Next Time I Marry (1938)

Touches You

That was an excellent one.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This "It Happened One Night" on wheels suffers from the casting of the comparatively dull James Ellison opposite the hitting-sparks-on-all- cylinders Lucille Ball in her first number one leading star role at RKO. Ellison looks a bit like Joel McCrea. In fact, McCrea would actually have made the ideal leading man for this picture. He is not only so much more charismatic but has exactly the right screen personality that would have paired perfectly with Lucy's. On the other hand, Ellison is always outclassed. We know how the picture is sure to end almost right from the start. The script has no suspense. True, it could have been made a good deal more amusing if the writers had been game to tackle the plot in a more satiric fashion. The two lead characters needed to be far more personable and individual, but still satiric and even exotic. But for some reason, while Lucy Ball has the right go-for-it approach, Ellison and the rest of the cast, plus the writers and director Garson Kanin keep holding back and playing safe. Available on an excellent Warner Archive DVD.

Far-fetched bit of fluff starring Lucille Ball as an heiress who pays a complete stranger to marry her. Ditch digger James Ellison is the lucky groom. Why she does this is because of a stipulation in her father's will that says she can't get her inheritance unless she marries a "plain American." Apparently her father was worried about foreign gold diggers seducing his daughter for her money. I've seen this theme in a lot of movies from the '30s so I guess there was an epidemic of international gold diggers fleecing unsuspecting American heiresses back then. Once married, Lucy will inherit the money and then she can divorce Ellison and marry the guy she's really interested in, foreign gold digger Lee Bowman. Guess Dad knew what he was doing, after all. Anyway, Lucy plans to divorce Ellison but he gets ticked off and decides to divorce her first to publicly humiliate her or something. I was a little unclear about the reasoning there but they had to have a conflict to fill time, I suppose.This is a rather lame screwball comedy that suffers from having unlikable characters doing unrelatable things. Lucy's pretty but there's very little of her comedic abilities on display here. Her character is insufferable. The only scene I can think of that hinted at the greatness to come for her is the scene where she and the dog tussle over some bacon. James Ellison is a sort of poor man's Joel McCrea. It's hard to really root for him either since he was mercenary enough to marry a woman he just met for money. It's a staple of screwball comedies to put characters in extraordinary situations and have them act as absurdly as possible. But it only works when you like the characters. If you don't, their madcap antics are just annoying. Don't even get me started on how this affects the romantic element of the movie. And what was with that dark and totally out of place scene where it's implied the two guys are about to rape Lucy? Creepy. Anything with Lucy is worth seeing but this is one where I doubt you'll be in any hurry to rewatch it.

Next time I Marry stars Lucille Ball and any ensemble cast – it's just like an episode of her TV show – it even has a silver air stream trailer in which she would make the "The Long Long Trailer" almost twenty years later with Ricky. In the usual RKO mixed up love story caper, the rich girl must marry a common everyday guy (the dashing James Ellison) before she gets her family money, but she has many secrets and tricks up her sleeve, most of which don't work out as planned. Ellison's best-known role was Buffalo Bill in "The Plainsman" 1936, along with parts in many westerns. Lee Bowman plays a foreign count whose accent comes and goes in an un-convincing supporting role. As with most Lucy roles, as long as you buy into the story, you'll have a fun time. Look for Richard Elliott, the short jolly mayor from Andy Griffith, as the Justice of the Peace. Story is credited to Thames Williamson, but movie buffs will recognize a similar plot from four years before this. Also appears to be the second movie that Garson Kanin directed. Fun but a little silly!

This short (65 minutes) comedy is one of the better "B" movie variations of "It Happened One Night" from the 1930's. Lucille Ball stars as a heiress whose father's will requires her to marry an American. Trouble is she is in love with a penniless count who is basically just interested in her money. Lucy concocts a plan to marry and divorce ditch-digger James Ellison, offering him a thousand to marry her. Ellison needs $793.00 to pay off a bill so he goes along with it - but then is angry when he feels she played him for a sap when she informs him she's going to Reno to divorce him immediately. Ellison is determined to beat her there and file for divorce himself and the duo fight across the country on the way to Reno. If you wonder how it ends you haven't seen many romantic comedies.Lucy is very beautiful in this, her first starring film and proves she already was a wonderful comedienne in this comedy made some 13 years before the debut of I LOVE LUCY. She also proved she was unafraid to get into unglamorous and physical comic situations even at this young age (27) quite unlike most attractive actresses. (Like the much later THE FULLER BRUSH GIRL, this movie shows Lucy is drop dead gorgeous soaking wet, maybe they should have dunked her in all her pictures.) Leading man James Ellison is quite good too as the down-to-earth Joe dubbed "Cinderella man" by the press for his marriage to the wealthy heiress (Ellison also looks pretty good soaked). I don't think I've ever seen Ellison before - his career was basically divided into three parts, first bit player, then "B" movie leads like here, and finally starring in low-budget "B" westerns. Ellison is good-looking in a low key way, quite tall, and has an athletic build and is very good here but perhaps his career didn't take off in part because either because of his strong resemblance to Joel McCrea or the fact that very few handsome men became major stars back then. The movie is so short not much attention is given to character actors, quite unusual for comedies of the period, Lucy, James, his over-sized dog, and the count are pretty much the whole show. Fans of Lucy's later movie hit THE LONG LONG TRAILER will enjoy seeing Lucy in similar situations on the road with a travel trailer here. This is a good little movie, a must for Lucy lovers and those who enjoy the comedy romances of the era.