Thanks for the memories!

Such a frustrating disappointment

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Blistering performances.

Okay, I'll try to summarize the storyline. If Homer can prove Connie's a man stealer he'll escape a 2-million dollar lawsuit. So he hires Bill to catch Connie's eye. But Gladys is married to Bill or is it to Warren. Then again, maybe she isn't. But then Bill marries Connie, but Bill's already married or maybe he isn't since no one knows who's divorced whom. Anyway, I give up because the plot's not important, anyhow.The movie's a visual treat, what with Williams, Johnson, and Ball being at their physical peak. I doubt there were three more beautiful people in Hollywood, especially Williams in a swimsuit. Then too, there's MGM's renowned production values lending the results a Technicolor sheen that makes you want to jump in. And is that really Fidel Castro at poolside (IMDB)! Now with all the physical assets, this musical comedy should be strictly memorable. But unfortunately it's not; as a mc the overall results are entertaining but only average. Director Buzzell fails to give many of the scenes the bounce they need, while the script has too many stretched-out, talky scenes. Together, we see pretty people in pretty places doing sometimes funny things (especially Ball), but without the needed zip, plus a storyline that defies analysis.Well, that's pretty much the case except for Ball, who shows (surprise, surprise) a lively flair for adding her own comedic bounce. And, if I remember correctly, this was one of her first comedic outings in what, of course, would become a legendary career. And get a load of the array of hats she gets to wear. Some look like they were taken off the New York skyline. Still, that combination of fiery red hair and deep blue eyes is absolutely dazzling. Anyway, this is the glamour studio MGM at its most glamorous and if the results are less than hoped, the movie's still a visual feast.

The original film, Libeled Lady, was carefully tailored to suit the talents of its stars, William Powell, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, and Spencer Tracy. It's not easy to take such a star vehicle, and, without significant alterations, make it into a vehicle for four very different stars. I guess I thought the alterations weren't significant enough. I'd rather see Van Johnson shine in his own kind of role than try to fill the shoes of William Powell, for example. Johnson is about as successful playing a Powell part as Powell would be in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. Even if, on the surface, things have been spruced up to make it seem like a Johnson part, it really isn't. Only Lucille Ball succeeded in making me forget the original film when she was on the screen. Harlow was great, but Lucy is also great, in a completely different way. When she's on the screen it's hard to think of anyone else ever having played the role.This film seems to have been intended for black and white but switched to color at the last minute. The sets are painted and dressed for black and white - in muted tones of gray, brown, beige, dull green, etc. - throughout the film. The costumes are close to colorless a lot of the time. Brown and gray predominate. Not even a colorful necktie. Even in the musical numbers at the end, the sets are mostly white and gray.

The film Easy To Wed had an impossible task to follow the film and stars of one of the best screen comedies ever made Libeled Lady. I would take nothing away from Van Johnson, Esther Williams, Lucille Ball, and Keenan Wynn. But frankly they're all not a patch on the quartet of William Powell, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, and Spencer Tracy. Music and MGM technicolor is what distinguishes this film and the music primarily Latin in origin is pretty good and comes from a variety of sources. Colombian singer Carlos Ramirez contributes a native song and Ethel Smith plays her famous Tico Tico on the organ. Part of the film is set in Mexico so these acts are brought in without any strain on the plot. When the stars do their numbers, the results are pretty tepid.Esther Williams stays fairly dry in Easy To Wed. Only a dip on a water slide and a brief swim in the family pool where she unplugs a rubber raft and sends Van Johnson into the water are all you see of her. No classic water ballets in Easy To Wed which must have disappointed her fans tremendously.In Libeled Lady the character Loy/Williams's father is played by Walter Connolly and he's an avid fisherman. Here he's a hunter and Van Johnson has to take a crash course in duck hunting to make an impression on father Cecil Kellaway. Van's best moments like William Powell's in the first film are in the hunting scenes. The basic outline of the story remains the same. A false story about heiress Esther Williams's romantic escapades has caused a lawsuit to be filed by Cecil Kellaway. Editor Keenan Wynn postpones for the umpteenth time his wedding to Lucille Ball to meet the crisis at the paper. Wynn's plan, to hire back his ace reporter Van Johnson and marry his girl friend Ball to Johnson and then have Johnson strike something up with Williams. Just as Jean Harlow did, Lucille Ball amazingly enough goes along with this madcap scheme. Everybody performs well, but after you've seen Libeled Lady you will think of Easy To Wed as a road company version of that classic.

Lucy obviously had her talents (though I'm not much of a fan of her television stuff) and she has a few good scenes here. But watching her do the big blow up speech at the end word for word the same as Jean Harlow, we see she had nowhere near the talent as Harlow. Harlow did that scene with such humanity and timing. This had none of that.I almost never see the reason for remakes, very few are anywhere near as good as the original and this is a great example. Watch the original, much better.