There are a few Hollywood names that will stop my endless scrolling through streaming services, and Myrna Loy and William Powell are two of them. Their collaboration is best remembered with the Thin Man series, most of which I have reviewed. They are lovely films, with her perfectly playing the “straight man” for his antics. Indeed, such is their lovable chemistry that one might suspect that they had an off-screen romance, one that would have been labeled an affair considering they were married to other people. This Catholic is happy to say that their bond was reportedly strictly friendly, though they did have their share of marriages. The plural on that last word is not the Catholic ideal. Regardless, this is all a long way to explain why I chose Double Wedding (1937) when I noticed they were its stars. Luckily, it is as good as the rest of their work.

Anyone familiar with William Powell and Myrna Loy will not be surprised that Double Wedding wastes little time putting the two on a collision course, though first Powell’s Charlie Lodge has to interfere with somebody else’s wedding. Margit Agnew (Myrna Loy) is a successful, highly organized businesswoman who runs a dress shop and, to a considerable extent, the lives of everyone around her. She has spent years planning the future of her younger sister, Irene Agnew (Florence Rice), including Irene’s marriage to their cousin Waldo Beaver (John Beal), a pleasant but hopelessly meek young man who has been engaged to her for four years. Irene and Waldo, however, have recently discovered a rather different influence in Charlie Lodge (William Powell), an eccentric artist, former adventurer, and would-be movie director who lives in an automobile trailer beside a bar called Spike’s Place. Charlie has been keeping the young couple out all night rehearsing for a movie he claims will make them stars in Hollywood, which is naturally not part of Margit’s carefully arranged schedule. When she learns what has been happening, she confronts Charlie and finds a man almost constitutionally incapable of taking her authority seriously. Matters become worse when Irene, frustrated by Waldo’s lack of initiative, tells Margit that she is in love with Charlie. Charlie is not actually interested in Irene, but he is intrigued by Margit, whose attempts to control him only make her more attractive to him. Margit tries bribing him to leave Irene alone, but Charlie instead proposes a bargain: he will stay away from Irene if Margit agrees to sit for a portrait for three weeks. She reluctantly accepts, apparently unaware that spending three weeks alone with him is the sort of arrangement that tends to lead to unexpected romance. Charlie also decides that the best way to solve Irene’s problem is not to steal her from Waldo but to teach Waldo to stand up for himself. This proves difficult. Waldo admires Charlie so much that he imitates him rather than competes with him, while Irene becomes increasingly impatient for her fiancé to demonstrate some of Charlie’s confidence. Margit, meanwhile, begins her portrait sittings and gradually discovers that Charlie’s apparently irresponsible life is not quite as empty as she assumed. He has traveled widely, served in the French Foreign Legion, painted, and accumulated an assortment of colorful acquaintances, including Margit’s wealthy backer, Mrs. Kensington-Bly (Jessie Ralph), who knows Charlie from Paris and greets him enthusiastically. Margit has Charlie investigated and confronts him with the resulting report, only to find that his unconventional past bothers him considerably less than it bothers her. As Charlie and Margit spend more time together, their constant arguing begins looking suspiciously like courtship, though neither is eager to say so directly. Charlie finally kisses her, and Margit is clearly affected despite her determination to remain in control. Irene then appears unexpectedly at Charlie’s trailer, and although he sends her away, Margit sees enough to believe he has broken his promise to stay away from her sister. Furious, she destroys the portrait he has been painting by smashing it over his head. Charlie responds by announcing that he will marry Irene, a plan that horrifies almost everyone involved, including Irene, who still loves Waldo. His actual purpose is to force the various reluctant lovers to admit what they want. He arranges a wedding in his trailer and expects Waldo to arrive in time to object, thereby finally showing Irene the backbone she has been waiting to see. The scheme nearly collapses when Waldo is late. With the ceremony beginning and Charlie facing the possibility of actually marrying a woman he does not love, he finally refuses to take Irene as his wife and admits that he loves Margit. Irene likewise acknowledges that she loves Waldo. Margit, after all her resistance, tearfully admits that she loves Charlie too, which at least means everyone has finally identified the correct prospective spouse before anybody says “I do,” a development this Catholic considers encouraging. Waldo then arrives drunk and, at last displaying some of the forcefulness everyone has been demanding from him, punches Charlie and carries a delighted Irene away. The crowded trailer erupts into a general melee as the assembled wedding guests misunderstand what is happening and begin shoving and fighting. Charlie and Margit are knocked down amid the chaos and regain consciousness beside each other on the floor. Charlie kisses her, leaving the two couples properly sorted out, even if the route to getting there has involved manipulation, deception, a destroyed portrait, a punch in the face, and considerably more confusion than the Catholic marriage-preparation process would normally recommend.

Despite the chaos, I will be recommending Double Wedding. As I indicated above, the courtship is not the usual way a Catholic would go about such an arrangement. At the same time, there is the old saying about how we plan and God laughs. Though this is probably not the way he would describe his situation, one can see this in the life Charlie had led before he meets Margit. We are not treated to any flashbacks, but the way he talks of it sounds to this Catholic as if he was going where he felt he was needed. In a sense, this is putting your trust in God and letting Him do with you as He wills. This can sound like a tricky concept to many people. After all, for the overwhelming majority of us, God does not thunder from the clouds and point us in the direction He would like us to go. He can do that, to be sure, but more often He prompts us in subtler ways that we can hear if we learn how to listen. I apply this same logic to the relationship Charlie develops with Irene and Waldo. We are not told how they meet, but Charlie is clearly trying to help the couple. Initially, it is professional, particularly to assist Irene in fulfilling her dreams of being a film star. The problem is Waldo. His reticence to take charge is an evident problem to everyone except him, but is plain to Charlie and Irene. It does appear unseemly that Charlie pretends for a while to be in love with Irene, but that, too, is to get Waldo to take a more active role in his relationship. Put differently, everything Charlie does can be seen in a selfless light, and that is about as Christian as behavior can be.

Then again, the brawl at the end of Double Wedding is not Christian behavior, but it is quite funny. Unfortunately, my twenty-first-century sensibilities had me wondering how violent it would be portrayed if it were set in modern times. Thankfully, this is the 1930s, and it can be viewed as whimsical, and I like whimsy.