Myrna Loy & William Powell Collection (Manhattan
Melodrama/Evelyn Prentice/Double Wedding/I Love You Again/Love Crazy;
DVD/Warner Bros.)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: C Films: B-
One of
the reasons MGM stayed the #1 studio through most of the Classical Hollywood
era was because they knew a good thing when they saw it and the pairing of
William Powell & Myrna Loy was one of them.
The Thin Man series is their
best received and known work for the most part together, but they did more
films and Warner Bros. has brought together five more in The Myrna Loy & William Powell Collection on DVD. Those films are:
Manhattan Melodrama (1934) is the W.S. Van Dyke II-directed
classic (the one John Dillinger watched just before being killed by the FBI)
pits a district attorney against a gangster.
Clark Gable and Mickey Rooney in one of his better roles also star.
Evelyn Prentice (1934) is another drama with
crime, but not as good or remembered, but interesting even when it does not
work. It is also shorter.
Double Wedding (1937) is a wacky comedy directed
by Richard Thorpe where painter Powell and dress designer Loy try to help her
sister get married, but find unexpected attraction between them that surprises
no one in the audience. Mary Gordon,
Sidney Toler and Edgar Kennedy also star and help make this an interesting film
to watch.
I Love You Again (1940) reunited the duo and
director W.S. Van Dyke II in a tale of Powell getting amnesia. It holds up well for its age and does not
wear out in its 99 minutes length.
Love Crazy (1941) is directed by Jack Conway
and spoofs the institution of marriage, but Powell’s character becomes so
crazed that he has to prove he is not ready to be committed! Jack Carson, Gail Patrick and Florence Bates
also star.
The 1.33
x 1 image on all five discs are too soft and even detail challenged to our
shock, though these are newer prints, they are older analog transfers. The Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono also disappoints
with smaller sound than I have heard when seeing these films on TCM, though
extras audio is often better Dolby 2.0 Mono.
Those extras include trailers, cartoon shorts and a live action short on
all five DVDs except Crazy, which
substitutes the live-action short with a Radio Drama version of the film that
is a nice surprise.
- Nicholas Sheffo
