After "The Morning Star" prints a gossipy item on beautiful socialite Esther Williams (as Connie Allenbury), she decides to sue the paper for $2,000,000 in libel damages. Their business manager Keenan Wynn (as Warren Haggerty) interrupts his impending wedding to brassy redhead Lucille Ball (as Gladys Benton) to work on countering Ms. Williams' suit. Mr. Wynn hires writer Van Johnson (as Bill Chandler) to battle Williams. He plots to have Mr. Johnson marry Ms. Ball, then pursue Williams. The men hope to create an actual scandal between Williams and a married man, then get her to drop the lawsuit...
The script has Johnson asks for a green dress, but he gets blue...
This is a re-make of "Libeled Lady" (1936) with the addition of musical and swimming sequences. While pleasant, they add nothing to the story. The four lead performers are not individually unsatisfying and are okay in pairs (Johnson with either Williams or Ball), but the quartet doesn't mix well. Most outstanding is the "Technicolor" photography (Harry Stradling) and costumes (Irene Lentz). Lucy is terrific at the piano when Johnson is practicing his "duck calls" before a date with Williams. Lucy got the last laugh when she made it much funnier on her TV series episode "Lucy Goes Duck Hunting" (1963).
****** Easy to Wed (7/11/46) Edward Buzzell ~ Van Johnson, Lucille Ball, Esther Williams, Keenan Wynn
The script has Johnson asks for a green dress, but he gets blue...
This is a re-make of "Libeled Lady" (1936) with the addition of musical and swimming sequences. While pleasant, they add nothing to the story. The four lead performers are not individually unsatisfying and are okay in pairs (Johnson with either Williams or Ball), but the quartet doesn't mix well. Most outstanding is the "Technicolor" photography (Harry Stradling) and costumes (Irene Lentz). Lucy is terrific at the piano when Johnson is practicing his "duck calls" before a date with Williams. Lucy got the last laugh when she made it much funnier on her TV series episode "Lucy Goes Duck Hunting" (1963).
****** Easy to Wed (7/11/46) Edward Buzzell ~ Van Johnson, Lucille Ball, Esther Williams, Keenan Wynn