NEXT TIME I MARRY (1938)

A well-off woman (Lucille Ball) drives slowly past a roadside crew of ditch diggers asking each one if he is married. The first one who says he isn't, though he is very attached to his Great Dane dog Mike, is James Ellison. Ball offers him $500 to marry her immediately, and when he says that's not enough money, she offers a thousand. He says all he needs is $793, so they strike a deal. A justice of the peace marries them; he kisses her, then she slaps him, pays him, and leaves. We find out she’s a heiress about to come into some big money with the stipulation that she's married to a "plain American" man. The problem is that her fiancé (Lee Bowman) is French, so her plan was to marry some poor schmoe to qualify for the money, then head to Reno for a divorce and marry Bowman who, though handsome and charming, is probably a fortune hunter. When the press finds out what's going on, they dub Ellison a Cinderella man which he resents. Ball wants to get to Reno first to file for the divorce, but Ellison traps her in his ride-behind trailer so they will wind up in the city together. At a gas station stop, she ducks out and hitchhikes, but when two men try to assault her, she is saved by Ellison and his dog. Ball and Ellison warm to each other until the press claims he has a wife in Chicago, and Ball discovers a ledger page with the name Caroline, to whom the $793 she paid him will go. Eventually, Bowman catches up with them and Ball travels with him. It turns out that Caroline is the name of a boat that Ellison is making final payments on, and the Chicago wife is not his wife after all. What will happen in Reno? 

This little-known B-movie is one of Lucille Ball's first starring roles after a string of comedic supporting parts at RKO. It's a charming semi-screwball comedy which sort of falls apart in the last fifteen minutes. The screenwriters didn't seem sure what to do once they got to Reno and they threw some creaky plot mechanics in. But enough of the movie works to be a pleasant watch. Ball is very good; it's almost like she's road testing her Lucy Ricardo persona. Ellison, a favorite B-lead of mine, is almost as good as the plain American who falls for Ball but also resents her tricks. Bowman rounds out the main cast quite nicely. With a little tweak of his performance, he could have taken Ellison's role, though the reverse might not work—I'm not sure Ellison could come off as deviously as Bowman does. Director Garson Kanin, better known as a writer (the play Born Yesterday, and some Tracy/Hepburn movies co-written with his wife Ruth Gordon), keeps the pace snappy until the end. In small roles are familiar faces like Mantan Moreland, Dick Elliott, and Cy Kendall. Generally, a nice surprise find. Pictured are Ball and Ellison. [TCM]