Watchingwell   

             Curated classic films

 William Powell

Suave, debonair, funny, elegant, sophisticated, polished, urbane, witty, distinguished...OK, I am a big fan of William Powell.  Many people who know only a few classic films are aware of The Thin Man series (1934-1947) where he played Nick Charles, and the great partnership that he had with Myrna Loy as Nora Charles.  But there are some less well-known films that these two made together that exhibit the same wonderful chemistry.

Libeled Lady (1936) directed by Jack Conway, is a gem of a comedy that also includes Spencer Tracy and Jean Harlow in the cast.  Tracy is an editor who enlists Powell to romance socialite, Loy, so she will drop her suit for libel against the newspaper.  Jean Harlow, in a role that shows her talent for comedy, plays his fiancée who suspects that he has really fallen in love with Loy.

Jack Conway also directed the pair in Love Crazy (1941).  Through an annoyingly-contrived misunderstanding, Loy is divorcing Powell, to which he is desperately opposed.  So desperate is he that he agrees to fake insanity to put the divorce on hold.  He doesn't realize that he will be confined in an asylum so he makes an escape through some nimbly-timed and hilarious scenes.

I Love You Again (1940) directed by W.S. Van Dyke, stars Myrna as the disillusioned wife of a man who is replaced by a con artist who looks just like him, when the husband is actually killed on an ocean liner. Powell as the con artist feels that he has landed in a cozy spot where he can hide out from his enemies, but doesn't count on falling for Loy for real.

In Double Wedding from 1937, directed by Richard Thorpe, Myrna Loy is a controlling, career woman who plans her sister's life and that of her fiancé to such an extent that her sister pretends to fall in love with an artist to rebel against the life Loy has mapped out for her.  The artist, William Powell, finds that he has a better idea: that he and Loy should marry. (A similar dynamic is the plot in The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947) where Loy plays against Cary Grant.)  

Powell and Loy made fourteen films together and they always seemed to enjoy each other's company.  But, perhaps, this is the mark of the professional, because both actors have great screen rapport with other stars.

A particular favorite is My Man Godfrey (1936) directed by Gregory La Cava, with Powell opposite Carole Lombard.  Powell plays the 'forgotten man' Lombard brings home and turns into the family butler.  Of course, he is really well-to-do and of course, she falls in love with him, and of course, it all ends happily.

A more obscure classic is The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936) directed by Stephen Roberts, where Powell's character is drawn into a murder mystery by his ex-wife, played by Jean Arthur, who is a successful mystery novelist. The sets and costumes are glamorous and the mystery is unremarkable, but enough of an excuse for Arthur and Powell to interact.  Naturally, romance is inevitable.

Powell is an astronomer married to Hedy Lamarr in The Heavenly Body (1944) directed by Alexander Hall.  He is so absorbed in his work that Hedy is excited about meeting a 'dream man', an event predicted by her astrologer, played by Spring Byington. Silly plot (what man would be that absorbed in his work with Hedy Lamarr at home?) but an enjoyable comedy, even so, with the two stars being so easy to watch.

In Star of Midnight (1935) directed by Stephen Roberts, we get luscious art deco sets (take a look at Powell's bathroom ) and costumes surrounding a stylish, but hard-to-follow, murder mystery. An actress has disappeared, the star of a play called, "Midnight".  Powell is a rich lawyer and Ginger Rogers tags along, all the while setting her sights on Powell with a view to marriage. Not Myrna Loy level, but, definitely good chemistry.




If you're curious, the fourteen films Powell made with Myrna Loy are the four mentioned above, the six Thin Man films, Manhattan Melodrama, The Great Ziegfeld, Evelyn Prentice, and The Senator Was Indiscreet, in which Loy appeared in a cameo.