Double Wedding (1937)

A businesswoman (Myrna Loy) is also a control freak who controls every aspect of her younger sister's (Florence Rice) life including that of her sister's fiance (John Beal). But when a free spirited Bohemian (William Powell) enters the picture, she finds her well ordered life in turmoil. Directed by Richard Thorpe (KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE), this is a rather charming screwball comedy for the most part. Loy and Powell were one of the great screen teams (14 movies together) of Hollywood's "Golden Age" and their chemistry while they banter back and forth here is in top form. The film loses steam in its last 20 minutes but I blame that on Thorpe who wasn't much of a comedy director. The screenplay by Jo Swerling by way of a Ferenc Molnar play is good enough but the film needed a Preston Sturges or Billy Wilder who knew a thing or two about comedy to give the film's finale some fizz. Still, I was caught up in the silliness but it could have been a classic in the hands of a good comedy director. With Sidney Toler, Donald Meek, Mary Gordon and Jessie Ralph.