It's Love I'm After
Encyclopedia
It's Love I'm After is a 1937
American
comedy film
directed by Archie Mayo
. The screenplay
by Casey Robinson
is based on the story Gentlemen After Midnight by Maurice Hanline. The film marked the third on-screen pairing of Leslie Howard
and Bette Davis
, following Of Human Bondage and The Petrified Forest
.
acting team known for their romantic scenes on stage and fiery temperaments off. Although they deeply love each other, their frequent spats over the years have kept them from tying the knot.
Comic complications ensue when Basil postpones their latest marriage plans in order to attempt to diminish the ardor of star-struck heiress Marcia West at the request of her fiancé Henry Grant. When Basil's boorish behavior fails to bother Marcia, who is all-too-willing to submit to his charms, he begins to capitalize on her infatuation with him, much to Joyce's dismay.
The sceenplay allows Leslie Howard to draw on his classical background by having his character quote lines from Macbeth
, Hamlet
, The Taming of the Shrew
, and Romeo and Juliet
.
or Ina Claire
, both noted for their comedic stage performances, as his leading lady, although they had limited experience in films. Producer Hal B. Wallis
had director Archie Mayo meet with Lawrence, who was interested in playing the role, but when Wallis and Howard screened the 1936 British film Men Are Not Gods
, they agreed she did not photograph well.
The film began production without a leading lady. Then Wallis decided the screwball comedy
would be a refreshing change-of-pace for Bette Davis
, who had just completed the melodrama
That Certain Woman
. She initially declined the role of Joyce Arden, feeling the better female role was that of socialite Marcia West. She also resented being asked to accept second billing to Howard. Suffering from exhaustion, Davis went to Palm Springs
to recuperate and finally agreed to appear in the film if Wallis would allow her some time for rest and relaxation. He insisted she report to work on March 28, 1937, and she replied, "Give me a week more . . . I must have a brief chance of being something more than a jittery old woman." She also asked Wallis to replace cinematographer James Van Trees with Tony Gaudio
, one of the few cameramen she trusted, and the producer agreed, although Van Tress received sole screen credit.
described the film as "refreshing, impudent fun: a buoyant cinema making faces at its precise old aunt, the theatre."
In his review in Allmovie, Craig Butler called the film "unjustly neglected" and "a delightful romp that provides an excellent showcase for the often equally neglected comedic talents of its trio of stars. While Love falls just shy of true classic status - the screenplay is slightly off the mark in a few places and its dialogue occasionally lacks the effervescent sparkle that is a requirement of the genre - it's still a little gem of a picture with an abundance of laughs . . . a great pick-me-up and well worth searching out."
Channel 4
called the film "fast-moving and thoroughly enjoyable."
with lyrics by Ira Gershwin
, E.Y. Harburg, John LaTouche, Sammy Cahn
, Ted Fetter
, Martin Charnin
, and Howard Dietz
. Staged readings of the show have been presented by the Goodspeed Opera Company
in East Haddam, Connecticut
and the York Theater Company in New York City
. A demo recording of the score features Karen Ziemba
as Joyce Arden, Jay O. Sanders
as Jeffrey Underwood, Brent Barrett
as Henry Grant, Jr., and Stuart Zagnit
as Digges.
1937 in film
The year 1937 in film involved some significant events, including the Walt Disney production of the first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.- Events :*April 16 - Way Out West premieres in the US....
American
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
directed by Archie Mayo
Archie Mayo
Archie Mayo was a movie director and stage actor who moved to Hollywood in 1915 and began working as a director in 1917....
. The screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by Casey Robinson
Casey Robinson
Casey Robinson was an American producer and director of mostly B movies and a screenwriter responsible for some of Bette Davis' most revered films...
is based on the story Gentlemen After Midnight by Maurice Hanline. The film marked the third on-screen pairing of Leslie Howard
Leslie Howard (actor)
Leslie Howard was an English stage and film actor, director, and producer. Among his best-known roles was Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind and roles in Berkeley Square , Of Human Bondage , The Scarlet Pimpernel , The Petrified Forest , Pygmalion , Intermezzo , Pimpernel Smith...
and Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
, following Of Human Bondage and The Petrified Forest
The Petrified Forest
The Petrified Forest is a 1936 American film, starring Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, and Humphrey Bogart. A precursor of film noir, it was adapted from Robert E. Sherwood's 1936 stage play of the same name...
.
