungs! I hope he was lucky enough to do that in one take! I'm sure Thin Man fans will get a kick out of this film. It came out just about the middle of that series of pictures, with Powell and Loy pretty much in the same mode as a lovey dovey couple until things go awry with Isobel Grayson (Gail Patrick), Ward Willoughby (Jack Carson), the ping ponging elevator, the Bristol Party, the watch stealing cockatoo, divorce court, the Lunacy Commission and that blasted infernal rug. At times you can even make sense of it.

atlasmb In the aptly named "Love Crazy", Myrna Loy and William Powell again prove that they make a marvelous screen pairing. And someone did a good job of selecting projects for them.The story starts with Powell and Loy almost giddily happy about their fourth anniversary. Then Susan's (Loy's) mother arrives and things go downhill. She's a clueless meddler who doesn't really like her son-in-law Stephen (Powell). Circumstances conspire to thrust an old flame into Stephen's path and his mother-in-law is there to witness just enough to inject doubt into the happy couple's relationship.It's a winding story, but eventually Stephen tries to convince everyone that he is insane in order to save his marriage. Things spiral out of control as each misunderstanding compounds.Powell proves a master of physical comedy in this film and he turns in an impressive performance dressed as a woman. The writing delivers some terrific one-liners. Although this film deserves to be considered one of the best Powell-Loy matchups, for me the level drops off slightly after Susan starts to seriously doubt Stephen.And it may be just me, but the portrayals of the legal profession and the psychiatry profession took me slightly out of the story. The legal doctrine used in the film seemed fabricated in parts. And the haphazard use of psychiatric jargon was jarring. It is possible, I suppose, that a psychiatrist in 1940 might have used phrenology as an aid in diagnosis, but no doctor would actually confuse schizophrenia with insanity. But these are not serious impediments to enjoying this film. I will deduct one point in my grading.This film has much to recommend it. The Powell-Loy chemistry shines in the best parts and the twisting plot keeps things interesting.

sagreenberg As a big fan of The Thin Man movies, I really wanted to see this film because of William Powell and Myrna Loy. I'm so glad I did because it was fantastic! It does fit the genre of screwball comedies of that time period without any alteration, so you may find yourself picking up on the rhythm of the script and predicting lines, as I did. The supporting cast is great, but what is surprising is that in this film, it almost feels like Myrna Loy is included in that group. William Powell took every scene he was in and carried it right away. He was droll and a little weird, but he still remained a believable character. There were some moments when I cringed, I'll only mention Abraham Lincoln if you haven't seen this movie, but they did not detract from me rolling around on the floor in laughter. I suppose I must mention Powell in drag, which is ridiculously funny and countered extremely well by Loy. She did her best work in her scenes with Powell just by playing along or completely denying any of his efforts to seem insane. Although they both get top billing, this is William Powell's film. He was hilarious and honest and I can't believe this film isn't more talked about!