SimonJack Clearly, this movie is screwball comedy. It has all the elements of the standard definition. The domineering female who challenges the man's virility. The fast and witty dialog with rejoinders and clever ripostes. The farcical scenes and antics. "Double Wedding" veers off in places, and seems to chop off scenes with poor segue. But, these few instances that might be a distraction or fault in any other film, fit perfectly with the zaniness of this movie. It's not the best of the screwball films, but it still rates 10 stars for laughter. The cast are all outstanding in their roles. The sets, filming and other technical aspects are very good. The IMDb Web site gives the plot and other reviewers discuss it and the script. I'll just give some of the funniest lines. Myrna Loy's role is one of her biggest dialogs in her pairings with William Powell. She seems to have more lines as Margit Agnew than does Powell's Charles Lodge. Margit gives this gibberish genealogy to Mrs. Bly, about the young man she has chosen to marry her sister, Irene. Margit, "Waldo's a sort of distant relative of ours. Mother, you know, was a Leslie. The son of her brother, Edward Leslie, married one of the Boyer girls, Anne Boyer. Anne's sister Hermione married Steve Carroll, divorced Steve and married Elmer Beaver who had three brothers, Andrew, Paul and Alexander. Andrew was married twice. His first wife was a Brewster. His second wife was the widow of Morton Thomas, nee Caroline Cook. Andrew and Caroline were the parents of Waldo. Get it?" Mrs. Bly, "Nope!" Obviously, a viewer wouldn't be able to get it either – to write it down like this, without DVD technology. This must be the longest silly genealogy recitation in filmdom.Margit has some of the funniest lines in the film. She delivers persiflage at will toward Powell's Lodge. She calls Lodge's living style, "adolescent Bohemianism." The ending is one of the funniest, zaniest scenes of mayhem and pratfalls I can think of from any film. Here are some more very funny lines. Irene Agnew (played superbly by Florence Rice) to Charles, "You just don't understand her. She's different form you and me. She's a businesswoman. We're Bohemians." Waldo (played very well by John Beal), "Why do Bohemians have to stay up all night?"Mrs. Kensington-Bly (played excellently by Jessie Ralph), "It's beginning to look more and more like a hot house." Margit, "Or a nut house."Charles, "I was a professional guide in Paris at the time. I used to show people through the sewers." Margit, "I can think of no one better qualified."Judge Blynn (played wonderfully by Donald Meek), "Would the bride and gloom please join hands." (sic)Waldo, "To know Charles is to love him. He's got yumpf." Irene, "He's got a monopoly on it."Margit, "You were the best (police detective) on the force, Keough?" Keough, "Yes, Miss Agnew." Margit, "My, my! How we all missed being killed in our sleep."Charles, "Did you want to talk about something?" Margit, "Yes. Do you take dope?"Mrs. Bly, "I 'angeled' this joint for only one reason …to put one over on the income tax, to lose money. You make profits. Do you want to ruin me? I know! I'll double your salary."Here's another dialog sequence that's hilarious prattle between Margit and her gardener, Angelo (done very well by Henry Taylor). Margit, "Angelo?" Angelo, "Yes, Miss Agnew?" Margit, "The paper says cloudy, probably rain. You won't have to water the garden today. How's your bambino?" Angelo, "Don't water the lawn. The bambino? Oh, he's fine." Margit, "So you can use that time to get rid of all these weeds. Be sure he gets his cod liver oil." Angelo, "Yes, Ma'am. Pull the weeds and oil the bambino. Yes, Ma'am."Some reviewers have noted the delay in completing this film, and the strain particularly on William Powell and Myrna Loy over the death of Jean Harlow. She and Powell were planning to be married, and Loy was a close friend. Harlow was just 26 years old when she died June 7, 1937, from kidney failure. She had been ill on and off for the past year, but her illnesses had variously been diagnosed as influenza and an inflamed gallbladder. Only toward the end was she diagnosed with kidney failure, for which there was no treatment at the time. Her kidney problems may have stemmed from the Scarlet Fever she had as a child. For her short career, Harlow was well liked by people all across the movie industry. MGM closed its studio the day of her funeral. At the time of her death, she was starring with Clark Gable in "Saratoga." The film was finished using three doubles for distance shots and some revisions. It was a box office hit when it came out in July. And, Harlow's close friends in the cast of "Double Wedding" completed it under emotional duress for its release in October of that year.

jacksflicks This is meant as a screwball comedy, with clever banter and crazy scenes. There are a few, especially when Powell and Loy are together. It's Nick and Nora except that Nora is liberated here. In fact, so liberated she's domineering, and it's up to Nick to take her down.The storyline, told by other reviewers, is fine, and there's one classic exchange:Powell: What were you going to say? Loy: Nothing. Powell: Don't you want to talk about something? Loy: Yes. Do you take dope?But the rest is talky and flat. The pratfalls are derivative and contrived, even the chaotic ending, which actually lifts a drunk "He's a Jolly Good Fellow" routine from the previous year's After the Thin Man. And John Beal playing Ralph Bellamy is just annoying. I love Jessie Ralph, but here she's a bit over-the-top, not as funny as she was playing the old battle-ax in After the Thin Man. All this I lay on Richard Thorpe, a routine director, who was prized more for coming in under budget than doing anything outstanding.If you're a Powell-Loy fan, they have their usual enjoyable encounters, but its a slog getting from one to the other.

Qanqor I just finished watching this film, and to Jo Swerling, who did the screenplay, I am moved to say, paraphrasing Bill Murray in "Tootsie":Hey, man, I saw your movie. What happened?*Something* happened. The movie starts out strong and then utterly loses itself. It's as if Swerling picked the wrong week to give up sniffing glue or something. There *must* be a story about what happened to the screenplay, because it really seems as if a fine, tight story was given over to a committee, who hacked it to pieces or something.The basic elements of a great comedy are there. Excellent cast. Some fine, quirky characters. Powell and Loy's characters are particularly fine, setting up a wonderful contrast and conflict. But the plot is a shambles; the movie keeps setting itself up to go places that it never actually goes.For instance: at the beginning of the film, the movie that Charlie wants to make, which is going to make Irene a big star, is a big deal, central to most of the main characters' motivations. And Charlie has it all figured out; all they need is to find some rich person to back the film. And gee, what a coincidence, it turns out that rich Mrs. Bly, who backs Margit's dress shop, is actually *annoyed* that the shop makes money-- she's looking for a tax loss! So what could be more perfect than if she were to back the film they want to make? And *then*, when it turns out that she and Charlie are actually old friends! Well, surely that seals the deal! *Surely* now part of the happy ending will be that they'll get to make the movie!But no, actually the whole making-a-movie thing is cast aside and forgotten about by about a third of the way into the movie.And then there's the big finale scene, where Charlie is faking that he's going to marry Irene, while it's clear he's actually plotting to have Waldo arrive and insist on marrying Irene, leaving Charlie clear to try to marry Margit at the same time. Surely, this is what's going to happen, right? I mean, come on, the movie is *named* "Double Wedding", for chrissakes!And yet, we got no double wedding. We don't even get a single wedding. For some inexplicable reason, instead the entire final scene dissolve into one massive brawl. Whose idea was *that*? Again, seems like a committee got its hands on the script.Well, you get the idea of what I'm complaining about. But there was, of course, a lot of good here too. Great characters, good performances, some good dialog. I definitely laughed out loud a number of times. But by the end I just felt gypped. The meandering story that can't remember what it's trying to do is just a glaring flaw. It's a shame, because handled more skillfully, this had all the ingredients to be wonderful.

wrk6539 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!!!