Most movie fans associate Myrna Loy and William Powell with their long-running Thin Man franchise. Powell and Loy worked together on other flicks as well, and 1940’s I Love You Again becomes one of these.

On a cruise, Larry Wilson (Powell) gets a knock on the head. This awakens him from a nine-year bout of amnesia.

“Larry Wilson” is really a con artist named George Carey, and he finds himself stunned to learn that “Larry” developed his own mild-mannered life as a bank manager, complete with wife Kay (Loy). George attempts to use this double identity to his sleazy advantage, but matters take a turn when he begins to fall for Kay.

Like quicksand, movies made amnesia seem like a much greater threat to the broad population than it ever was. Cartoons led kids to believe that knocks on the head robbed people of their memories on a frequent basis.

Rare as amnesia actually is, it does work as a plot device, and Again uses this to its advantage. It allows for a creative twist on the rom-com genre.

Plenty of movies featured male characters who tried to re-romance their former partners. Indeed, 1940 shared two other classic examples via His Girl Friday and The Philadelphia Story

Both of those featured Cary Grant as the ex-husband who tries to re-husband himself. In a weird twist, as we’ll see later in this review, Grant actually played Larry/George in a radio adaptation of Again.

As the cinematic Larry/George, Powell does a lot of heavy-lifting here. He achieves these feats with aplomb and manages to help sell the preposterous premise.

Loy acts as a good foil to Powell, but the tale really revolves around him. While Kay exists as a pivotal role, the film doesn’t give her a lot to do.

Honestly, Again feels more like a movie with a “plot progression” than one with a clear narrative. We find little real story.

Instead, we get a series of wacky comedic scenes along with dollops of romance as George turns into the man Larry should’ve been. This means plenty of “fish out of water” sequences in which George needs to improvise and riff to cover for his ignorance about his life as Larry.

In lesser hands, this would flop, but the filmmakers manage to ensure the end product becomes surprisingly coherent and lively. We get a lot of clever moments and good laughs.

Powell really does become the glue here, as this flick would flop with a less solid lead. He offers such as glowing performance that we believe the ludicrous tale.

All of this means Again delivers a bright and engaging comedy. It does what it needs to do and entertains us the whole way.

I Love You Again appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This turned into a generally appealing presentation.

Sharpness usually appeared good. The film only suffered from a few slightly ill-defined shots, as the majority of the flick demonstrated nice delineation.

I saw no problems with jagged edges or shimmering, and the movie lacked edge haloes. Grain seemed appropriate and I witnessed no print flaws.

Blacks appeared deep and rich, while low-light shots demonstrated nice definition and clarity. Even with some softness, this ended up as a solid image.

Although the DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack of Again didn’t demonstrate anything special, it worked fine for its era and genre. Speech seemed slightly thin but was good for its age, as lines remained intelligible and clear.

Music demonstrated reasonable range. The score didn’t impress, but it appeared acceptably bright.

Effects became a minor component in this chatty flick, and they came across as reasonably accurate. Though they had little heft, they were clean and didn’t suffer from distortion or other concerns. The audio appeared positive for its era.

As we head to extras, the biggest attraction comes from a June 30 1941 Lux Radio Theater adaptation of Again (59:45). While Myrna Loy and Frank McHugh reprise their roles from the film, Cary Grant replaces William Powell.

As delightful as Grant tended to be, he doesn’t quite suit the role, mainly because his charisma makes it tough to believe he ever could’ve been a dull dud like Larry. Since so much of the story depends on our view of Larry as a stuffed shirt, Grant creates a leap of faith.

Still, Grant delivers an amusing performance, and the script covers the movie’s events in a fairly complete manner. It’s not a great version of the tale but it’s interesting.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we find two vintage shorts. Cavalcade of San Francisco (8:53) offers a brief history of that city, while The Milky Way (8:00) shows how the three little kittens who lost their mittens managed to make it into space when deprived of dinner.

Part of the TravelTalks series, Cavalcade delivers a sanitized look at its subject, but I like it as a snapshot of the place at the time, Way leans heavily cutesy, so while it offers some charms, it mostly makes my teeth hurt due to its sweetness.

Though it underutilizes its lead actor, I Love You Again provides a pretty delightful comedic romp. William Powell handles his part with aplomb and helps make the film charming and fresh. The Blu-ray comes with generally solid picture and audio as well as a few supplements. The movie holds up well after 85 years.