This is a very funny film, definitely worth watching. It not only stars the great comedy duo from the Thin Man series, William Powell and Myrna Loy, but also features Frank McHugh. Directed by W. S. Van Dyke (who directed the pair in The Thin Man (1934)), this comedy drama's screenplay was written by Charles Lederer, George Oppenheimer, and Harry Kurnitz; Leon Gordon and Maurine Watkins's story was based on Octavus Roy Cohen's novel.Powell was a dashing con man that was bumped on the head such that he'd forgotten who he was and had become a boring clay pot manufacturer in a small town, married to Loy. However, the film opens with Powell on a cruise ship who, having just rescued con man McHugh, now remembers his previous life but not his current one. Finding that the person he'd been is actually worth something (e.g. has money in the bank), Powell, with help from the enabling McHugh, determines to "steal" his own money and hit the road.However, when the cruise ship docks, Powell's character is met by an attractive woman (Loy) that he finds out is his wife, though she's seeking a divorce from the boring man he was, to marry another, Herbert (Donald Douglas). Intrigued, Powell decides to return to the small town, with McHugh in tow, to learn more.Of course, there are a series of hilarious misadventures, as Powell romantically pursues his own disillusioned wife Loy, causing her to see a side of her husband that she'd never seen before, which interests her. But, a former con man associate of Powell's, Duke Sheldon (Edmund Lowe) shows up, convinced there must be a bundle to be schemed from the town folk, and threatens to disrupt things.Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer appears as a boy scout in Powell's small town character's troop; Charles Halton (uncredited) plays his dad. Harlan Briggs, Henry Hayden & Jason Robards Sr. appear uncredited as well.

Just watched this on Netflix disc. William Powell plays a man who was often careful with his money, in other words, stingy. But then he gets hit on the head and he then becomes his former self-a con man who thinks nothing of what to do with that. Frank McHugh is the guy Powell saved before his personality change so he's there the whole time. Myrna Loy is Powell's wife who had wanted to divorce him but...well, watch the movie if you want to find out. This was quite hilarious as it kept on going. So on that note, I highly recommend I Love You Again. P.S. The reason I watched this just now was because since I've been watching the Our Gang shorts-and the films separate from the series featuring at least one member in it-in chronological order, well, this is actually a little before some of the ones I recently reviewed but never mind. Both Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer and Mickey Gubitosi-as Robert Blake was then known as-appeared here while both were members of that classic kid group. Alfalfa is quite hilarious when involving oil in the water. Also, since I like to cite when players of my favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life, appear in something else, here it's Charles Halton-Mr. Carter, the bank examiner there-playing Alfalfa's father. While both Halton and Switzer were in that movie, this is the first time I've seen them share a scene.

