Annabel Takes a Tour

Temperamental movie star Annabel Allison demands publicity--any publicity. Despite the mess that her old press agent Lanny Morgan recently got her into, she insists that the studio hire him back on: At least he got her picture in the papers.

Jack Oakie is boisterous agent Lanny Morgan, and he is indeed available for more work with Annabel. Lucille Ball, wacky and imperious, is Annabel. Their cross-country publicity tour doesn't make much sense but it sure is noisy. Along the way, Lucy decides she would like to have a romance with a viscount because a rival movie star is romancing a nobleman. She meets Ralph Forbes, who meets her requirements but seems rather baffled. Oakie attempts to drum up some photo opportunities with mixed results. The love-hate relationship between Lucy and Oakie seems to be the main story line but unfortunately it just doesn't really go anywhere.

Studio secretary Ruth Donnelly accompanies Lucy on the train trip and is solid as always. Donald MacBride has a couple of funny bits as a train conductor who hates the movies.

Overall it's pleasant enough but there sure isn't much to it....And an abrupt ending sneaks up just when you are expecting something interesting finally to happen.

Funniest scene: Jack Oakie attempts to mount a tall horse but has trouble because the stirrup is too high.

Serious film nuts are out there. I get mail from waves of them every day as I run in the dark, stepping on feet with my comments.

There seem to be two kinds of zealots: those attached to genres and archetypes and those attached to specific people, actors and directors.

I usually blow off the email about actors. Usually actors don't have much to do with the movies they are in, and when they do it is because they coordinate their intent with that of the filmmaker. And except for a short list, most actors — like their brethren politicians — are just dull, empty people.

But I feel differently about actors in the 30s and 40s. Some of them. Those of interest just happened to be there when movies settled down after the great confusions: sound, color, the code, and the great quest of movies to define themselves.

If you want to understand your imagination, you need to follow the grooves in film. And to do that you need to see the family tree of genres, and that is only found in 30s and 40s films. The genres, naturally enough, co-evolved with certain film archetypes, and most of those were invented by actors.

Some of these actors are forgotten while their character type remains: Edna May Oliver. Some have become icons themselves, like Jimmy Stewart. Lucille Ball is worth following.

Any of these icons is worth seeing in their early work when they play characters who are actors. In this case, Lucille is an actress trying to establish an identity (which she did eventually and wonderfully) playing an actress doing the same thing. Oakie plays all the dumb jokes, so is usually that attentiongetter in the Annabel films.

But take a look at this woman. She said she wasn't funny but brave. You can see that. You can also see that she invented her walk after losing that ability because of sickness. And you can already see how she engineers her fake eyebrows after losing those. Her face isn't a funny one, but she makes it so with her mouth and eyes and those eyes are inherently comic, but painted on.

You can also see her — or rather her character — working out how to pair with the type that became Ethyl Merman.

This was in the day when she was a brunette.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

The follow-up to the affairs of annabel... the premise is the same. When others are getting more attention, fame, fortune, actress Annabel (Lucy) hires Morgan (Okie) to remedy this, doing whatever it takes. This was still during Lucy's early phase in hollywood, where they weren't sure where she fit in; i personally liked her films from the late 1940s... Fuller Brush Girl, Miss Grant, where she's the lead. In this chapter, much silliness, pratfalls... literally, she falls off a horse. The usual shenanigans as they dream up stunts to get publicity. Of course, Morgan goes too far! Some fun co-stars...ruth donnelly, donald mcbride. Those guys aside, this one just tries too hard. So much effort for little humor. Kind of ironic, how it's a movie about what to do with an actress, played by an actress who was completely competent, but seemed to be doomed to doing silly, common roles. Directed by Lew Landers. He and Lucy would make four films together. Not her best stuff.

A lackluster screenplay doesn't help this comedy about a movie star, Lucille Ball, whose publicity man, Jack Oakie, uses stupid schemes to get her name in the newspapers. Unfortunately, very little of the film is funny, but it was nice to see a very young Lucille Ball, even in black and white. Ball, Oakie, Bradley Page and Ruth Donnelly reprised their roles in this second and last film based on the characters created in the 1938 film "The Affairs of Annabel" by Charles Hoffman. There would have been more in the series, but Oakie wanted too large a fee for his services.

Movie star Annabel Allison (Lucille Ball) is frustrated with her publicity being overshadowed. She runs into Lanny Morgan (Jack Oakie) again who is working for a horse. When the horse overshadows Annabel, she gets Lanny rehired again. He organizes a train trip to Chicago to promote her latest film. She fails to get the front page even after falling through a trap door.

This is a sequel. Somehow, I like her a little less in this one. She is a little higher maintenance. There is one scene of physical comedy during the dance. It's the style she excels at most. The ending is abrupt. I get the idea but a comedy should probably end more traditionally. This is a little less fun. The first one has a high concept comedy situation. This one is simply a little less.