Love Crazy Blu-ray Review: Audiences Will Get a Kick Out of It

William Powell and Myrna Loy reinvented screen chemistry, especially with their Thin Man six-film series. But they made films outside of Nick and Nora (their Thin Man characters) in several other films including Manhattan Melodrama, The Great Ziegfeld, Double Wedding, I Love You Again, and Love Crazy, which is a zany comedy of misunderstandings and slapstick.

They are Steve and Susan Ireland, an architect and his wife who are going to celebrate their fourth anniversary, but Susan’s meddling and disapproving mother Mrs. Cooper (Florence Bates) arrives and spoils their plans. To make matters worse, Steve encounters his old flame Isobel (Gail Patrick) who tries to make a move on him, but he is very much in love with Susan. While Susan does an errand for her mother, Steve skips out on spending time with her and decides to walk and talk with Isobel. However, Mrs. Cooper, being the nosy woman, she tells Susan about this, which angers her. She tries to get even with Steve by pretending to kiss neighbor Ward Willoughby (Jack Carson), which backfires. Feeling humiliated, Susan wants to get a divorce, but Steve insists that nothing happened with Isobel, but she refuses to believe him.

Feeling desperate, Steve goes the extra mile to winning Susan back by pretending to be insane, which lands him in a rest home/mental institution. He ends up escaping and finding his way back to Susan, while trying to avoid the police. So, he dresses up and pretends to be his twin sister (a legendary sequence, by the way) in order to be successful in his plan. He actually does triumph and wins Susan back, after she discovers that Steve was telling the truth the entire time. So, looks like the anniversary is back on.

Despite the fact that the premise is so very far-fetched and silly, and that it kind of treats mental illness as something of a punchline, the film still manages to be fun, relentless in its comedy, and obviously works due to the iconic chemistry between Powell and Loy. It may not be up to Thin Man standards, but audiences will get a kick out of it.

Special features of Warner Archive’s Blu-ray consist of classic MGM cartoon The Rookie Bear (1941); vintage MGM short subject, You Can’t Fool a Camera (1941); Lux Radio Theater broadcast with Powell and Hedy Lamarr; Screen Director’s Playhouse broadcast with Powell (1949); and original trailer.