Lady Bodyguard

Insurance executive Anne Shirley wants to give test pilot Eddie Albert a $1,000 life insurance policy. He makes it out to Raymond Walburn, Eddie Brophy, and Maude Eburne. When a typographical error makes the pay-out a million dollars, however, Miss Shirley goes to extreme measures to make sure that Albert is safe. And the beneficiaries do likewise to make sure they collect.

It's a lovely idea for a black comedy, and given the right man in the director's eat -- George Marshall, for example, or Preston Sturges, this being Paramount -- it could have been very funny. It's William Clemens who's directing, however, so the effects are limited, as much by the talent behind the camera, as it is by Albert, who's still in the rather dull 'nice guy' mode he established at the start of his movie career. Miss Shirley seems to be willing to do what the script implies, but by this stage in her career, she was pretty much in the doing-as-she-was-told mode. With Clem Bevans, Gus Schilling, Roger Pryor, and Jack Norton.

After insurance woman A.C. Baker (Anne Shirley) mistakenly issues a million-dollar policy to test pilot Terry Moore (Eddie Albert), her bosses task her with keeping him on the ground until she can talk him into canceling it. But things are complicated by Terry's reluctance to deprive his beneficiaries of their eventual payday, said beneficiaries' inability to see past the dollar signs in their eyes, and the lady bodyguard's susceptibility to her risk-loving charge's rough charm.

Eddie Albert was already serving his country in the Navy by the time Paramount released this modest, good-natured wartime comedy. Though the role's not a huge departure from the sort of male ingenue the actor had been playing while under contract at Warners, it's a good part for him, and there's nice sparring chemistry between him and Shirley. Meanwhile, the supporting players are pitch perfect: Edward Brophy, Raymond Walburn, and Maude Eburne as the greedy beneficiaries (one can almost imagine them selling off Ebenezer Scrooge's bed-curtains); Roger Pryor (son of storied trombonist Arthur) as the overbearing insurance boss; Mary Treen as a disgruntled secretary; and Clem Bevans as (what else?) an old codger.

Maybe there's not enough to the film for one to say it's unjustly forgotten, but I'd say it's definitely worth an hour and nine minutes of your time should it come up on the classic movie channel.

It's rare to see a film where it goes from cute and fun to just awful in a matter of seconds...but that's the case with "Lady Bodyguard".

Terry (Eddie Albert) is a goofy test pilot. Out of the blue, an insurance company wants to give him an insurance policy...for free. Well, it's hard to imagine anyone refusing such an offer...but Terry doesn't seem all that interested. After all, he has no wife nor family. Eventually, he agrees and makes the beneficiaries his friends.

Just after Terry signs the policy, the boss of the insurance company looks it over and sees that a mistake has been made. Instead of the policy being for $1000, it turns out it's for $1,000,000...and with his job, the company is sure to have to pay off! So, the saleslady who gave him the policy (Anne Shirley) is told to get him to agree to its cancellation...or else.

Not too surprisingly, Terry sees no reason to cancel the policy. After all, why should he? Additionally, once he signed the policy, the lady threw a drink in his face and told him she hated him!

So far, I enjoyed the movie very much. But what happens next simply isn't funny, makes no sense AND would clearly result in the saleswoman being sent to jail. She goes to a sanitarium and tells them she is Terry's wife AND he's an alcoholic!! They keep him and put him in a strait-jacket...and although she returns eventually to get him out of this detox center, the story just seemed mean spirited and stupid at this point. Additionally, when Terry's 'friends' hear that the test plane crashed and the pilot was probably killed, they were ecstatic! Little did they know that a different pilot flew it because Terry's whereabouts were unknown. Additionally, when Terry yells at the woman, a man comes and horsewhips Terry! This just isn't funny...and it makes me wonder what was wrong with the writer and studio that they didn't realize so much of this was unfunny and ruined the first half of the movie.

Does it get any better? No...because soon the pair fall in love and this makes no sense at all.

Overall, a good movie gone bad. Anyone who watches and THINKS will see the problems with the script.

"Lady Bodyguard" is one of the less attractive and interesting films I have attempted to see in quite a while. Eddie Albert and Anne Shirley do an adequate enough job in filling out the primary roles in the film, which would seem to have a clever-enough premise, but the three beneficiaries to Albert's insurance policy, including supporting-role stalwarts Edward Brophy, Raymond Walburn, and Maude Eburne, are the ones tasked with propelling and giving the film energy. Unfortunately, their characters are so unsympathetically and distastefully portrayed that one just can't root for them or have any warm feeling for them.

I must admit that I was relieved when I sensed the film was in the wrap-up stages and I would soon be able to forget about ever having seen it...except for writing a few lines about the experience here! It is rare for me to advise skipping an older film, but unless one has some overriding interest in the subject matter or wishes to see every film of one of the actors, I would search for another option.