Easy to Wed

Keenan Wynn's newspaper has been a political opponent of Cecil Kellaway for years. So when they publish an actionable story about his daughter, Esther Williams being a man-stealer, Kellaway wastes no time filing a lawsuit. The solution is to get womanizing Van Johnson to seduce her.... and to marry him to Wynn's fiancee, Lucille Ball, to make the first story retroactively true.

It's a remake of LIBELED LADY, with a few musical numbers and a swimming pool for Esther Williams to potsker around in. It's directed more as a straight farce than the original, and that part works all right; given that the original cast was Spencer Tracy, William Powell, Myrna Loy and Jean Harlow, it's hard for any of these to come up to snuff, although Miss Ball is very good. Johnson gives the impression of a small boy playing dress-up, and Keenan Wynn seems to think the movie is a lot funnier than it is.

Lucy obviously had her talents (though I'm not much of a fan of her television stuff) and she has a few good scenes here. But watching her do the big blow up speech at the end word for word the same as Jean Harlow, we see she had nowhere near the talent as Harlow. Harlow did that scene with such humanity and timing. This had none of that.

I almost never see the reason for remakes, very few are anywhere near as good as the original and this is a great example. Watch the original, much better.

Musical remake of "Libeled Lady" doesn't come close to matching the 1936 screwball classic but is mildly entertaining. Williams, Johnson, Ball, and Wynn are no match for the stellar cast of Myrna Loy, William Powell, Jean Harlow, and Spencer Tracy. Johnson and Williams are too bland in the lead roles. Lucy provides a few chuckles; upon learning that Johnson may be married to two women, she says, "That's arson." The funniest scene has her getting drunk with Johnson. Williams gets a dip in the pool but the musical numbers are not memorable and probably contribute to the lethargic pacing. By comparison, the original zipped along at a rapid pace.

This film has its plusses -- Esthers swimming, her swimming, and her swimming. It's also in technicolor, which is always a treat to the eye. It really surprised me that a socco screenplay that made 1936's Libled Lady such a rip-roaring funny film could go so flat 10 years later. Of course Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, William Powell, and Spencer Tracy were more highly skilled performers than this cast. Williams has some to the stoic, amused calm that Loy had and she does okay as Connie, but Lucille Ball is almost unfunny in this, which really surprised me. She lacks Harlows warmth and vulnerability and timing. Harlow really carried Libled Lady and one always looks forward to her scenes. Ball is too arch and steely here. It puts a damper on the films success.

'Libeled Lady' is a marvellous and thoroughly enjoyable comedy, a near-classic with three of the four stars on top form (especially Jean Harlow and William Powell, Spencer Tracy's comedic chops became more refined and more at ease in his later films in my opinion).

'Easy to Wed' is a musical remake but is nowhere near as good and one may question its point. It is by no means a bad film though and makes for more than serviceable entertainment. Starting with its faults, Esther Williams has little to do and her role does not play to her strengths while Van Johnson is wooden in a role just as underwritten and looks uninterested.

The musical numbers don't feel necessary (despite Ethel Smith contributing very nicely on the organ), are not that compellingly staged and are also not particularly memorable, while the story is even more contrived than that of 'Libeled Lady' and lacks its zippy energy (the musical numbers do it no favours), some of it badly drags. The ending feels too pat and incomplete.

However, the classy cinematography, beautiful use of colour and elegant wardrobe more than compensates as does a script that is almost as witty and sophisticated as that of 'Libeled Lady'. The duck hunting scene is not as hilarious as the fishing scene in 'Libeled Lady' but still an amusing scene. Edward Buzell does his best to inject some energy and style and does very competently.

Keenan Wynn has very deft comic timing and doesn't come over as heavy-footed. It's Lucille Ball's exuberant and very funny performance that steals the show though, especially when she indulges into a flight of Shakespeare.

On the whole, vastly inferior but serviceable and watchable. 5/10 Bethany Cox