| Easy to Wed | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Edward Buzzell |
| Produced by | Jack Cummings |
| Written by | Dorothy Kingsley |
| Starring | Van Johnson Esther Williams Lucille Ball Keenan Wynn |
| Music by | Johnny Green |
| Cinematography | Harry Stradling Sr. |
| Editing by | Blanche Sewell |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | July 11, 1946 |
| Running time | 106 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Easy to Wed is a 1946 American musical comedy film directed by Edward Buzzell. The screenplay by Dorothy Kingsley is an updated adaptation of the screenplay of the 1936 film Libeled Lady by Maurine Dallas Watkins, Howard Emmett Rogers, and George Oppenheimer.
Contents |
Financier J.B. Allenbury is determined to file a $2 million libel suit against The Morning Star when the newspaper prints a story claiming his daughter Connie was responsible for the breakup of a marriage. Anxious to save his paper from financial ruin, editor Curtis Farwood enlists the help of business manager Warren Haggerty, who postpones his marriage to Gladys Benton in order to assist his employer.
Warren's convoluted scheme involves having reporter Bill Chandler temporarily marry Gladys so he can sue him for alienation of affection when a photograph of Bill and Connie Allenbury surfaces. In order to get the damaging picture, Bill must ingratiate himself with the Allenburys, who are vacationing at the Hotel Del Rey in Mexico. He heads south of the border with Spike Dolan and introduces himself to the Allenburys as a writer who enjoys hunting, which is J.B.'s favorite hobby.
As time passes and Bill fails to get himself photographed with Connie, Gladys and Warren become increasingly impatient. Warren suspects Bill has become romantically involved with Connie and flies to Mexico in the hope he can persuade her and her father to drop their lawsuit. When they refuse to comply, Warren telephones Gladys, who arrives at the resort and tells J.B. she is married to Bill. When he reports this news to his daughter, Connie decides to prove him wrong by demading Bill marry her immediately, and the two are wed by a justice of the peace.
When Warren and Gladys threaten to expose Bill as a bigamist, Bill announces he has learned her mail-order divorce from Joseph Simpson was not legally binding and she still is married to him, only to learn Gladys was divorced in Reno as well. The Allenburys finally agree to drop their lawsuit and Warren and Gladys realize they are meant to be together.
This was the first film in which Williams sang, and she had to work with Harriet Lee, the MGM voice coach. However, Williams's singing part was actually in Portuguese, making it all the more difficult for her. The studio then hired Carmen Miranda to coach both Williams and Johnson.[1]
This was Johnson and Williams' second film together, after Thrill of a Romance, which had been extremely successful at the box office.[2] Williams said the two had been cast because "Van and I matched. It looked like we belonged together as a couple. He was as much the all-American boy as I was the all-American girl. As World War II drew to a close, we...became icons, in a way, symbolizing the virtues that people loved best about America. Van represented all the young men who had gone off to war for their country, and I represented the girls they were fighting to come home to."[1]
Van Johnson's biography, MGM's Golden Boy states that Lucille Ball's performance as Gladys "reveals the embryo of her Lucy Ricardo role in the later I Love Lucy television series." It also states that Keenan Wynn had been in a motorcycle accident before filming, and had his mouth wired shut. As a result, he had to talk between his teeth. He also lost thirty pounds in four weeks.[3]
Bosley Crowther of the New York Times observed, "Perhaps the best things about it are Keenan Wynn and Lucille Ball . . . for both of these pleasant young people have exceptionally keen comedy sense and their roles are the most productive of hilarity in the show . . . Together they handle the burdens of the cleverly-complicated plot and throw both their voices and their torsos into an almost continuous flow of gags . . . Eddie Buzzell's direction, which never has been memorable, looks very good in this instance . . . Easy to Wed [is] a summer picture that is decidedly easy to enjoy."[4]
Variety called the film "top-notch entertainment" and added, "Eddie Buzzell's direction emphasizes lightness and speed, despite picture's long footage . . . Lucille Ball is a standout on the comedy end, particularly her sequence where she indulges in an inebriated flight into fantastic Shakespeare. Keenan Wynn's deft comedy work also presses hard for solid laughs."[5]
On July 17, 2007, Warner Home Video released the film as part of the box set TCM Spotlight - Esther Williams, Vol. 1. Bonus features include the Academy Award-nominated Pete Smith Specialty comedy short Sure Cures, the animated short The Unwelcome Guest, and the film's theatrical trailer.
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