Who am I? Where am I? Why am I here? What are the rules? Amnesia, often used as a device for heavy melodrama, is given a humorous spin in I LOVE YOU AGAIN, a 1940 screwball comedy starring Hollywood's most popular screen couple. Since tonight's theme is amnesia and it's a complicated film, I feel it necessary to explain a little about the story. If you do NOT want to know any of the plot please stop reading: I LOVE YOU AGAIN contains one of the most absurdly complicated set-ups in the history of storytelling. Larry Wilson (played by William Powell) is a bland, penny-pinching, teetotaler, businessman from a small town. While rescuing a drunk who fell overboard while on a cruise, Larry gets knocked on the head, wiping out the last eight years of his memory. He now remembers that he is George Carey, a slick con man. In an incredibly unique twist and a brilliant start to the film, he doesn't undergo the effects of amnesia, but rather comes out of it. It turns out that nine years back, George suffered a similar blow, leaving him memory-free; he started up a whole new life as Larry Wilson, eventually doing very well for himself. The man he rescued is another con man (played by Frank McHugh), and the two realize they can turn this amnesia thing into a master swindle (pause) after all, George is already Larry, so now he just has to keep playing it up as the rich man he already is but can't remember. The other con man will pose as a respectable doctor looking after Larry's mental state, and the two will clean house. Ah, but things do not always go according to plan. For while Larry is happy to discover he's married to the gorgeous Kay (played by Myrna Loy), but she's divorcing him because he's boring. Once George/Larry realizes what a keeper Kay is, he must try to convince her to fall in love with him all over again, this time not as the stuffy old Larry, but as the new happy-go-lucky Larry. As I say, the story is quite clever, with Powell having to play the meek cheapskate Larry and the happy-go-lucky gambler George simultaneously, GET THIS depending on who he's with. Got all that? Me neither. But it sure is a whole heap of fun. In fact, I LOVE YOU AGAIN is one of the duo's finest works together, a rip-snorting screwball comedy that bounces with spectacular ease. With on exception - I resent the boring character being named Larry. This director "One Shot" Woody Van Dyke was known for shooting each scene as quickly and efficiently as possible. So when actors forgot or made-up some of their lines – it stayed in the film making the comedy all the more fresh! And it was tonight's director Van Dyke, who first brought Powell & Loy together in 1934's MANHATTAN MELODRAMA, and directed them in six films, including four Thin Man films including the first & the best. This was a good film for William Powell to come back to work on. Powell had a rough time during the late thirties. Since starting in 1922 he had averaged 4 or more features a year. At the beginning of the thirties he had been married to Carole Lombard, they divorced and he fell in love with another co-star Jean Harlow and was engaged to her when she died tragically at the age of 26 in 1937 while Powell was shooting Double Wedding with Loy. He had to stop filming and took months off to recover during which time he discovered he had colon cancer! While mending from surgery he only made one film in 1938, then in 1939 he made his third Thin Man appropriately tilted Another Thin Man. I LOVE YOU AGAIN was the only movie he made in 1940 and it was a huge critical & box office hit. His career continued for another 25 years but sadly for us he only made 18 more films before retiring. Myrna Loy was to make a costume period piece called The Road to Rome. With get this, Clark Gable playing Hannibal, and Loy a Roman senator's wife who beguiles him. But the play's anti-war message was considered a losing proposition on the verge of WWII, so it was scrapped. Powell would say of his costar, "Loy is, as always, "the perfect wife," witty, wise and loyal — she sees the essence of truth and is adorably charmed by it." Also in the cast is Edmund Lowe who some call "the poor man's William Powell" as he often took the roles turned down by Powell and their styles were very similar. Look also for bit parts from Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer and little Robert Blake, taking time off from their "Our Gang" roles to play Boy Scouts. Hollywood's most famous extra Bess Flowers can be seen in Lingerie Department (so far she has been spotted in 829 films, more than any actor in history), two former silent film stars Jack Mulhall and Jason Robards Sr. play extras as office workers needing speedy decisions. I LOVE YOU AGAIN was such a success the studio decided to capitalize on the formula by bringing Loy and Powell together again the next year for LOVE CRAZY, in which he pretends to be insane in order to prevent their divorce. And in the latest bit of news the Johnny Depp remake of The Thin Man has been put on indefinite hold, seems they can't find the perfect actress to replace Myrna Loy… duh! Well tonight I hope you will all enjoy the real thing and may you REMEMBER IT for many years to come. And Thank You for supporting film preservation on the BIG screen!

When the movie going public demands you back 14 times you know that something is being done right by both the studio and the players involved.William Powell and Myrna Loy hit a real career high point in this film with a rather original plot gimmick. The amnesia gimmick is stood on its head in this film.Powell and Loy are married and he's on a business trip involving an ocean voyage. Powell is something of a stuffed shirt when we meet him on the ship. When a drunken Frank McHugh falls overboard, Powell dives in to rescue him and in the process gets himself knocked out.When he comes to, like in Random Harvest, he discovers his former identity which is that of a confidence man and as it turns out McHugh also is a full time grifter.Unlike Ronald Colman who spent the whole of Random Harvest searching for his lost years, Powell has his identity there. Returning to his town with his new found friend McHugh, he finds wife Loy together with the fact he's a person of some means. But he also finds out that Loy was planning to get rid of him.Powell together with McHugh and former associate Edmund Lowe try to work an elaborate con game on the town. At the same time Powell is falling for the woman he married and embarks on a campaign to win her back. Those two agenda items come into conflict. Bill and Myrna are at their best in I Love You Again. Two highlight scenes for me are Powell's cooing courtship of Loy and his trip through the woods in his Boy Ranger uniform with his Boy Ranger troop. This must have been the same outfit that Jimmy Stewart was trying to get a summer camp for in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. The goings on are similar to what Powell went through fishing in Libeled Lady.I Love You Again is movie comedy at its very best. Don't miss it if TCM runs it again.