Plot
Basil Underwood and Joyce Arden are an egotisticalEgotism
Egotism is "characterized by an exaggerated estimate of one's intellect, ability, importance, appearance, wit, or other valued personal characteristics" – the drive to maintain and enhance favorable views of oneself....
acting team known for their romantic scenes on stage and fiery temperaments off. Although they deeply love each other, their frequent spats over the years have kept them from tying the knot.
Comic complications ensue when Basil postpones their latest marriage plans in order to attempt to diminish the ardor of star-struck heiress Marcia West at the request of her fiancé Henry Grant. When Basil's boorish behavior fails to bother Marcia, who is all-too-willing to submit to his charms, he begins to capitalize on her infatuation with him, much to Joyce's dismay.
The sceenplay allows Leslie Howard to draw on his classical background by having his character quote lines from Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
, Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1591.The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself...
, and Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
.
Production
Leslie Howard originally envisioned either Gertrude LawrenceGertrude Lawrence
Gertrude Lawrence was an English actress, singer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End theatre district of London and on Broadway.-Early life:...
or Ina Claire
Ina Claire
Ina Claire was an American stage and film actress.-Career:Born Ina Fagan in 1893 in Washington, D.C., Claire began her career appearing in vaudeville...
, both noted for their comedic stage performances, as his leading lady, although they had limited experience in films. Producer Hal B. Wallis
Hal B. Wallis
Hal B. Wallis was an American film producer.-Career:Harold Brent Wallis was born in Chicago in 1898. His family moved in 1922 to Los Angeles, California, where he found work as part of the publicity department at Warner Bros...
had director Archie Mayo meet with Lawrence, who was interested in playing the role, but when Wallis and Howard screened the 1936 British film Men Are Not Gods
Men Are Not Gods
Men Are Not Gods is a 1936 British film starring Miriam Hopkins and co-starring Gertrude Lawrence, Sebastian Shaw and Rex Harrison. It was a success in the UK when released largely due to the popularity of the two female stars Hopkins and Lawrence. This also brought to attention the talents of Rex...
, they agreed she did not photograph well.
Screwball Comedy
Screwball Comedy is an album by the Japanese band Soul Flower Union. The album found the band going into a simpler, harder-rocking direction, after several heavily world-music influenced albums.-Track listing:...
would be a refreshing change-of-pace for Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
, who had just completed the melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
That Certain Woman
That Certain Woman
That Certain Woman is a 1937 American drama film written and directed by Edmund Goulding. It is a remake of Goulding's 1929 film The Tresspasser, Gloria Swanson's first sound film.-Synopsis:...
. She initially declined the role of Joyce Arden, feeling the better female role was that of socialite Marcia West. She also resented being asked to accept second billing to Howard. Suffering from exhaustion, Davis went to Palm Springs
Palm Springs
Palm Springs is a desert city in CaliforniaPalm Springs may also refer to:* Palm Springs, Florida* Palm Springs, Hong Kong, a residential development in Yuen Long, Hong Kong* Coachella Valley, also known as the Palm Springs area...
to recuperate and finally agreed to appear in the film if Wallis would allow her some time for rest and relaxation. He insisted she report to work on March 28, 1937, and she replied, "Give me a week more . . . I must have a brief chance of being something more than a jittery old woman." She also asked Wallis to replace cinematographer James Van Trees with Tony Gaudio
Tony Gaudio
Tony Gaudio was an Italian American cinematographer and the first to create a montage sequence for a film....
, one of the few cameramen she trusted, and the producer agreed, although Van Tress received sole screen credit.
Cast
- Leslie HowardLeslie Howard (actor)Leslie Howard was an English stage and film actor, director, and producer. Among his best-known roles was Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind and roles in Berkeley Square , Of Human Bondage , The Scarlet Pimpernel , The Petrified Forest , Pygmalion , Intermezzo , Pimpernel Smith...
..... Basil Underwood - Bette DavisBette DavisRuth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
..... Joyce Arden - Olivia de HavillandOlivia de HavillandOlivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland...
..... Marcia West - Eric BloreEric BloreEric Blore was an English comic actor. Blore was born in Finchley , England.Aged eighteeen, he worked as an insurance agent for two years. He gained theatre experience while touring Australia. Originally enlisting into the Artists Rifles he was commissioned in the South Wales Borderers in World...
..... Digges - Patric KnowlesPatric KnowlesReginald Lawrence Knowles was an English film actor who renamed himself Patric Knowles, a name which reflects his Irish descent. He appeared in films of the 1930s through the 1970s...
