A sort of Southern California version of Brief Encounter, but for Bob Hope and Lucille Ball. They play Pasadena country club types who find themselves on an Acapulco vacation without their spouses - and fall in love.
Lucille Ball plays Kitty very well and without undue sentiment. This is a type of character you may not have seen her play before. It's her performance that draws you into the story and makes you care. Bob Hope, as Larry, isn't really in Ball's league as an emotional actor. But filmmakers Norman Panama and Melvin Frank do something very smart. They make his character a frustrated amateur comic. So in a sense, he doesn't have to stray very far from his usual characterization.
If you like Lucy or Bob you will have to see this, but frankly, though it's good, it doesn't hit any comic or romantic bulls-eyes. There are some missed opportunities for a really sharp comedy such as Billy Wilder might have made. There are also some misses when it comes to honesty or pathos. It's all a little slick, though the film attempts to go a little deeper than a typical romcom of the era, and occasionally it succeeds.
Panama and Frank were experts at writing funny yet entirely natural dialogue, and creating realistic characters and situations, for the most part (some of the slapstick at the cabin seems forced, but the drive-in movie scenes are well done).
The black and white film also features Philip Ober (Vivian Vance's husband, at the time), and in the smallish but important roles of the spouses, Ruth Hussey and Don DeFore.
Lucille Ball plays Kitty very well and without undue sentiment. This is a type of character you may not have seen her play before. It's her performance that draws you into the story and makes you care. Bob Hope, as Larry, isn't really in Ball's league as an emotional actor. But filmmakers Norman Panama and Melvin Frank do something very smart. They make his character a frustrated amateur comic. So in a sense, he doesn't have to stray very far from his usual characterization.
If you like Lucy or Bob you will have to see this, but frankly, though it's good, it doesn't hit any comic or romantic bulls-eyes. There are some missed opportunities for a really sharp comedy such as Billy Wilder might have made. There are also some misses when it comes to honesty or pathos. It's all a little slick, though the film attempts to go a little deeper than a typical romcom of the era, and occasionally it succeeds.
Panama and Frank were experts at writing funny yet entirely natural dialogue, and creating realistic characters and situations, for the most part (some of the slapstick at the cabin seems forced, but the drive-in movie scenes are well done).
The black and white film also features Philip Ober (Vivian Vance's husband, at the time), and in the smallish but important roles of the spouses, Ruth Hussey and Don DeFore.