Review by moonspinner55

Cheeky movie actress at Wonder Pictures masquerades as a maid to a dotty suburban family for publicity reasons, but the household is soon taken over by two gangsters. It's "The Desperate Hours" as a rollicking comedy! Screen adaptation of Charles Hoffman's short story "Menial Star" proves short on laughs, even with Jack Oakie and Lucille Ball in the leads. Some of the screwball business with the family is funny--as is an opening gimmick with Ball posing as a prison inmate...and getting 30 days behind bars! Much of the rest is strident and silly, including the familiar asides at the movie studio (featuring the proverbial ever-patient secretary). Opening in September 1938, the picture was followed with a sequel just two months later! *1/2 from ****