Image Credit; Loew’s Incorporated.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nForever Darling<\/em> features both Ball and Arnaz, but it also includes a popular actor of the 1950s: James Mason. One website describes <\/span>Forever Darling<\/span><\/i> as a madcap comedy about a research chemist whose dedicated pursuit of a new pesticide wreaks havoc on his marriage. Another explains that Susan (Ball) sees a guardian angel (Mason plays himself) who tells her to go on a research trip with her husband, Lorenzo (Arnaz).<\/span><\/p>\nNow, combine these two descriptions for a more accurate depiction of what this movie is about. When Susan first sees her Angel, she thinks she’s being stalked. When Susan realizes she’s the only one who can see him, she thinks she’s going crazy. In the meantime, her marriage disintegrates because of Lorenzo’s work, and the Angel pushes her to go on the trip to save her marriage. Why is James Mason her guardian angel? No spoilers here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nSusan and Lorenzo have funny arguments, and there is some Twilight Zone<\/em>-esque eerieness about the guardian angel. Still, <\/span>Forever Darling<\/span><\/i> shows a combo of Ball\u2019s comedic and dramatic skills and is a fun watch.<\/span><\/p>\n3. Easy to Wed (1946, directed by Edward Buzzell)<\/h2>\nImage Credit: Loew’s Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nLucille Ball said that <\/span>Easy to Wed <\/span><\/i>was her favorite movie to shoot because it showed her comedy chops. She’s right about that, but we loved this movie because Lucy’s colorful outfits in the movie’s technicolor also make it a beautiful film to watch. Also, we get to enjoy Lucille dancing \u2013 and not have to ask Ricky to be in the show to do it \u2013 and that’s an absolute delight.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe plot focuses on a <\/span>newspaper that runs a story accusing Connie (Esther Williams) of being a homewrecker. Connie’s father threatens a lawsuit with the owner, Warren Haggerty. If Haggerty can prove that Connie is a homewrecker, he can countersue. He pulls his fiancee (Ball) and a reporter (Van Johnson) into his scheme. Fans will remember that Ball dances with Johnson in an episode of <\/span>I Love Lucy; <\/span><\/i>she doesn’t dance with him here. And, for the record, Ball’s voice is dubbed when she sings here, too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nWatch the movie closely because viewers need to remember who loves who, and who is trying to fake out who, but it’s still worthwhile among Lucille Ball movies.<\/span><\/p>\n4. Du Barry Was a Lady (1943, directed by Roy Del Ruth)<\/h2>\nImage Credit: Loew’s, Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWe got excited to learn about <\/span>Du Barry Was a Lady<\/span><\/i> because we never knew<\/span> Lucille starred in a movie with Gene Kelly. Also in this film is the comedy genius Red Skelton. Skelton plays Louis, a nightclub coatroom attendant who’s in love with May, the club’s singer (Ball, whose vocals are dubbed for all but one of the songs). Alec (Kelly) and May (Ball) fall in love, but May doesn’t want to get married because she sees how bad her parent’s marriage was and doesn’t want that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nTo get Alec out of the picture temporarily so he can spend time with May, Louis attempts to slip Alec a Mickey (named after Mickey Finn, a gangster who would drug his victims before robbing them). Unfortunately, thanks to a bumbling waiter, Louis ends up drinking it and then has a vivid, albeit very strange, dream about being King Louis XV. Watching the legendary Ball and Kelly together will melt the hearts of viewers. Red Skelton sings and dances in his typical goofy manner.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n5. Dance, Girl, Dance (1940, directed by Dorothy Arzner and Roy Del Ruth)<\/h2>\nImage Credit: RKO Radio Pictures.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nLucille Ball plays Bubbles, a dancer who knows how to woo and use her personality to get gigs. Her friend, Judy, is a ballerina dedicated to her craft, but she has difficulty succeeding. When Bubbles decides to take a lucrative job as a burlesque dancer, she pulls Judy into the act\u2026as comic relief. When Judy finds out how she’s being used and that the women are chasing the same man, chaos ensues between the friends.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThis is one of Ball’s earliest feature films as a lead, and it’s a joy watching her sass instead of the typical bumbling slapstick from Lucy Ricardo. The movie is funny, and here, she comes into her own as a leading lady.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n6. You Can\u2019t Fool Your Wife (1940, Ray McCarey)<\/h2>\nImage Credit: RKO Pictures.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nYou Can\u2019t Fool Your Wife <\/span><\/i>came out in 1940. Ball portrays Clara, who is married to her college sweetheart Andrew. The couple lives with his mother, and Andrew works hard, but his boss requires that he entertain a client who likes to party. Clara throws him out because he’s never home anymore. Clara, who is somewhat timid, ends up getting a beauty treatment and, at a costume party, looks precisely like another beautiful woman.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nPress promotes this movie as a comedy, but it came across as a little darker than that. Lucille doesn’t seem funny in this role. However, she does show off more of her serious side and her versatility when she is mistaken for the other woman at the party and plays it off, accent and all.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n7. Yours, Mine and Ours (1968, Melville Shavelson)<\/h2>\nImage Credit: United Artists.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nA little later in her career, <\/span>Yours, Mine, and Ours <\/span><\/i>ranks as one of Lucy’s best movies. It stars the incomparable Henry Fonda and Van Johnson. The plot is about a widower (Fonda) with ten kids who falls for a widow (Ball) with eight kids and how they decide to make it work \u2013 or do they? Eighteen children almost guarantee a movie filled with comedy chaos, and <\/span>Yours, Mine, and Ours <\/span><\/i>delivers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a08. A Guide for the Married Man (1967, Gene Kelly)<\/h2>\nImage Credit: 20th Century Fox.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nDirected by the legend Gene Kelly, <\/span>A Guide for the Married Man <\/span><\/i>pairs Lucille Ball and Walter Matthau, who would later star in <\/span>The Bad News Bears. <\/span><\/i>The movie focuses on a man who teaches his friend how to cheat on his wife without being caught.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nWhile watching for Lucille Ball, viewers may also enjoy the many cameos of these A-listers from that generation \u2013 Jack Benny, Terry-Thomas, Jayne Mansfield, Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Joey Bishop, and Art Carney. It’s a funny, easy-to-watch movie, so pop some popcorn and sit back for some light-hearted \u2013 and perhaps controversial \u2013 fun.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
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