Director: Jack Conway
Year Released: 1941
Rating: 2.5
On their fourth anniversary, Steve Ireland (William Powell) and wife Susan (Myrna Loy) plan out a whole evening for themselves, only to have their night ruined when Susan's mother shows up and an old flame of Steve's (Gail Patrick) turns out to be living downstairs - after a series of ridiculous misunderstandings (and accusations of infidelity) the two are separated and Steve has to pretend to be mentally ill (?) in order to prevent the divorce from going through (he's still in love with her, naturally). As silly as the set-up is - and even sillier (and perhaps disdainful) is the treatment of the mental health professionals as individuals unable to discern the truly mad from those malingering - the chemistry of Powell and Loy (who did not, according to stories from Old Hollywood, get along) is what sees this through, as well as some snappy dialogue (provided, in part, by Charles Lederer). The screwball aspects are corny - getting your lead to gender-swap (Powell sans stache!) is generally a sign of desperation - and I personally question Powell's interest in salvaging a marriage to clearly fickle Loy: she runs into the arms of another man - Walt Willoughby! - rather quickly.
