Forever, Darling

Saw this today and enjoyed it very much. Lucy and Desi of course are great and here seemed more like real people and less like stereotyped caricatures. Though made in the Fifties, much of the relationship philosophy here seemed sound and to still ring true today. One need only to look at I Love Lucy to see that limited options for wives were a widely accepted norm at that time, but this film tires to question and break out of that. When Susan is told that she and her husband have been traveling two separate paths for a long time, she asks something along the lines of, "Does the woman always have to follow her husband's path?" Her angel laughs and says "Of course not!" but gives good reasons why that's what she needs to do at this point. The well-intentioned but scary Fifties attitude toward the environment was uncomfortable but the marriage advice seemed good. The Long, Long Trailer may have had more laughs but this was more satisfying. And anything that ends in Yosemite is a plus.

Lucy and Desi return in a film about what happens when the love starts to leave the marriage of their characters, Susan and Lorenzo. It's not a wacky comedy like The Long, Long Trailer or I Love Lucy, but it's more sweetly poignant and gently humorous. I especially like the scene where Susan and Lorenzo are at a movie and he falls asleep, and she screams and wakes him up right away! The startled, confused look on Desi's face is priceless! And for 60s TV buffs, Nancy Kulp (Jane Hathaway on the Beverly Hillbillies) and Natalie Schafer (Mrs. Howell on Gilligan's Island) are both in this film. Definitely worth renting.

Although "The Long, Long Trailer" is an average film, it seems like a classic next to this anemic followup by Lucy and Desi, their second feature film during the run of "I Love Lucy." Lucy has a guardian angel who only she can see and she claims he looks like James Mason, which seems reasonable as he is played by James Mason. Lucy and Desi try to make the most of it, but the magic of the TV show is missing, thanks to a lame script about insecticides. Mason looks bemused, probably wondering what the heck he's doing in this movie. The cast features Schafer ("Gilligan's Island") as a meddling cousin and Kulp ("Beverly Hillbillies") as an impertinent maid.

Forever Darling was one of the attempts to make Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, arguably the hottest show business couple at the time this came out to make a jump to the big screen as a comedy team. It was mildly amusing, like a long episode of I Love Lucy.

The passion's just kind of gone out of the marriage of Lucy and Desi, sadly as it was in real life. She's a socialite and he's a scientist and that was the part of the film that I had the most trouble swallowing.

So after one boring evening once too often with Lucy's idiot cousin Natalie Schaefer and husband Ralph Dumke, Desi's ready to call it quits. But Lucy's guardian angel who appears in the form of her favorite movie star James Mason advises that she take more of an interest in Desi's work as a scientist. He's looking for the ultimate bug spray.

Lucy's not an outdoor girl, but she goes on a camping trip with Desi and that last third of the film is just one I Love Lucy episode. The inflatable rubber raft truly gets the better of both of them.

As for Mason he has an extended sequence when Lucy and Desi are watching a film that stars James Mason and Lucy in a blond wig. Mason satirizes himself rather nicely. For the rest of the film he looks somewhat uncomfortable.

Fans of Lucille Ball and they sure are legion in the part of the country I reside in which is Western New York state should be pleased with Forever Darling. But three episodes of I Love Lucy will satisfy your craving better.

Only after a while since I watched "The long, long trailer" I have discovered this movie that brings Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz back together in a feature film, only this time it lacks much more. The jokes are still there but there are only a few of them that really hit the mark. The plot is somewhat similar to the "Trailer" having to deal with marital problems all over again and this time it feels unnatural and strained making the movie a lot harder to sit through and try and get some grains of wisdom it offers you. Some scenes are overly long and simply ill-fitting to the whole plot but what makes all of them points fade is naturally the pair of Lucy and Desi - although we've seen them quarrel millions of times it's still is a great pleasure to observe them. This movie shows us new sides of them both that we haven't noticed before, highlighting their performances and making us think of our own relationships and what can be done to prevent bad things from happening.