eastofeden87

This version of "Angelitos Negros" is not as good as the 1948 version. It has the patina of poorly-produced early '70s film. However, its one great strength is the moving performance of Juanita Moore in the role of Mercé, the nanny of the prejudiced, grown-up Ana Luisa. The story of "Angelitos Negros" has similarities to Fannie Hurst's "Imitation of Life," and it is very interesting to witness Miss Moore's performance in this film since she received an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress for her majestic performance in 1959's version of "Imitation of Life." Every star I've given in rating the film is for Miss Moore's performance alone.

This episode of "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour," while not one of the best remembered, does have its great moments. The best sequence occurs when Lucy is in the outer office of Paul Douglas, hoping to audition for the part of his new "Girl Friday" on his TV show. A collection of models enters to audition for the same part (one of the models is the stunning Joi Lansing) and Lucy attempts to emulate each girl's particular attribute: cleavage, long legs, classy chignon hairstyle, etc. Fans may remember Lucy did this same thing in a first season episode of "I Love Lucy" when she's auditioning to play Sally Sweet in the Cuban Pete sketch, and she tries emulating the other showgirls auditioning. Her comic timing and reactions are still on target and very funny in this later episode.

Too bad this show didn't give Anita Morris more to do. In fact, if the show had centered on her character, Babs, and made her sort of a kinder and sexier version of Alexis Carrington, it might have been a whole lot more intriguing, instead of the less interesting triangle between Yvette Mimeux, Ben Murphy, and Andrea Marcovicci. The petty machinations of Claudia Christian and her husband Art Hindle were amusing and could have been played for more comedy. I was a big fan of all the nighttime soaps and Anita Morris as well. She came along too late, though. If she'd had the breaks that similar performers like Gwen Verdon had, she'd have been a huge star on Broadway with composers and show backers fighting to create vehicles for her. I would love it if the dozen or so episodes of "Berrenger's" were released on DVD, but that's not likely to happen.