The first lady of TV comedy (Lucille Ball) and the King of society folk in the country (Eddie Albert of "Green Acres") are the wackiest comedy team since Burns and Allen in this fun farce, one of the most delightful comedys of the 1940's.
Lucy plays Sally Elliott, a recently fired receptionist who is engaged to Eddie Albert's bumbling file clerk, Humphrey Briggs. They want to buy a house but can't afford the monthly payments. Briggs is hired by his crooked boss (Jerome Cowan) as the front for a shipping scam and Lucy takes up selling cosmetics as a Fuller Brush Girl. The two end up involved in a murder investigation when a misunderstanding between Cowan and his wife (Lee Patrick of "Auntie Mame") erupts. Not since Red Skelton's "Whistling" films had murder been so farcial, and Eddie and Lucille deliver the goods.
First of all, Lucy here isn't the same as she was as any of her TV Lucy characters. They were wacky and dimwitted, but Lucy here is more of a victim of circumstance. She is just the epitome of the girl in the wrong place at the wrong time. For example, when pal Jeff Donnell visits Lucy before she is fired, it is not Lucy's stupidity which causes her to get into trouble; It is more a combination of clumsiness and bad timing. Next, when Lucy gives some home perms to a group of ladies who lunch, it is the old switcharoo which causes Lucy to get deeper and deeper into trouble. Of course, these sequences are hysterical and straight out of the farcical moments of "I Love Lucy". Lucy's later show biz desperations of her TV series are perfectly represented here by Sally's entrance into a burlesque show. With hysterically long false eye lashes, overdone makeup, and some hysterically bad dance movements, Lucy's well-performed "untalent" is guaranteed to leave the audience exhausted from laughing so much. The finale chase sequence aboard a ship is also full of laughs. As a result, this classic comedy is guaranteed to provide the audience with more than the usual number of laughs.
Gale Robbins, a vixen of the late 40's and early 50's, is good as the bad girl, while Jeff Donnell (later Quartermain housekeeper Stella on "General Hospital"), Lee Patrick, Jerome Cowan, and a whole slew of famous character faces whose names we don't know, do good as well in smaller parts. Even Fuller Brush Man Red Skelton makes an appearance here, reuniting Lucy with her leading man from 1943's MGM classic "DuBarry Was a Lady" where Lucy first showed off her flaming red hair.
This is a classic not-to-miss comedy not only for fans of Lucy but for movie buffs who want to see what classic comedy really is.
