It's Love I'm After - Warner Archive Collection

Most classics buffs are quite familiar with two of the three films Leslie Howard and Bette Davis made together - the searing 1934 adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's acclaimed novel Of Human Bondage and tense, thrilling 1936 screen treatment of Robert E. Sherwood's play The Petrified Forest. Strangely, the duo's third collaboration, a madcap screwball comedy, often flies under the radar of many Golden Age fans and doesn't get the attention it deserves, despite a sparkling script, slick production values, and a top-notch supporting cast.

It's Love I'm After gives Howard and Davis the rare opportunity to kick up their heels and let their hair down in a backstage, back-biting romp about a bickering Broadway couple whose tempestuous romance plays out on stage and off. Director Archie Mayo revs up the action in typical screwball fashion and maintains the breakneck pace throughout. The constant frenetic antics result in some viewer fatigue as the film progresses, but the mayhem and repartee are largely enjoyable and a cut above other comedies in the same vein.

Howard plays Basil Underwood, a preening, egotistical actor who relishes upstaging his co-star and on-again-off-again fiancée Joyce Arden (Davis). Basil has postponed their wedding a whopping 11 times, causing Joyce, who's sick of feeling like a yo-yo and indulging Basil's narcissistic whims, to lash out with put-downs and fiery displays of temperament in a sly effort to force him to continually declare his devotion. That perpetual game is put to the test when lovestruck über fan Marcia West (Olivia de Havilland) barges into Basil's life and upsets the delicate balance of her own relationship with fiancé Henry Grant Jr. (Patric Knowles).

Determined to flush Basil out of her system, Henry approaches the actor on the eve of his latest promise to marry Joyce and beseeches him to show Marcia how selfish, insensitive, and callous he can be. Henry accepts the assignment as a means of atoning for past indiscretions that tarnished his romance with Joyce. Of course, he neglects to tell all this to Joyce, who feels jilted once more...until she gets wind of the situation and decides to stir up some trouble of her own.

The screenplay by Casey Robinson, who nabbed an Oscar nod for Errol Flynn's Captain Blood a couple of years before and would go on to pen such stellar Davis weepies as Dark Victory, The Old Maid, All This and Heaven Too, and Now, Voyager, packs his script with an array of manic situations and clever one-liners. The opening scene, which has Basil and Joyce hurling under-their-breath insults at each other during a performance of Romeo and Juliet, is especially amusing, and much of the banter between Basil and his faithful valet Digges (Eric Blore) is priceless. The whimsical Blore, who specialized in playing veddy-veddy British manservants with a decided daffy demeanor in countless Golden Age movies (most notably in a string of Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musicals), totally steals the show with his sublimely ridiculous performance.

Davis shows glimmers of the volatility and biting cynicism that would define her legendary portrayal of another theatrical diva, Margo Channing in All About Eve, 13 years later. Her spunk and spirit, along with all of her inimitable mannerisms and those iconic Bette Davis eyes, enliven her vivacious portrayal, and her chemistry with Howard, well honed from their previous two films, brims with an easygoing playfulness laced with sexual tension. Though they possess vastly different screen personas, they make a believable couple, and we root for their romance to succeed.

Howard plays Basil with abandon, embracing the character's insufferable conceit, stuffiness, and vanity. It's a broad, engaging portrayal that highlights his underrated flair for comedy. De Havilland is breathtakingly lovely and exhibits an infectious giddiness mixed with wide-eyed naivete and a stubborn resolve. Two years later, she and Howard would reunite as Melanie and Ashley in Gone with the Wind, and It's Love I'm After provides an enticing preview of that memorable pairing. The dashing Knowles (who would play Will Scarlett the following year in The Adventures of Robin Hood), always buoyant Spring Byington, and giggly Bonita Granville all add to the fun.

It's Love I'm After may not rank as one of the all-time best screwball comedies, but it's a credit to the genre, deftly mixing lunacy with romance. If it's laughs you're after, you'll find plenty of them here.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray
It's Love I'm After arrives on Blu-ray packaged in a standard case. Video codec is 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 and audio is DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono. Once the disc is inserted into the player, the static menu without music immediately pops up; no previews or promos precede it.

A brand-new HD master struck from a 4K scan of the original nitrate camera negative yields another pitch-perfect transfer from Warner Archive. Grain has been reduced, but enough remains to preserve the feel of celluloid, while excellent clarity and contrast enhance the fine details of the sets and costumes. Rich blacks, bright whites that resist blooming, and a broad grayscale produce a vibrant image that exudes a fair amount of depth. Close-ups are wonderfully sharp, highlighting pores, facial creases, and the flawless complexions of Davis and de Havilland, and not a single nick, mark, speck of dirt, or stray scratch mar the pristine source. It's Love I'm After has surely never looked better, and this exceptional rendering will thrill the movie's fans.

The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track has been nicely remastered and supplies clear, well-modulated sound. Sonic accents like shattering crockery and slamming doors are crisp, while subtleties like chirping birds supply additional aural interest. A wide dynamic scale handles all the highs and lows of the music score by an uncredited Heinz Roemheld, who would win an Oscar five years later for Yankee Doodle Dandy, and all the sniping, put-downs, and witticisms are easy to comprehend. No age-related pops or crackle intrude, and though a slight bit of surface noise can be heard during quieter moments, there aren't many of those, so it's pretty much a non-issue.

Just a couple of supplements are included on the disc.

• Vintage Cartoon: Porky's Building (HD, 8 minutes) - In this black-and-white Looney Tunes short, a chubby Porky plays a builder who races against a competing contractor to construct a new city hall. The one who finishes the building first wins a lucrative contract.
• Vintage Cartoon: Porky's Badtime Story (HD, 7 minutes) - This black-and-white cartoon chronicles a perpetually tardy Porky's (futile) efforts to get a good night's sleep so he can arrive at his job on time in the morning and avoid getting fired.
• Theatrical Trailer (SD, 3 minutes) - The film's original preview mixes clips from the movie with positive review quotes from various print publications.

If it's madcap lunacy you're after on your next movie night, pop in It's Love I'm After. Howard, Davis, De Havilland, and especially Eric Blore tickle the proverbial funny bone in this rollicking romcom that's been impeccably remastered by Warner Archive. A sparkling transfer struck from a 4K scan of the original nitrate camera negative and solid audio enhance the appeal of this often overlooked screwball romp. Highly Recommended.