Mariage double

... with all of its chaotic slapstick, that and the fact that some of this film was shot shortly after Jean Harlow's sudden untimely death makes what probably would have been an 8/10 screwball comedy lose a star. William Powell was involved with Harlow and she and Myrna Loy had been close friends, so her death naturally cast a pall over the production.

It has a cute premise. Charlie Lodge (William Powell) is an avantgarde artist who lives in a trailer outside of a local nightspot - Spike's. He has made the acquaintance of Irene Agnew (Florence Rice) and her passive fiance Waldo Beaver (John Beal). It seems that Charlie has written a movie script and he has Irene and Waldo acting out the leads for him, although this entire matter just gets dropped about 15 minutes in. Irene and Waldo are very afraid of Irene's older sister Margit (Myrna Loy), as she would disapprove of the two - adults mind you - associating with and befriending Charlie.

When Margit does hear of it and goes to retrieve them, she walks in on Charlie reenacting a scene from his movie script where he passionately embraces Irene. Margit thinks it's a real embrace, but in a way it is. Irene has become smitten with Charlie as a result, and Margit goes to Charlie to tell him to stop seeing her sister. However, Charlie is actually smitten with Margit, and so he makes excuses to see her. Initially that excuse is a portrait he says he wants to paint of her, but like the movie script, that too gets dropped shortly thereafter. Charlie pushes things to the edge to get Waldo to show some spine to Irene so as to win her back, and also to get Margit to fall for him. How does this work out? Watch and find out.

If you appreciate the magic of Loy and Powell then I think you'll like this one too, but I've seen better from the pair made before this and I've seen better films starring them that were made afterwards.

"Double Wedding" is an enjoyable, albeit dizzying comedy starring William Powell and Myrna Loy.

It's really a tribute to the cast that they were able to carry on in such a wacky movie despite being shut down for a time due to Jean Harlow's untimely death. Both Powell, who was involved with Harlow, and Loy, who was a friend of hers, took her death very hard.

Powell and Loy play polar opposites in this film. She is a complete control freak who has her life, her sister's life, and the life of her sister's fiancé, planned down to the millisecond. Along comes Powell, who lives in a trailer and hocks items when he needs money. Once he's in their lives, all bets are off, and chaos reigns supreme.

The cast is great but the whole thing kind of veers off focus from time to time. The writing isn't as strong as in some of the other screwball comedies of the era. But Powell is a treasure and teamed with Loy, even more so.

I have always found this movie more than a little strained and Powell and Loy not up to their usual shine. In fact, Myrna Loy's character seems downright unpleasant!! Much of this may have to do with the death of Powell's fiancee Jean Harlow during production. Myrna Loy, in her autobiography, states that she cannot bear to watch this movie because of the pain they all felt while making it. While the two do their professional best (and the uninformed would never guess that real tragedy was plaguing them) you are much better off watching Powell and Loy in one of their better works...ie The Thin Man Series, Libeled Lady,I Love You Again, etc. FYI: Powell developed colon cancer in the year following Harlow's tragic death and nearly died himself. He recovered and returned to active film work with 1939's Another Thin Man and proceeded to beat the odds and live another 40 years!!!

Watching this movie was like looking through a beautiful, whimsical kaleidoscope. So many facets are perfect: Loy at her peak of gorgeous, wry sophistication; the Deco sets; Powell's gentle irony; the relationships of various characters and the consistency of dialog; even the physical pranks were great--and I don't like slapstick all that much! This film reminded me of Shop Around the Corner. It wasn't as good, that's a tall order, but there was something bigger going on in this movie than just the usual romantic farce. I have to admire the writer's and director's ability to pull off a romantic comedy between two such diametrically opposed people. The heroine is the quintessential control freak; the hero, as laid back and tolerant as a hippie of the sixties. No one apologizes for their quirks, which is refreshing, and neither of them had to change all that much to make the ending work. And as far as acting goes, Loy and Powell don't hold back any punches (literally!) whenever the two characters collide. It is amazing to watch them knowing how they were reacting to Harlow's death during shooting. I love finding old movies, and this one is buried treasure.

Powell is an artist, a free spirit who disrupts the well-made plans of Loy, who controls the lives of her kid sister (Rice) and the latter's fiancé with an iron fist. Like the dozen other teamings of Powell and Loy, it is fun to watch the two pros match wits. Beal is funny as Rice's milquetoast fiancé, whom Powell tries to make a man out of. Powell is an aspiring writer/director who coaches Beal and Rice in acting out a love story; unable to arouse passion out of Beal, Powell demonstrates by passionately kissing the lovely Rice, who falls in love with him. Of course, Powell falls in love with Rice's sister, Loy, setting the stage for comic situations.