Truly Dreadful Film

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

This somewhat black comedy is from the pen of Ben Hecht and may remind you a bit of his classic NOTHING SACRED although it's more in the tone of the Hepburn & Tracy films. Lucille Ball stars as a newlywed, newly retired from a successful career writing ad copy but now "just married" to her former co-worker Franchot Tone. Trouble is Tone was never quite the "ad man" his wife was and is hell bent to prove his worth to the company. When an eccentric scientist friend of his invents a new embalming fluid (to turn corpses into permanent glass statues!) he mentions as a side note, it can also be used for an "instant shave" on facial hair. Tone sees this use as his ticket to success and fortune and promotes it in a big time product premiere inviting dignities and the famous (including actor Larry Parks in a cameo as himself) to try the product. They all rave about it but the trouble is that it GROWS hair thicker and worse than before within 24 hours. The day after is a major fiasco for the corporation but it's Lucy to the rescue as she cleverly points out this "new" turn is perhaps an even bigger market - selling it to men bald or with thinning hair - and a new campaign starts much to her husband's irritation. (This particular plot twist the viewer can see miles away given supporting actor Edward Everett Horton is fitted with a very phony looking skull cap to play bald for the first several reels. You can see the edges lines of it on the small screen, can't imagine how obvious it was on the big screen). Determined to be back in the driver's seat, Franchot plots more behind the scene maneuvers which ends up having him on trial for the presumed murder of the professor.The comedy is hit and miss but Lucy is always excellent and she looks a vision in some very attractive fashions. Tone is over the top at times but does well, the trouble is the brazen sexism of his character is more than a little unpleasant to latter-day viewers and likely to more than a few 1940's ones as well. There's also delicious irony with the movie's theme that Lucy is far more talented than he as "ad man" as the movie starts off with Tone twiddling with lots of unfunny shtick as he plots out his newest ad copy while that goes on for several minutes but Lucy merely raises her eyebrow in sleepy exhaustion as is far funnier showing - to no surprise of course - she's also his superior as a comic and an actor. Among the supporting cast Columbia character contractee Nana Bryant stands out as a socialite who can't help but take a discreet dip in the miracle product during it's premiere to rid herself of a touch of facial hair and lives to regret it.

A witty, amusing, highly novel and really ingenious comedy which takes a somewhat mordant view of the marriage relationship, big business, advertising and politics. True, it runs right off the rails so far as credibility is concerned about halfway through when its gets progressively wilder and wilder and further and further way-out. There are doubtless many viewers who would wish that the movie had carried on with the splendid satire of high pressure advertising salesmanship with which the first half of the movie is primarily concerned and which is fully integrated with a biting look at modern marriage and women's place. It's amazing that the film anticipates the pressures and strains caused in a marriage by women's lib (though of course this name is not used) in which it is 25 years ahead of its time.The casting is perfect. Franchot Tone is just right as the advertising executive who objects to his wife helping him in his business and Lucille Ball is ideal as the wife who just can't help lending some able assistance to rescue hubby from an apparent jam. Edward Everett Horton, making a surprise appearance in the earlier scenes (the reason for this is evident later on) gives a delightful portrayal as the advertising agency chief, while Gene Lockhart is a joy as "a man of instant action" tycoon. There's also an agreeable array of character players including Selmar Jackson and Charles Trowbridge brought face to face as judge and defense attorney respectively. Arhur Space is the prosecutor, Jonathan Hale, the governor, Pierre Watkin, a member of Lockhart's board, Robert Emmett Keane, the sarcastic manager of a ticket agency, Mabel Paige, a nosy neighbor, Douglas Wood, the hat manufacturer, while Larry Parks makes a cameo appearance as himself. As the crazy inventor, Emil, Mikhail Rasumny is a joy even if he is chiefly responsible for the plot running right off the rails! Sylvan Simon's direction is very slick, as usual, putting the comedy across with unobtrusively professional skill. I almost forgot to mention, the movie's delightfully crazy introduction that has Franchot Tone weighing hats! By Columbia's standards, production values are exceptionally lavish. In view of the movie's indifferent performance at the box office, this must have been rather mortifying for producer Andre Hakim after his fine work in assembling such a top cast and engaging a really first rate crew headed by Charles Lawton on photography. The sets, costumes and music scoring are first class and the cast list, as noted by IMDb, is as long as your arm!

Lucy had a bit part in Franchot Tone's "Moulin Rouge" ten years prior to this film, but this time she gets the female starring role up against Tone. Right from the beginning of "Her Husband's Affairs", we see that William Weldon (Tone) gets himself into jams, and wife Margaret (Lucy) has to get him out of them every time. William's boss JB, is the awesome Edward E. Horton, made up to look quite old and bald. (Viewers will recognize Horton's effeminate, whining, voice from Fractured Fairy Tales and all those Fred Astaire films.) Our story seems to be an early version of the TV show "Bewitched", where hubby is an advertising man, and relies on the wife's quick thinking to save him. When one of the products they are involved with causes a major crisis, they must figure out a solution quickly before the newspapers get there to take pictures. Lucy had been getting starring roles for a few years now, and she does just fine in this lightweight one. The second half of the picture takes place in a courtroom, and feels like an episode of I Love Lucy (Oh Fred!)...Gene Lockhart is here as Mr. Winterbottom. Also look for a 13 year old Dwayne Hickman (played in his own show "Dobie Gillis") in the laboratory scene. Directed by Sylvan Simon, who died at age 41, just a couple years after this project. No big surprises here, but we get a fun, early look at Lucy being Lucy just a couple years before her TV show.

Lucille Ball tries to be funny but she really can't be given the written material that she is given to work with. In fact, it's really pathetic. Franchot Tone co-stars and proves that he certainly was not adept at comedy.As a husband and wife advertising team, they are always bound for Bermuda until something comes along to thwart the long delayed honeymoon. In this case, the thwarting may be attributed to the writing here.The inane subject dealing with a hair removal, hair add-on for bald individuals and a glass-like flower are just a little too much to contend with. Then, there is the plot where the scientist making these inventions is supposedly killed and Tone is blamed for the murder.I guess that Larry Parks had to do this film contractually. Fortunately, his appearance his brief. Not a great encore for the Jolson star.