Son ange gardien

I haven't been a big fan of The Long, Long Trailer. It has some funny bits, but there's a lot of yelling at the end, it goes from funny to yelling, and that whole thing about her collecting big rocks! Forever Darling actually begins as a fairly witty and sharp film--it had been written for someone else--and Desi gets to play someone different. James Mason is a good sport--playing a guardian angel, doing a parody of himself (maybe in Botany Bay) in a parody of Mogambo film-within-the film. He's not really adept at situation comedy, although he did well in a few comedic films like Touch of Larceny. The film switches gears at the end, with a lot of slapstick yelling in a swamp. And the reason they took an old script was to quickly capitalize on the success of Trailer. Its failure ended their joint film career. But it's faster-paced than Trailer and it's a reasonable time-passer.

Forever Darling was one of the attempts to make Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, arguably the hottest show business couple at the time this came out to make a jump to the big screen as a comedy team. It was mildly amusing, like a long episode of I Love Lucy.

The passion's just kind of gone out of the marriage of Lucy and Desi, sadly as it was in real life. She's a socialite and he's a scientist and that was the part of the film that I had the most trouble swallowing.

So after one boring evening once too often with Lucy's idiot cousin Natalie Schaefer and husband Ralph Dumke, Desi's ready to call it quits. But Lucy's guardian angel who appears in the form of her favorite movie star James Mason advises that she take more of an interest in Desi's work as a scientist. He's looking for the ultimate bug spray.

Lucy's not an outdoor girl, but she goes on a camping trip with Desi and that last third of the film is just one I Love Lucy episode. The inflatable rubber raft truly gets the better of both of them.

As for Mason he has an extended sequence when Lucy and Desi are watching a film that stars James Mason and Lucy in a blond wig. Mason satirizes himself rather nicely. For the rest of the film he looks somewhat uncomfortable.

Fans of Lucille Ball and they sure are legion in the part of the country I reside in which is Western New York state should be pleased with Forever Darling. But three episodes of I Love Lucy will satisfy your craving better.

Lucy and Desi return in a film about what happens when the love starts to leave the marriage of their characters, Susan and Lorenzo. It's not a wacky comedy like The Long, Long Trailer or I Love Lucy, but it's more sweetly poignant and gently humorous. I especially like the scene where Susan and Lorenzo are at a movie and he falls asleep, and she screams and wakes him up right away! The startled, confused look on Desi's face is priceless! And for 60s TV buffs, Nancy Kulp (Jane Hathaway on the Beverly Hillbillies) and Natalie Schafer (Mrs. Howell on Gilligan's Island) are both in this film. Definitely worth renting.

Only after a while since I watched "The long, long trailer" I have discovered this movie that brings Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz back together in a feature film, only this time it lacks much more. The jokes are still there but there are only a few of them that really hit the mark. The plot is somewhat similar to the "Trailer" having to deal with marital problems all over again and this time it feels unnatural and strained making the movie a lot harder to sit through and try and get some grains of wisdom it offers you. Some scenes are overly long and simply ill-fitting to the whole plot but what makes all of them points fade is naturally the pair of Lucy and Desi - although we've seen them quarrel millions of times it's still is a great pleasure to observe them. This movie shows us new sides of them both that we haven't noticed before, highlighting their performances and making us think of our own relationships and what can be done to prevent bad things from happening.

After the classic "Long Long Trailor"(1954) raked in millions at international box-offices, MGM allowed Desi Arnaz to produce a follow-up that was based on an old script that Metro was going to star Lucy in with William Powell back in 1945. Well this story about a married couple- a scientist and his domestic wife who seeks advice from an Angel played by the superb James Mason- does not work that well. Lucy is excellent and she gives it her all but the plot line is too fanciful. Some sections are quite amusing but overall it is not a success. Also Lucy looked so beautiful in their previous film but atrocious set design and flat color cinematography do nothing for Lucy's looks or the visual aspect of the film..It makes it look like its a lower budgeted effort. Desi did produce it on the cheap at their Desilu studios and it does look it. At least if the film had the gorgeous cinematography of "Trailor" it would not be such a let down. Nonetheless it has its entertaining moments and Lucy and Desi fans should eat it up.