Love Crazy

Love Crazy is a 1941 American Jack Conway screwball comedy film directed by pairing William Powell and Myrna Loy as a couple whose marriage is on the verge of being broken up by the husband's old girlfriend and the wife's disapproving mother. This was their eleventh of fourteen films appearing together. The supporting cast include Gail Patrick, Jack Carson and Sig Ruman. Plot Architect Steve Ireland and his wife Susan eagerly look forward to their fourth wedding anniversary, but her mother Mrs. Cooper shows up and puts a damper on their eccentric and jokey plans for the evening; their personal recreation of a Baffin Island Inuit ritual, this year done backwards. She sends Steve to mail her insurance premium, having sprained her foot. Downstairs he runs into his old girlfriend Isobel Kimble Grayson and learns that she has just moved into the apartment building, one floor below. On the way up, the elevator gets stuck. While they are getting out, Steve is half-strangled and struck several times in the head becoming woozy. Isobel takes him to her apartment to recover where she plies him with numerous strong drinks. Though she is now also married, she makes it clear that she would not mind renewing their relationship, but Steve is hopelessly in love with his wife. When he returns to his apartment in a disheveled state, he neglects to mention his encounter with Isobel. It becomes very evident however when her shoes are found in his jacket pockets, taken when he helped her up out of the elevator, and it looks bad for him; later, while Susan is running an errand for her mother across town, Steve skips out from the dull chore of minding Mrs. Cooper on a pretext to talk to Isobel. However Mrs. Cooper finds out and tells her daughter, putting Steve in an awkward spot. Now jealous, for revenge, Susan calls Isobel's husband 'Pinky' and suggests that they pretend that they are seeing each other. He agrees, but Susan goes to the wrong apartment, that of world champion archer Ward Willoughby. He is puzzled but has no objection to being romanced by a beautiful woman. When Susan learns her mistake, she has difficulty extricating herself from Willoughby's apartment. They are seen by Steve and Isobel, resulting in much confusion. Things are finally cleared up, but then Susan is led to believe that, while she was out, Steve was alone with Isobel in her apartment for three hours.