FOREVER DARLING

Desi Arnaz, James Mason, Lucille Ball

FOREVER DARLING (1956). Director: Alexander Hall. 

Lorenzo or Larry Vega (Desi Arnaz), a chemist working on a new bug killer, is married to Susan (Lucille Ball), who is much influenced by her snobbish cousin, Millie (Natalie Schafer of Female on the Beach), whom Larry can't stand. Larry also feels that he and his wife are drifting apart after several years of marriage. He is hoping to rekindle things by taking her with him on a work-related trip, an idea that doesn't sit well with Susan. Then who should appear in her bedroom one night but James Mason (James Mason), who is actually Susan's guardian angel wearing the face of someone she admires. "James" gives Susan some sage advice, and convinces her to go off on a short trip with Larry so he can test his new insecticide, but things may not go exactly as planned ...  

Arnaz and Lucy

Made at the height of the popularity of I Love Lucy, the main strength of Forever Darling is its cast. Not exactly playing the Ricardos, Arnaz and Ball are as wonderful as ever, James Mason -- who probably wondered how he ever wound up in this film -- is classy and excellent, and the ever-adept Louis Calhern [The Asphalt Jungle] nearly steals the movie -- no easy feat -- as Susan's highly amusing father. Then we've also got Natalie Schafer, Nancy Kulp as the maid, John Hoyt and Willis Bouchey as Larry's associates, Mabel Albertson in a brief turn as a reporter, and John Emery in a very funny bit as a psychiatrist who tries to explain to Susan why she's seeing strange men in her bedroom. 

Forever Darling, alas, is not as good as the other film the Desi-Lucy combo did, the very funny The Long, Long Trailer, but it has its moments. What starts out almost as a somewhat sophisticated drawing room comedy turns into an episode of I Love Lucy as the couple have misadventures while camping, with their plastic boat springing a leak and so forth. It was probably decided that that was what the couple's fans wanted, but it makes the flick a bit lopsided. Nothing much really happens with the whole "guardian angel" idea, making the movie -- but for the delightful performances and a few laughs -- almost seem pointless. Still, it's Lucy! The theme song by composer Bronislau Kaper is pleasant, sung by the Ames brothers over the credits and by Desi late in the picture. He also sang the tune on an episode of Lucy. Marilyn Maxwell appears in a move-within-a-movie sequence with Mason. 

Verdict: Has a certain degree of charm and amusing performances, but the script -- an old one dusted off for Lucy and Desi -- could have used some work. **3/4. 

PARIS MODEL

Eva Gabor and Tom Conway 

PARIS MODEL (1953). Director: Alfred E.  Green.

Four women who pick out a fancy dress -- a "Paris model" or a cheaper copy of it -- want to wow their men but wind up getting their comeuppance, except in the last instance. Gogo (Eva Gabor) hopes to hook the wealthy Maharajah of Kim-Kepore (Tom Conway) but her billing the dress to another man may cause a problem -- not to mention the appearance of a gorgeous brunette (Laurette Luez). Betty Barnes (Paulette Goddard) is in love with her boss (Leif Erickson), but his wife, Cora (Gloria Christian), may out-do the grasping secretary in the fancy dress sweepstakes. Marion Parmalee (Marilyn Maxwell) pulls out all of the stops with her husband's flirty boss Sullivan (Cecil Kellaway) in the hopes of getting hubby (Robert Bice of Invasion U.S.A.) the new presidency when the boss retires, but she doesn't reckon with Sullivan's formidable wife (Florence Bates). Marta (Barbara Lawrence) hopes that boyfriend Charlie (Robert Hutton) will propose to her for her 21st birthday dinner at Romanoff's and she may get a little help from "prince" Michael Romanoff [Arch of Triumph] himself.

Secretary vs wife: Paulette Goddard and Gloria Christian

I confess I nearly dumped Paris Model in my latest collection of "Films I Just Couldn't Finish" because the first episode with Gabor and Conway is so lame -- aside from a modestly amusing wind-up -- that I couldn't see spending much more time on it. (One can't imagine either of the Gabor sisters being crazy about having their thunder stolen by another woman.) But once I understood the point of the film, that it dealt with the dress and the stymied manipulations of its wearers -- not to mention that the later segments were more entertaining -- I found this quite enjoyable. The performances are generally good (although Eva Gabor is just plain weird, like a dopey showgirl from another dimension), with Kellaway and Bates taking the acting honors. The film comes full circle with a very funny ending when Tom Conway shows up again as the horny Maharajah. Alfred E. Green directed everything from science fiction (the aforementioned Invasion U.S.A.) to old Bette Davis movies [Dangerous] to Copacabana and everything in-between. Tom Conway's brother, George Sanders, was married to both Zsa Zsa and Magda Gabor, but somehow he never got around to Eva.

Verdict: More fun than you first imagine it will be. ***.

SWING FEVER

Kay Kyser and Marilyn Maxwell

 SWING FEVER (1943). Director: Tim Whelan.

