A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob (1941)

Lucille Ball worked for RKO in 1941. She was considered a "B" Actress, not a comedian for the studio that produced such films as King Kong and Gunga Din was working at trying to stay in business and make money on a shoe string. This is one of the better of those.Edmund O'Brien, who is rarely thought of as a comedy actor is actually pretty good here as the boss who falls in love with his secretary despite being best friends with her fiancé and being married himself. The comedy in this one is more physical than verbal. At one point Lucy puts some wrestling moves on her boss O'Brien(Stephen Herrick).She wants to marry a sailor, Coffee Cup (George Murphy). Coffee Cup is the unlucky guy who even if it appears things are going to work out right somehow runs into bad luck. The only luck he seems to have is when he is in the Navy. That and his little black book of 100 ladies.Dot (Lucille Ball) thinks she wants to marry Coffee Cup, but is torn between the 2 guys by late in the movie for many reasons. This movie is a lot fun, and Franklin Pangburn is a character bonus as a shop owner victimized in his encounters with Coffee Cup. Lucy is not doing a lot of comedy yet and comes off as pleasant. Later she and another RKO player, Desi, would buy the studio.

Well I saw the movie yesterday and I have to say it gave me a good laugh. As a Lucille Ball fan she played a very big role in this movie.She wasn't as goofy as she was in I Love Lucy or her future series but she was still excellent in this film.I would've given this movie 10 stars but the ending ended very abrupt and to fast. It would've been better if they would've explained it a bit more about how Steven got that tattoo on his chest. Other then that though I highly recommend this movie to anybody who wants a laugh or is a fan of Lucille Ball.

It's films like this that never guaranteed LUCILLE BALL would become a big star in her early Hollywood comedies. There's nothing subtle here in this film produced by Harold Lloyd and directed by Richard Wallace.Lucille is the scatterbrained daughter in a family of zanies who meets EDMOND O'BRIEN in a mix-up over theater tickets. He's a casual, laid back executive, not very assertive (unlike his later roles), and when he needs a substitute secretary Lucy shows up for the job. It's a hectic film from then on.GEORGE MURPHY is her brash sailor boyfriend, LLOYD CORRIGAN her brother, HENRY TRAVERS her father and the befuddled FRANKLIN PANGBORN is a pet shop owner.It's a more subdued Lucy than usual with the others having most of the heavy mugging and pratfalls to do. MARGUERITE CHAPMAN is wasted as O'Brien's neglected girlfriend. Nice cast but they all have mediocre material to deal with.Summing up: Passes the time pleasantly enough, but is nothing special.

I wanted to see this film because my grandfather acted in it. His name is James Spencer. His south sea island scenes were cut out in the final release of this film. I still found this film to be a great treat and a lot of fun. It was a great example of the screw-ball comedies of the time before WW2. This should be seen on cable tv. Great chemistry between all the actors here.