Thursday, May 24, 2012

Double Wedding(1937).


Double Wedding(1937). Romantic/comedy. Cast: William Powell John Beal, Florence Rice and Myrna Loy.

The story begins with Irene Agnew and her fiance, Waldo Beaver, taking acting lessons from a free spirt Charlie Lodge, a director, who they would like to go to Hollywood with. Irene's domineering sister Margit, is shocked when she finds out they have been staying out all night and confronts Charlie.

Irene, admits that she now in love with Charlie instead of Waldo and Margit  decides to get rid of Charlie, who she believes is a phony.

She asks her butler Keough, a former policeman/detective, to learn everything about him and to stall for time agrees to let Charlie paint her, hoping that she can talk him into breaking it off with Irene. Charlie suggest that he and Margit take his trailer to a remote location while he paints her. On their trip, Margit becomes attracted to Charlie's, but fights the feeling and drives back to the city.

Later,Margit tells Irene and Waldo that they should be married as soon as possible. Keough, then tells Margit that Charlie's ex-wife Claire, is in town and Mrs. Kensington-Bly, informs them that Charlie, was once her guide in Paris.

Charlie goes to see Mrs. Kensington-Bly and invites her to his wedding in the trailer at three that afternoon to Margit. He then tells Waldo that he is marrying Irene at three. Waldo, tells Irene that he understands why she prefers a man like Charlie over him and kisses Irene goodbye, then asks Keough for some of Margit's "medicinal" alcohol.

Margit visits Claire and learns that she divorced Charlie because her money got in the way of their happiness. She warns Margit not to change Charlie and surprises her by saying that Charlie invited her to his wedding that afternoon.

As three o'clock nears, Margit goes to see Charlie, along with Irene and several of Charlie's pals from the bar. Margit, agrees to give Irene her blessing to marry Charlie and soon the Reverend Dr. Blynn arrives to perform the ceremony. During the ceremony, Irene and Waldo both say "no," when Dr. Blynn asks them if they take each other as husband and wife and Margit and Waldo get into an arguement.

Will Waldo, arrive in time to save Irene and will Margit finally admit to Charlie that she loves him?





I thought Loy was at her best. I also loved the Art Deco sets. This film also reminded me a little of the classic film, Shop Around the Corner. It is amazing to watch them knowing how they were dealing with Harlow's death during shooting.
Fun Facts:

Production was partially shut down because of the death (7 June 1937) of Jean Harlow, to whom William Powell was engaged.

The seventh of fourteen films pairing William Powell and Myrna Loy.

Florence Rice (February 14, 1907 – February 23, 1974), became an actress during the early 1930s and after several Broadway performances, found herself in Hollywood where she acted in almost fifty films between 1934 and 1943.

Blonde, pretty, and wholesome, Rice was cast as the reliable girlfriend in several MGM films. Rice never became a major figure in films, but had many on screen pairings with Robert Young.

Her best known performances were in the films, Double Wedding (1937), Sweethearts (1938) and in the film, At The Circus (1939).

4 comments:

  1. I must find this film! I love William Powell more than is reasonable I believe. Thanks for the recommendation!

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  2. I must find this film too!! I am ahuge fan of both Powell and Loy but have never seen this film yet.

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  3. You guys can find the film, DOUBLE WEDDING(1937), on the Myrna Loy and William Powell DVD Movie Collection. Which also has the films: Manhattan Melodrama / Evelyn Prentice / Double Wedding / I Love You Again / Love Crazy), found on Amazon for around $35.00.

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