Two people meet, fall in love, but are married to other people. Formula, formula, formula. It has made memorable movies and flat-out unbearable ones. This one should have been closer to a drama, but due to circumstance, it was made into a comedy -- and a slapstick one at that. Bringing in Lucille Ball and Bob Hope, already icons of television who'd worked together in her hit show, was a good move for both. It gave people a chance to see Hope in a real comedy instead of the ROAD TO (insert city name here) fare. Lucille Ball also benefited; her screen appearances were sporadic once she'd ventured into television, but the ones she chose were better than average -- nothing award-winning, but good material. THE FACTS OF LIFE (not to be confused with the TV show) is an above-average story of crossed lovers, sanitized to squeaky-clean perfection by its sitcom presentation, which has Ruth Hussey's last on-screen performance, and is fun to watch whenever it's on TCM.
Review of The Facts of Life
