Ma femme en feu

I love Lucy, and she's adorable as usual in this pleasant outing, but James Ellison shows why he should have been cast in many more and different roles.

Yes, he was a great cowboy, but as a leading man, he was good-looking and manly and confident and in control.

As another reviewer said, this is pleasant fluff; and it has a story that has been used probably countless times in one form or another, but the four major characters are played so well, with Lee Bowman as the competitor for the rich woman and Mantan Moreland as his chauffeur, it's more than worth watching, just to see them.

Other, even unbilled, performers such as the great Earl Hodgins, work beautifully under director Garson Kanin and make this fun and worth the time. Enjoy.

Rich girl Lucille Ball pulls up in her huge car alongside a WPA ditch-digging project. She offers handsome laborer James Ellison $1000 to marry her, after which she immediately ditches him and goes off to a ritzy party. Lucy is actually kind of obnoxious….will she learn her lesson before the end of the picture?

Not a lot of surprises in this mild comedy, but Lucy is fun to watch, Ellison is fine as the dogged and resourceful leading man, and Lee Bowman is hilarious as Lucy's goofy-accented South American fiancé.

We learn early on that Lucy's father's will requires her to marry a "plain American"—thus her rush to marry and get her money. When Ellison figures out that she's married him only to quickly divorce him, he vows to divorce her first, and from there on it's a race to Reno.

Besides its human cast, the picture stars a dog named Mike in a funny role, and also a little streamlined camper-trailer that Ellison pulls behind his car. The camper is at the center of much of the film's action, including a scene where Lucy sets it on fire in a harebrained attempt to escape.

No classic, I guess, but it's fast-paced and and has some solid laughs. --Oh, and a clever ending featuring a preacher and family piling into the car....

heiress lucille ball has to marry a 'plain American' to get her inheritance. already engaged to fortune hunter boyfriend lee bowman(is he really a count, who knows)she engages road worker james ellison, who is prepared to marry her for a certain summe of money...

not an unusual plot for a 30's screwball comedy..

one of few early films with lucille ball that i saw, i didn't expect a laughing riot (never liked her later TV persona much)but i was pleasantly surprised by this one.

the plot is funny and has a good tempo, lucille gives a good performance as an hysterical heiress, james ellison is a delight(never noticed him in any other movies though)and overall this movie amused me enough to catch it a second time..(which isn't that easy since its not commercially available) recommended

Lucille Ball -- in her first role heading the cast list -- wants to marry foreign fortune hunter Lee Bowman, but her father's will says she must marry an ordinary American if she is to inherit enough money to make her the richest woman in America. So she goes down a line of ditch diggers and settles on James Ellison and his Great Dane. She marries him, abandons him at a drug store and is going to get a divorce, but Ellison won't be the goat, so for reasons too tiresome to mention, they wind up going together to Reno in a trailer.

That's what's wrong with this screwball comedy. On the other hand, Garson Kanin directs with a light hand, and Miss Ball gives a good performance, without any of the mannerisms (funny though they would be) she would develop as she learned how to do comedy. See if you can spot Ned Glass in his third screen appearance. Hint: he has hair.

Next time I Marry stars Lucille Ball and any ensemble cast – it's just like an episode of her TV show – it even has a silver air stream trailer in which she would make the "The Long Long Trailer" almost twenty years later with Ricky. In the usual RKO mixed up love story caper, the rich girl must marry a common everyday guy (the dashing James Ellison) before she gets her family money, but she has many secrets and tricks up her sleeve, most of which don't work out as planned. Ellison's best-known role was Buffalo Bill in "The Plainsman" 1936, along with parts in many westerns. Lee Bowman plays a foreign count whose accent comes and goes in an un-convincing supporting role. As with most Lucy roles, as long as you buy into the story, you'll have a fun time. Look for Richard Elliott, the short jolly mayor from Andy Griffith, as the Justice of the Peace. Story is credited to Thames Williamson, but movie buffs will recognize a similar plot from four years before this. Also appears to be the second movie that Garson Kanin directed. Fun but a little silly!