Forever, Darling (1956)

"Forever, Darling" is a 1956 comedy-romance with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, It's also a nice story about how things change in the first years of marriage. And, how people can salvage the love they have to make it last a lifetime. Lucy is visited by her guardian angel who tells her that her marriage is on the skids. Unless she does something to save it, they will wind up following the paths of others whom the couple know who no longer have any romance. Lucy plays Susan Vega and Desi is Lorenzo "Larry" Vega who is a scientist-researcher. James Mason plays Susan's guardian angel.Those who might expect some zany antics that Ball made her signature trade in her long-running TV sitcoms may be disappointed. The star kept that zaniness for her TV shows. Her films mostly have a nice blend of witty dialog, some crazy antics and other comedic situations; This film also has a dramatic element concerning marriages. Ball and Arnaz ended their marriage four years after this film. That' also when The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour on TV ended. The two had been together on that and the initial sitcom, I Love Lucy. Two years later, Lucy began her third TV series, The Lucy Show, which ran for seven seasons.This won't have one rolling with laughter, but it will bring some chuckles. It's a nice comedy romance, in which we get to see Lucy mostly outside her trademark Lucy role. The zaniness takes over toward the very end. Susan decides to go with Larry on a field trip – a real field trip, camping out, to test a mosquito insecticide that he had been developing for five years. Here are a couple samples of funny dialog. The first night out, Larry turns off the lantern in the tent. Susan, "This is some of the darkest dark I've ever seen. Larry, if you put the lantern on again, I think I'll sleep better." Larry, "Look, Susan, it's dark in our bedroom at home and you sleep all right there." Susan, "Well, there's a streetlight outside our bedroom at home. Boy, when it gets dark in a tent, it doesn't mess around."In the morning they get into a raft on a lagoon. Susan has to row while Larry checks the water for mosquito larvae. Larry is impatient with Susan's rowing and she replies, "Us galley slaves don't row very well unless we're whipped." Later, after several mishaps, Larry begins chewing her out, in his native Cuban language. Susan, "If you're gonna bawl me out, bawl me out in English." He switches to English, and she says, "Never mind, go back to Spanish."

Or "I Love Lucy, Episode Two: 'Forever Darling." This could very well be a first in more ways than one: two actors who had slogged through B-movies in unremarkable parts had by now become larger-than-life television stars due to their show, bought RKO Studios, converted it into Desilu, were beginning to produce other shows (who would go on to successes of their own), and to top it off, had broken the myth that television actors could not make the transition into the big screen. THE LONG, LONG TRAILER was proof of that and only bolstered "I Love Lucy" to greater heights. FOREVER DARLING was a way of cementing their TV personas in another feature film in which the same antics that had been the basis of every "Lucy" episode would be seen in a 90-minute movie while incorporating an element of Surrealist fantasy where James Mason makes his appearance as an Angel who intervenes in key moments throughout the film. It's an enjoyable little movie that doesn't try to pretend to be bigger than it is; lightning does not always strike twice, although here it just fails to hit its target dead-center because it essentially recycles much of the "I Love Lucy" stories. It is enjoyable, though.

Lucy and Desi return in a film about what happens when the love starts to leave the marriage of their characters, Susan and Lorenzo. It's not a wacky comedy like The Long, Long Trailer or I Love Lucy, but it's more sweetly poignant and gently humorous. I especially like the scene where Susan and Lorenzo are at a movie and he falls asleep, and she screams and wakes him up right away! The startled, confused look on Desi's face is priceless! And for 60s TV buffs, Nancy Kulp (Jane Hathaway on the Beverly Hillbillies) and Natalie Schafer (Mrs. Howell on Gilligan's Island) are both in this film. Definitely worth renting.

"Forever Darling" is Lucy & Desi's 3rd and last movie together. This movie is okay but its not the greatest movie in the world, but its not the worst either. I like the end with the camping trip.