Lowell Blackford (Kay Kyser of Carolina Blues) is a classical composer who hopes to interest someone in his music. He is befriended by band singer Ginger Gray (Marilyn Maxwell of Summer Holiday), but he misinterprets her interest in him. Ginger has a boyfriend named "Waltzy" Malone (William Gargan), who is interested in the boxing racket. When Malone learns that Lowell can fix people with an "evil eye" and literally knock them out, he wants him to use his power on his boxer's opponent. But then his opponent's crew kidnap him ... Kyser had already done several movies before this, but this was the first and only time he was playing a character and not himself. True, he doesn't come off much different than before, but his performance is more than competent and he is, as usual, appealing in his nerdy way. Musicians such as Harry James and Jimmy Dorsey, who have cameos in this film, may be better remembered today, but Kyser was the only popular band leader who became a nominal movie star. As for Swing Fever, you can tell that any movie with this plot is probably not going to be very good, and that is sadly the case with this picture, although the other performances are okay and there are some pleasant song numbers. Maxwell warbles "Undecided" but she's outshone by the three young people who shake and shimmy to the music afterward. Weird comic Ish Kabibble, who frequently appeared with Kyser, appears briefly and his routines are unfunny, to put it mildly. Others in the film include Lena Horne, Morris Ankrum, Pamela Blake, singer Harry Babbitt, and the amusing Curt Bois [That Night in Rio], who plays Malone's partner.

Verdict: Kyser is likable but the picture is no knock-out. **. 

SUMMER HOLIDAY

Mickey Rooney and Marilyn Maxwell

SUMMER HOLIDAY (1948). Director: Rouben Mamoulian.

In this musical adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's "Ah, Wilderness!" Mickey Rooney plays Richard Miller, the teen son of a solid Connecticut family. Richard is always trying to stir the pot with his radical political ideas, even as his Uncle Sid (Frank Morgan) hopes to gain the hand of Cousin Lily (Agnes Moorehead) in marriage. Richard has a girlfriend in Muriel (Gloria DeHaven ) but out on the town with a friend he encounters hooker-hard showgirl, Belle (Marilyn Maxwell). Unfortunately, none of this leads to anything very interesting and eventually the flick becomes quite tiresome. Rooney is as good as ever, as are Moorehead, and Walter Huston as the boy's father, and Maxwell makes a minor impression as the showgirl. The songs by Warren and Blaine might be the type that need to grow on you, but on first hearing they don't linger in the mind. This is Eugene O'Neill as filtered through Andy Hardy! The same play was also turned into a Broadway musical by Bob Merrill called "Take Me Along" with Jackie Gleason playing Uncle Sid.

Verdict: Scene by scene this might mimic O'Neill, but there's something missing. **.

OFF-LIMITS

Maxwell, Hope and Rooney

OFF-LIMITS (aka Military Police/1953). Director: George Marshall.

Wally Hogan (Bob Hope) is a fight manager who loses his only client, the champ, when his associates trick him into joining the Army. Hogan meets a fellow named Herbert Tuttle (Mickey Rooney), who hopes to become a boxer and gets Hogan to take him on. This puts a crimp in Hogan's romance with club owner and singer Connie (Marilyn Maxwell of The Show-Off), who is Herbert's aunt and doesn't want him to fight. It all leads to mostly forgettable complications. The picture was originally titled Military Police because the boys become MP's. As was the case with most of his movies, especially the later ones like this, Hope doesn't so much act as saunter jovially through the movie. Rooney, who actually does give a performance, is more subdued than usual. Hope's character has a bevy of marriage-minded women -- all of them hot babes, natch, who would normally be out of his league -- chasing after him while Rooney isn't even given a girlfriend. This is Hope's picture, and one suspects Rooney was never allowed to forget it, even though he's more appealing than ol' ski-nose. Maxwell is Maxwell. Eddie Mayehoff is the uptight but likable commanding officer. The best scene is a riotous and very well-choreographed free-for-all in Connie's club with virtually everyone swinging at somebody else. There's also a cat-fight between Carolyn Jones and another one of the ladies positively panting for Hope.

Verdict: Neither Hope nor Rooney's best but it has its moments, however few. **.

LOST IN A HAREM

LOST IN A HAREM (1944). Director: Charles Reisner.

Bud and Lou are trapped in a kind of Kismet-like world as they try and help a deposed Prince Ramo (John Conte) get back his throne from his evil uncle Nimativ (Douglass Dumbrille). Marilyn Maxwell is the singer Hazel Moon who has a love/hate thing going with Ramo. Sporadically amusing movie is not one of the better A & C vehicles, although there's a pretty nice dance number by slave girls to the strains of Scheherazade. Somehow Jimmy Dorsey and his band are also stranded in Port Inferno, and Murray Leonard plays a prisoner who does the old vaudeville routine "Slowly I turned ..." (which was later used for an I Love Lucy episode as well). Lou disguises himself as Teema (Lottie Harrison), Nimativ's chubby head wife, at one point.

Verdict: For diehard A & C fans only. **.

THE SHOW-OFF (1946)

THE SHOW-OFF (1946): Director: Harry Beaumont.

One of several versions of a play about an overbearing know-it-all and braggart who drives his in-laws to distraction but is loved by his wife, who recognizes his essential good heart and that he means well. Skelton is very well-cast in the part of Aubrey Piper, and as his gal, Marilyn Maxwell is more subdued and pleasing than usual. But the picture is nearly stolen by Marjorie Main as Skelton's exasperated mother-in-law. Marshall Thompson is Skelton's young brother-in-law, and Leon Ames is married to Maxwell's sister, Clara (Jacqueline White). Virginia O'Brien is Maxwell's girlfriend, who arranges a double-date wth Skelton. Eddie "Rochester" Anderson also appears briefly. Good supporting cast and a typically winning performance by Skelton makes this a pleasant, amusing, if somewhat minor comedy-drama.

Verdict: Fast-moving and entertaining. **1/2.