IT’S LOVE I’M AFTER
US, 1937, 90 minutes. Black and white.
Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Patric Knowles, Eric Blore, George Barbier, Spring Byington, Bonita Granville.
Directed by Archie Mayo.
It’s Love I’m After is a screwball comedy from Warner Bros – not noted for their comedies, rather for their Busby Berkeley musicals and their gangster films.
Leslie Howard and Bette Davis had appeared in the film version of Maxwell Anderson’s The Petrified Forest, directed by Archie Mayo. This time there is the much lighter touch.
The film is a Leslie Howard vehicle, he gets the opportunity to play a vain British actor, to recite a great deal of Shakespeare including Romeo and Juliet and the “All the world’s a stage” from As You Like It. Bette Davis has a more supporting role (though she had won two Oscars by this stage of her career). Olivia de Havilland had emerged in the preceding years as a romantic heroine. This time she has the opportunity to play a young woman with an impossible crush on the actor. Patric Knowles is her long-suffering fiancé. Eric Blore has lots of comic opportunities as the servant to the vain star, giving him advice, giving him bird calls as an indication that danger was at hand.
The film was written by veteran Hollywood screenwriter (born in Australia), Casey Robinson.
1. An enjoyable screwball comedy of the 1930s? The wit, the dialogue, the cast?
2. Warner Bros production values, black and white photography? Musical score? The reliance on Shakespeare?
3. The introduction to Basil Underwood, the collage of advertisements for his plays, for his touring? Seeing him on stage with Joyce, the death scene from Romeo and Juliet? Their banter and insults? Marcia and her infatuated response? The bickering in the dressing rooms? Marcia, her imposition, Basil and his bewilderment? Henry, his arrival, the challenge? Basil agreeing to go to the house? Trying to rectify the situation? His reliance on Digges for advice, timing? The arrival in the morning, Mr West and his reaction? Basil intruding? His time at the house, the interactions with Marcia, her infatuation, his becoming more compromised? His relationship with Joyce, arguing and making up, the mutual insults? The promise of marriage? Standing Joyce up again? Her arriving at the house? The socialising, the parties? Basil and his bewilderment, Henry knocking him out? His returning with Digges? Henry’s arrival, trying to make peace, Marcia and the ending of her infatuation, getting over him like getting over Clark Gable? The reconciliation with Joyce? The possible marriage? The ever-reliance on Digges?
4. Joyce, actress, performance, insulting Basil? The fights, the reconciliations, the promise of marriage? Getting ready? Being stood up again? Going to the house, interactions? The final fight – and the final resolution?
5. Marcia, age, infatuation, behaviour at the play? Her relationship with Henry? With the family? With her younger sister? Her going to Basil, declarations of love? Basil coming to the house, her reactions, further compromising Basil? The sudden change of heart, hearing Henry’s declaration of love, the reconciliation?
6. Henry, upstanding man, patient with Marcia, the challenge to Basil, the knockout? His giving up Marcia, her overhearing, the reconciliation?
7. Digges, the butler-servant character, the ironic remarks, the service, the warnings, the bird calls?
8. The family, Mr West, his decisions? Aunt Ella and her admiration for Basil, despite sleeping through the play? Gracie and her behaviour?
9. The mixture of screwball comedy and drawing room comedy – anchored in the theatre?
