The Affairs of Annabel

Publicist Lanny Morgan (Jack Oakie) has one crazy stunt after another for his star client actress Annabel Allison (Lucille Ball). The latest has her stuck in prison for 30 days and the media doesn't even show up. Annabel has Morgan fired and then rehired. He has her hired as a maid as research for a new movie. The job gets even crazier when the family is taken prisoner by two criminals.

There are moments of fun. While Jack Oakie was probably the bigger star, people would mostly know Lucille Ball today. She has a few comedic twitches especially with the lovelorn son. It's the start of a Hollywood legend. She is more than just a pretty girl in this. She gets to do some fun bits. It's a shorter theatrical movie clocking in at little more than an hour. One can see some of Lucille Ball's physical comedy coming through.

It's easy to see why one viewer would love this movie and another couldn't stand it. I have had both reactions the two times I saw it.

Boy, I loved this the first time I viewed it and then was totally bored on the second viewing 10 years later, so it's hard to evaluate. Suffice to say it does have it's share of laughs which isn't surprising since Lucille Ball and Jack Oakie star. However, the humor is so corny one might see no humor in this - it all depends on what you like.

It WAS interesting to see a young (26 or 27-year-old) Ball, who was very attractive woman at that age. Oakie is okay because he looks funny. He doesn't even have to say anything to get a laugh, which sometimes is better because he played a number of roles over the years in which he delivered a lot of stupid lines!

Like a lot of comedies, it's very silly but the shortness of the film (68 minutes) helps in that regard, preventing it from becoming too silly for too long. There were some funny supporting roles in here, too. Like me, you might really laugh at this or think it's a waste of time: hard to say.

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.

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

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.