''Love Crazy'' is a 1941 American Jack Conway

screwball comedy film Screwball comedy is a subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1940s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary characteristi ...

directed by pairing

William Powell William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the '' Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Charles characters cr ...

and

Myrna Loy Myrna Loy (born Myrna Adele Williams; August 2, 1905 – December 14, 1993) was an American film, television and stage actress. Trained as a dancer, Loy devoted herself fully to an acting career following a few minor roles in silent films. ...

as a couple whose marriage is on the verge of being broken up by the husband's old girlfriend and the wife's disapproving mother. This was their eleventh of fourteen films appearing together. The supporting cast include

Gail Patrick Gail Patrick (born Margaret LaVelle Fitzpatrick, June 20, 1911 – July 6, 1980) was an American film actress and television producer. Often cast as the bad girl or the other woman, she appeared in more than 60 feature films between 1932 an ...

Jack Carson John Elmer Carson (October 27, 1910 – January 2, 1963) was a Canadian-born American film actor. Carson often played the role of comedic friend in films of the 1940s and 1950s, including ''The Strawberry Blonde'' (1941) with James Cagney and ...

and

Sig Ruman Siegfried Carl Alban Rumann (October 11, 1884 – February 14, 1967), billed as Sig Ruman and Sig Rumann, was a German-American character actor known for his portrayals of pompous and often stereotypically Teutonic officials or villains i ...

Plot

Architect Steve Ireland (

) and his wife Susan (

) eagerly look forward to their fourth wedding anniversary, but her mother Mrs. Cooper (

Florence Bates Florence Bates ( Rabe; April 15, 1888 - January 31, 1954), was an American film and stage character actress who often played grande dame characters in supporting roles. Life and career Bates was the second child born to Jewish immigrant par ...

) shows up and puts a damper on their eccentric and jokey plans for the evening; their personal recreation of a Baffin Island

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

ritual, this year done backwards. She sends Steve downstairs to mail her insurance premium having sprained her foot. Downstairs he runs into his old girlfriend Isobel Kimble Grayson (

) and learns that she has just moved into the apartment building, one floor below. On the way up, the elevator gets stuck. While they are getting out, Steve is half-strangled and struck several times in the head becoming woozy. Isobel takes him to her apartment to recover where she plies him with numerous strong drinks. Though she is now also married, she makes it clear that she would not mind renewing their relationship, but Steve is hopelessly in love with his wife. When he returns to his apartment in a disheveled state, he neglects to mention his encounter with Isobel but it then becomes evident in a way which looks bad for him; later, while Susan is running an errand for her mother across town, Steve skips out from the dull chore of minding Mrs. Cooper on a pretext to meet Isobel and

chew the fat ''"Chewing the fat"'' or ''"chew the rags"'' are English expressions for gossiping or making friendly small talk, or a long and informal conversation with someone. Origin Chew the fat Although some sources attribute the phrase "''chew the fat''" ...

. However Mrs. Cooper finds out and tells her daughter, putting Steve in an awkward spot. Now jealous, for revenge, Susan calls Isobel's husband 'Pinky' (

Donald MacBride Donald Hugh MacBride (June 23, 1893 – June 21, 1957) was an American character actor on stage, in films, and on television who launched his career as a teenage singer (making several recordings in 1907) in vaudeville and went on to be an ...

) and suggests that they pretend that they are seeing each other. He agrees, but Susan goes to the wrong apartment, that of world champion archer Ward Willoughby (

