Take two of the leads from 1939’s Gone With the Wind along with one of the most acclaimed actors of all-time and expectations rise. Let’s see if 1937’s It’s Love I’m After matches up to those hopes.

Famed stage performers Basil Underwood (Leslie Howard) and Joyce Arden (Bette Davis) bicker constantly. This leads to nearly a dozen marital postponements before they decide to really truly walk down the aisle.

However, Basil decides he needs to atone for his past first and help Henry Grant (Patric Knowles) recapture the love of his estranged fiancée Marcia West (Olivia de Havilland). Marcia finds herself infatuated with Basil so he needs to put on an arrogant show to turn her off, all while he keeps the flame burning with the fiery Joyce.

With so much high-powered acting talent, I went into Love with the concept it would attempt a serious drama. Instead, it brings us a madcap comedy.

And a pretty good one at that. While I might associate the performers with heavier fare, they prove consistently entertaining here.

Howard proves nearly revelatory. Though I’ve seen him in a handful of other flicks, I find it hard to escape my memory of him as the dull and drippy Ashley Wilkes from Wind.

By contrast, Howard’s performance as the arrogant and self-absorbed Basil allows him to show a totally different side. He gobbles scenery with glee and delivers a completely delightful performance.

Despite his co-billing with Davis and de Havilland, After really revolves around Howard. Joyce and Marcia exist more as catalysts for the predicaments into which Basil finds himself and we spend more time with Basil’s valet Digges (Eric Blore) than either of the female leads.

This seems imbalanced but it works for the film. Again, Howard becomes such an arrogant force of nature that he carries the day.

Though I do admit I wish we got more of Davis. She follows the same path as Howard to bring a wonderfully over the top take on her character, and her occasional moments with Howard create hilarious sparks.

As the less interesting role of the three, de Havilland does fine. At least Marcia shows more personality than the blandly saintly Melanie in Wind.

Still, de Havilland doesn’t get the room to romp accorded her two co-leads. She does what the part needs but doesn’t match up with her older co-stars.

That exists as minor criticism at most, though, as Love offers a nearly constant barrel of laughs. Blessed with fine performances and a brisk pace, this turns into a clever and winning comedy.

It’s Love I’m After appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though not a stellar image, this one still held up well for its age.

Sharpness became the only moderate concern here, as the movie could lean a little soft at times. These tendencies didn’t seem substantial, though, as the majority of the film looked pretty well-defined.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects appeared, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain seemed natural, and print flaws didn’t materialize.

Blacks seemed deep and dense, while shadows were smooth and clear. Despite some softness, I felt pleased with this largely age-defying presentation.

While the movie’s DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack seemed more dated, it worked fine for a mix of this one’s vintage. Speech could be brittle but the lines remained intelligible.

Music played a fairly small role and sounded pretty thin but lacked issues with distortion. Effects also lacked much to do here but they came across as acceptably accurate, albeit without much life. The audio seemed more than appropriate for a circa 1937 recording.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we get two vintage shorts. The disc includes Porky’s Building (7:51) as well as Porky’s Bedtime Story (7:22).

Obviously both focus on Porky Pig. With Building, he competes for a contract to construct a new city hall, while in Story, Porky and his goat pal Gabby deal with issues related to their perpetual inability to wake up on time.

Both come from an era during which Warner Bros. cartoons were still finding their footing. This means both seem enjoyable but not on a par with the greatness that would soon come.

A trio of Hollywood legends combines for a delightful comedy romp. It’s Love I’m After manages to stay consistently lively and funny across its 90 minutes. The Blu-ray brings generally positive picture and audio but it includes only minor supplements. This one turns into an unexpected gem.