Easy to Wed

This is one of the few times at MGM Lucy was given a chance to exploit her full comedic range, and she goes at it with gusto. From the moment she makes her whirlwind entrance looking absolutely gorgeous in a white wedding gown, she commands the screen whenever the camera is on her. In fact, though the movie ostensibly "stars" Van Johnson and Esther Williams, the bland leads take a back seat to the lively pairing of Lucy and Keenan Wynn, as her somewhat morally corrupt boyfriend. Forget comparisons to "Libeled Lady"; "Easy to Wed" is of a different era, and much more slapsticky, and, as noted, Lucy is a gem whether getting drunk and playing the piano or evincing true pathos as a wronged woman. She has rarely been photographed more appealingly, either.

Lucy obviously had her talents (though I'm not much of a fan of her television stuff) and she has a few good scenes here. But watching her do the big blow up speech at the end word for word the same as Jean Harlow, we see she had nowhere near the talent as Harlow. Harlow did that scene with such humanity and timing. This had none of that.

I almost never see the reason for remakes, very few are anywhere near as good as the original and this is a great example. Watch the original, much better.

This film has its plusses -- Esthers swimming, her swimming, and her swimming. It's also in technicolor, which is always a treat to the eye. It really surprised me that a socco screenplay that made 1936's Libled Lady such a rip-roaring funny film could go so flat 10 years later. Of course Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, William Powell, and Spencer Tracy were more highly skilled performers than this cast. Williams has some to the stoic, amused calm that Loy had and she does okay as Connie, but Lucille Ball is almost unfunny in this, which really surprised me. She lacks Harlows warmth and vulnerability and timing. Harlow really carried Libled Lady and one always looks forward to her scenes. Ball is too arch and steely here. It puts a damper on the films success.

The "Morning Star" is desperately collecting their papers in fear of the powerful J. B. Allenbury. He promises to sue the paper for $2 million for defaming his daughter Connie Allenbury Chandler (Esther Williams). It's an open and shut case. The paper has been a thorn in the side of Allenbury and this is his chance to shut it down. Warren Haggerty (Keenan Wynn) leaves his wedding to performer Gladys Benton (Lucille Ball) to fix the problem. He has to rehire philandering reporter Bill Chandler (Van Johnson) to go on a mission to sully Connie's reputation. They come up with a scheme involving Gladys.

It gets a bit boring after the wedding. I've never seen Esther Williams as a particularly good actress. I hoped that reintroducing Lucille Ball would add some more screwball comedy. She does what she could but her role is somewhat limited. Van Johnson does the bulk of the comedic heavy lifting with mixed results. I like his solo duck hunting effort more so for its audacity. He is alone with the dog for a long time. As a trio, they are mostly bland like a 50's white toast sandwich with mayo. The movie picks up whenever Lucy gets to play. She's a fun drunk.

"Libeled Lady" is one of the best comedies of the 1930s. Much of was the writing and much was due to the incredibly strong cast. Think about it---Spencer Tracy, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow and William Powell--ALL in one film! In 1946, MGM brought out a remake. While the basic story is similar, it's not as good. Plus, Esther Williams, Van Johnson, Keenan Wynn and Lucille Ball just weren't as good--though they tried.

Like "Libeled Lady", the film is about a rich lady who is suing an irresponsible newspaper for its stories about her. However, oddly, in the original she was suing for $5,000,000 and here, a decade later, it's only $2,000,000--significant deflation, don't you think? To help try to get rid of the suit, the scheming newspaper man, Haggerty (Wynn), hires Bill Chandler (Van Johnson) to seduce the heiress, Connie Allenbury (Williams). Why? Because, in the interim, they'd get Bill a quickie marriage. Then, they'd have the 'jealous wife' storm in on them and threaten a suit of her own--along with photographers from the paper to make her case! But, since Bill isn't married, Haggerty has Chandler marry HIS fiancée (Lucille Ball)! Talk about romantic--getting Chandler to marry Haggerty's girl! There's only one problem with the plan...Bill falls for Connie and just can't get himself to do it. So, he schemes for a way to somehow please Haggerty AND Connie...if it's possible.

The film is decent and offers a few laughs. However it suffers from a few plot problems (Connie's falling in love with Bill seems incredibly fast considering how nasty she'd been towards him up until then), now includes song which got in the way of the plot and the characters aren't particularly likable (Connie is amazingly nasty--and for no reason--when she first meets Bill). Plus, it lacks the originality and fun of the first film. If you like remakes, by all means see this one. But, don't forget to first see "Libeled Lady"--it's just better.

By the way, the plot of "Easy to Wed" is very, very odd considering only about six months later, Keenan Wynn and his real-life wife divorced....so she could marry Van Johnson! To make it even weirder, it now appears that this, like the marriage in the movie, was a sham marriage, as in his later years Johnson admitted to being gay--and I sincerely doubt that this was a sudden late-life 'phase'!