). He is puzzled but has no objection to being romanced by a beautiful woman. When Susan learns her mistake, she has difficulty extricating herself from Willoughby's apartment. They are seen by Steve and Isobel, resulting in much confusion. Things are finally cleared up, but then Susan is led to believe that Steve was alone with Isobel in her apartment for three hours while she was out. Susan decides to get a divorce, despite Steve's pleas. She hides from him in Arizona with her meddling mother and Willoughby follows, to better his acquaintance with Susan. The night before the divorce hearing, Steve's lawyer, George Renny ( Sidney Blackmer), spots Susan at a party and tells his client. Steve crashes the gathering but is unable to change Susan's mind. A chance remark by Steve gives Renny an idea – a divorce can be delayed if one of the parties is insane. Steve does his best to act nutty, even pushing his mother-in-law into the pool. However, he had been so eccentric in the past, that everyone (with the exception of one stranger, an older man, whom he refers to as 'General Electric Whiskers') just believes he is drunk. Nonetheless, Renny gets the divorce judge to agree to a thirty-day delay to have Steve examined by the City Lunacy Commission. When he realizes that he has gone too far, Steve tries to convince the members that he is sane; but the head of the board, Dr. Klugle (

Vladimir Sokoloff Vladimir Aleksandrovich Sokoloff (russian: Влади́мир Алекса́ндрович Соколо́в; December 26, 1889 – February 15, 1962) was a Russian-American character actor of stage and screen. After studying theatre in Moscow, ...

), turns out to be the one person Steve hoodwinked at the party. As a result, he is committed to a sanitarium. Steve escapes by tricking the head of the psychiatric hospital, Dr. Wuthering (

), leaving him stuck upside-down in a net hanging from a tree. He returns to his apartment building one step ahead of the police, who now consider him a homicidal maniac. Steve dodges Willoughby and hides with Isobel's help. He then disguises himself as his "sister" by putting on some clothes from Isobel's apartment and shaving his mustache. He finally reaches Susan, only to have Mrs. Cooper and Willoughby show up soon afterwards. When Mrs. Cooper inadvertently confirms Steve left the apartment building to just talk to Isobel at a public bar down the street on the night of their anniversary, Susan finally believes her husband and decides to bunk-in with the "sister" and take "her" to

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

in the morning.

Cast

as Steve Ireland *

as Susan Ireland *

as Isobel Kimble Grayson *

as Ward Willoughby *

as Mrs. Cooper * Sidney Blackmer as George Renny *

as Dr. Wuthering, the head of the sanitarium *

as Dr. David Klugle *

as "Pinky" Grayson *

Sara Haden Sara Haden (born Catherine Haden, November 17, 1898 – September 15, 1981) was an American actress of the 1930s through the 1950s and in television into the mid-1960s. She may be best remembered for appearing as Aunt Milly Forrest in 14 entrie ...

as Cecilia Landis *

Kathleen Lockhart Kathleen Lockhart (née Arthur; 9 August 1894 – 18 February 1978) was a prolific English-American actress during the early-mid 20th century. Early life Kathleen Arthur was born on August 9, 1894 in Southsea, Hampshire, England. Caree ...

as Mrs. Bristol *

Fern Emmett Fern Emmett (March 22, 1896 – September 3, 1946) was an American film actress. She appeared in 212 films between 1930 and 1946. Emmett's film debut came with Universal in a two-reel production in 1914. Personal life Emmett was married to ...

as Martha, the Irelands' maid * Elisha Cook, Jr. as Elevator Operator

Box office

According to MGM records the film earned $1,335,000 in the US and Canada and $725,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $514,000.

Reception

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

called it "another marital comedy loaded with solid comedy, compactly set up and tempoed at a zippy pace. Love Crazy is a standout laugh hit of top proportions, a happy successor to previous Powell-Loy teamings."

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

rated 4 out of 5 stars.

Radio adaptation

''Love Crazy'' was presented on ''

Screen Directors Playhouse ''Screen Directors Playhouse'' (sometimes written as ''Screen Directors' Playhouse'') is an American radio and television anthology series which brought leading Hollywood actors to the NBC microphones beginning in 1949. The radio program broadcas ...

'' August 19, 1949. Powell starred in the adaptation.

References

External links

* * * * {{Loy Powell Films 1941 films 1940s screwball comedy films American screwball comedy films American black-and-white films Comedy of remarriage films Films directed by Jack Conway Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films with screenplays by Charles Lederer Films with screenplays by William Ludwig 1941 comedy films Cross-dressing in American films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films