October 15, 1937
MGM
Comedy, Romance
VHS
B-
An uneven but funny screwball comedy that gets so wacky that there's no completed wedding ceremony, despite the two mix-and-match couples. Instead, there's a party in a trailer where the main couple, William Powell and Myrna Loy, as Charlie and Margit respectively, get knocked out, as drunks sing "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow." Meanwhile, the secondary male character has taken Charlie's dubious romantic advice and carried off Margit's sister Irene, to Irene's delight, and it's unclear if they'll actually get married, after Margit has managed their romance and lives for so long. I want to say that the film works despite itself, but I'm not sure that it does. I just know that I was entertained for the most part. Loy and Powell of course had already proven their chemistry in the Thin Man series, but they play off, and with, the other performers equally well. Some of the lines will surprise you, like when Margit asks Charlie if he's on dope! And the movie is surprisingly casual about divorce. I like that while the film is definitely not feminist, there's no suggestion that Margit give up her career as a dress designer.
Edgar Kennedy, who was the rival street vendor in Duck Soup, here plays Spike, the "ape" who runs Spike's Bar. Gwen Lee, who was Groucho's unnamed dinner companion at the beginning of A Night at the Opera, has a small role here. Fields veteran Jack Baxley appears. Florence Rice, who plays Irene, would have the female romantic lead in At the Circus, which Barnett Parker would also appear in. Priscilla Lawson, who plays the assistant Felice here, has a small role in The Women. Tiny Jones would go on to The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle and You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, Frank McClure to His Girl Friday. Roger Moore, the one born in 1900, last appeared in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
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