Ah ces vedettes!

Back when Lucille Ball was a contract player at RKO she got to co- star with Jack Oakie in a pair of films where she was cast as Annabel Allison motion picture queen on the lot at Wonder Pictures. Oakie played her press agent who was constantly coming up with Lucy Ricardo like schemes to keep his client before the public eye. And she's feeling as put upon as Ricky Ricardo used to.

Oakie who plays the part much like Pat O'Brien would do at Warner Brothers or Lee Tracy at MGM has a mind that works 24/7. His latest scheme is to have Lucy go to a home and work as a maid incognito as part of a scheme to publicize her latest picture where she is a kind of Ms. Fixit maid.

She gets a chance to be a real heroine when a couple of robbers feign interest in eccentric Uncle Thurston Hall's invention. It's all I can say, but it's all done with typical slapstick like gags. This was an unusual part for Hall, usually he's the respectable establishment type poo-pooing ideas like he has in this film.

James Burke also memorable as a thick as a brick policeman.

I don't think Ball and Oakie had all that much chemistry between them. They did one more film with these same characters and RKO called it quits on a series. Still the film will have its moments for fans of the two leads.

Rather forced comedy with Lucille Ball as a movie star who lets her publicity agent Jack Oakie get her into one far-fetched scheme after another. Considering Lucy would become famous for getting into far-fetched situations on television, you'd think this might work. Well, it doesn't. The thing is that while I Love Lucy was full of harebrained schemes and outlandish situations, they were usually rooted in some reality. The laughs were earned. Here, it's all wackiness for the sake of wackiness and it feels very contrived. Jack Oakie plays a walking cartoon character, very annoying and full of the dumbest ideas. He's supposed to be a send-up of real publicity agents, exaggerated for effect. But he's exaggerated too much, in my opinion. He never feels like a real person. Lucy, looking pretty as ever, tries her able best to make the most of the material she's given but her character is another that's tough to accept. She doesn't seem like a stupid person yet, for the sake of the plot, she goes along with the obviously moronic ideas of Oakie. Still, her fans will enjoy seeing her in this early starring role. The movie is helped some by a nice supporting cast, all of which do their best. This was followed by a sequel but thankfully not more than one. Recommended for die-hard Lucy fans but that's it.

Lucille Ball stars as Annabel Allison, movie star. Jack Oakie, studio publicity man, has a great idea: He talks Annabel into getting caught stealing—a jail record, he argues, will give a great boost to her current picture, a prison drama. Annabel goes along with the gag, spends 30 days in jail, gets Oakie fired, has a change of heart and gets him his job back...all in the first 10 minutes of the movie.

Lucy is wild and blustery in this hectic comedy that keeps the jokes flying at a furious pace. Oakie is fairly obnoxious but eventually likable enough...at least, if you don't mind a pushy big mouth whose heart is mostly in the right place after all.

Familiar supporting actors add their own particular brands of humor: Ruth Donnelly is the wise cracking studio secretary, Fritz Feld is the eccentric European director who wants to make a "serious picture," Bradley Page is the exasperated studio boss.

Lucy ends up working as a maid (prep work for her next movie role, of course) for snooty Elizabeth Risdon, whose screwy inventor brother Thurston Hall brings home some "investors" who turn out to be crooks, and they're all trapped in the house....

It's very nutty and makes no sense at all—but I guess it is an interesting angle on the movie business, and it really is full of good laughs.

My favorite line is Lucy objecting to the maid picture: "You mean that piece of literary junk they've had around the studio for years? Why, they'd have to rewrite that before the moths would eat it."

I must disagree with the other reviewer; this film is, by far, the funniest film that Lucille Ball EVER MADE! There are Great routines: Ball in prison, trying to cook a meal, being a maid, etc. Each of these is Ball at her funniest! (If this film wasn't any good, why was a sequel -- which was very UNfunny -- made?). Ball, in contrast to the grating "dizzy dame" bit she overkilled on TV (didn't her whining make you want to BELT her one?), here she is fresh and beautiful, and reminds me a lot of Alexis Smith. This comedy is a Must See for Lucille Ball fans! Norm

Annabel Allison (Lucille Ball) is a movie star but her life is made a lot more difficult by her dopey studio publicity man, Lanny Morgan (Jack Oakie). Lanny always seems to have some sort of stunt and they often seem to backfire. At the beginning of the film, he gets her to go to prison for just a few days as a publicity stunt...and then she can't get out and is stuck there for a month. Later, as another stunt, he gets her a job as a maid...and America's #1 and 2 most wanted criminals take everyone in the house hostage! Will Annabel's troubles ever end?

Lucille Ball was very good in this film--and it's one of her better parts from the era. As far as Jack Oakie goes, sometimes his character was just a bit too much--too much of a jerk and he occasionally mugged a bit too much. Still, despite this, it's a fun little comedy...enjoyable and a bit silly.