Main Cast: Van Johnson, Esther Williams, Lucille Ball, Keenan Wynn, Cecil Kellaway
Release Year: 1946
Country: US
Run Time: 110 minutes
Plot
This Technicolor musical remake of the 1936 comedy classic Libeled Lady isn't quite up to the standards of the original, but on its own terms is quite entertaining. Van Johnson, Esther Williams, Lucille Ball and Keenan Wynn expertly assume the roles originally played by William Powell, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy. Faced with a libel suit from socialite Connie Allenbury (Williams), newspaper editor Warren Haggerty (Wynn) cooks up a plan to beat Connie at her own game. To do this, he must rely upon the romantic chicanery of ex-employee Bill Stevens Chandler (Johnson), with Haggerty's fiancee Gladys Benton (Ball) caught in the middle. The comedy high point of the original Libeled Lady, in which William Powell is forced to demonstrate his (non-existent) prowess as a fisherman, is ably repeated in Easy to Wed when Van Johnson must prove his skills at duck-hunting. The songs aren't anything special, but Lucille Ball's superb comic performance is worth the admission price in itself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Easy to Wed is an average MGM musical that, if not quite as good as its source material, Libeled Lady, certainly has a few modest charms. For an Esther Williams film, there's not as much swimming as might be expected, and that's unfortunate; while Williams was not really a bad actress, this is not one of the parts for which she was better suited, and a bit more time spent showing off her aquatic prowess might have livened things up. As it is, most of the livening comes from the extremely funny Lucille Ball. Though she lacks the warmth and vulnerability that Jean Harlow brought to the part of Libeled, she is at the top of her form, technique-wise, and when she lays into a laugh line, she hits it for all she's worth and then some. (She also has rarely looked more stunning.) Van Johnson is a bit bland, but not objectionably so, and again the second lead -- Keenan Wynn -- helps to take up some of the slack. The score is so-so and the direction is efficient but workmanlike; there are some smashing Irene Sharaff costumes. Altogether, Easy to Wed is okay but largely unmemorable. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Cedric Gibbons - Art Director, Hans Peters - Art Director, Edwin B. Willis - Art Director, Jack Bonar - Art Director, Jack Donohue - Choreography, Irene Sharaff - Costume Designer, Edward N. Buzzell - Director, Blanche Sewell - Editor, Johnny Green - Composer (Music Score), Ted Duncan - Musical Direction/Supervision, Jack Dawn - Makeup, Harry Stradling - Cinematographer, Jack Cummings - Producer, Edwin B. Willis - Set Designer, Jack Bonar - Set Designer, Dorothy Kingsley - Screenwriter, George Oppenheimer - Screenwriter, Howard Emmet Rogers - Screenwriter, Maurine Watkins - Screenwriter, George Oppenheimer - Play Author, Howard Emmet Rogers - Play Author, Maurine Watkins - Play Author