..... Henry Grant, Jr. - George BarbierGeorge Barbier (actor)-Career:Barbier entered Crozier Seminary to study for ministry but gave it up to go on the stage, beginning in light opera. Spent several years in repertory and stock companies and eventually appeared on Broadway...
..... William West - Spring ByingtonSpring ByingtonSpring Byington was an American actress. Her career included a seven-year run on radio and television as the star of December Bride. She was a key MGM contract player appearing in films from the 1930s through the 1960s.-Early life:Byington was born Spring Dell Byington in Colorado Springs,...
..... Aunt Ella Paisley - Bonita GranvilleBonita GranvilleBonita Granville was an American film actress and television producer.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Granville was the daughter of stage actors, and made her film debut at the age of nine in Westward Passage...
..... Gracie Kane
Critical reception
TimeTime (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
described the film as "refreshing, impudent fun: a buoyant cinema making faces at its precise old aunt, the theatre."
In his review in Allmovie, Craig Butler called the film "unjustly neglected" and "a delightful romp that provides an excellent showcase for the often equally neglected comedic talents of its trio of stars. While Love falls just shy of true classic status - the screenplay is slightly off the mark in a few places and its dialogue occasionally lacks the effervescent sparkle that is a requirement of the genre - it's still a little gem of a picture with an abundance of laughs . . . a great pick-me-up and well worth searching out."
Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
called the film "fast-moving and thoroughly enjoyable."
Musical adaptation
It's Love I'm After is the basis of a stage musical comedy called Madly in Love, which interpolates songs by Vernon DukeVernon Duke
Vernon Duke was a Russian-American composer/songwriter, who also wrote under his original name Vladimir Dukelsky. He is best known for "Taking a Chance on Love" with lyrics by Ted Fetter and John Latouche, "I Can't Get Started" with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, "April in Paris" with lyrics by E. Y...
with lyrics by Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century....
, E.Y. Harburg, John LaTouche, Sammy Cahn
Sammy Cahn
Sammy Cahn was an American lyricist, songwriter and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premiered by recording companies in the Greater Los Angeles Area...
, Ted Fetter
Ted Fetter
Theodore "Ted" Fetter was a Broadway lyricist who contributed material to such revues as "The Show Is On" and "Billy Rose's Aquacade" , but is best remembered for co-writing the song "Taking a Chance on Love," introduced in the 1940 musical comedy Cabin in the Sky.Fetter started as an actor,...
, Martin Charnin
Martin Charnin
Martin Charnin is an American lyricist, writer, and theatre director. Charnin's best-known work is as conceiver, director and lyricist of the hit musical Annie....
, and Howard Dietz
Howard Dietz
Howard Dietz was an American publicist, lyricist, and librettist.-Biography:Dietz was born in New York City and studied journalism at Columbia University...
. Staged readings of the show have been presented by the Goodspeed Opera Company
Goodspeed Musicals
Goodspeed Musicals, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and advancement of musical theater and the creation of new works, was formed in 1959 to restore the Goodspeed Opera House, located in East Haddam, Connecticut, to its original Victorian appearance. Each year, Goodspeed...
in East Haddam, Connecticut
East Haddam, Connecticut
East Haddam is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,333 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water....
and the York Theater Company in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. A demo recording of the score features Karen Ziemba
Karen Ziemba
Karen Ziemba is an American actress, singer and dancer, best known for her work in musical theatre.-Biography:Ziemba was born in St. Joseph, Michigan, and went on to attend the University of Akron , where she studied dance and joined the Ohio Ballet in her sophomore year.Her Broadway debut was in...
as Joyce Arden, Jay O. Sanders
Jay O. Sanders
Jay Olcutt Sanders is an American character actor.Sanders was born in Austin, Texas, to Phyllis Rae and James Olcutt Sanders. He is noted for playing Mob lawyer character Steven Kordo in the 1986–88 NBC detective series Crime Story...
as Jeffrey Underwood, Brent Barrett
Brent Barrett
Brent Barrett is an American actor and tenor who is mostly known for his work within American theatre. Barrett has performed in musicals and in concerts with theatres, symphony orchestras, opera houses, and concert halls internationally...
as Henry Grant, Jr., and Stuart Zagnit
Stuart Zagnit
Stuart Zagnit is an American character actor. He has worked in all areas including Broadway, Off-Broadway, Regional, National Tours,television, films, commercials and voice-overs.-Theatre:*2011: The Merry Wives of Windsor - Brooklyn, NY - Sir John Falstaff*2009: How The Grinch Stole...
as Digges.