QUICKIE: Your dead friend left you a letter confessing he did your wife.... psych!
PLOT: When a recently deceased playboy gets to heaven and is granted one wish--granted to all newcomers--he requests that he be able to see the reactions of three husbands, with whom he regularly played poker, to a letter he left each of them claiming to have had an affair with each's wife.
SUMMARY: An interesting peek into three relationships and how they all centered around Max the bachelor. The film shows how each couple responds to the letter and in flashback reveals the moment/s when the alleged affairs could have happened. I was a bit disappointed in the end that all three wives took their husbands back, but considering it was the 50's, of course it's going to end that way. A nice, harmless film that doesn't really say much, other than "don't neglect your wife", but is still a nice film to watch. Some "high society" moments, and some fun party scenes. Eve Arden & Billie Burke are a couple of my more favorited actresses, and they deliver character as always.
Family Collection: Disc 35 - side A
Three Husbands ~ 1951 -BW
Eternally Yours ~ 1939 -BW
QUICKIE: Self centered illusionist makes his happy home life disappear by neglecting his wife.
PLOT: (from IMDB): Anita (Loretta Young), engaged to solid Don Barnes, is swept off her feet by magician Arturo (David Niven). Before you can say presto, she's his wife and stage assistant on a world tour that seems never to end. Anita is mildly annoyed by Arturo's constant flirtations, but his death-defying stunts give her nightmares. As for her plan to retire in a farmhouse, forget it. Finally, she's had enough and disappears for real...
SUMMARY: Ah, what a fabulous cast! The lovely Loretta Young, David Niven, Billie Burke, and Eve Arden too! The plot summary tells all, except that this is an engaging film with great actors that keep you interested in this different take on the rather predictable "neglected housewife leaves" plot.
Slightly Honorable ~ 1940 -BW
QUICKIE: Slightly comprehensible as various people try and frame a lawyer for murder. Lots of quick funny bits if you can keep up.
PLOT: An honest lawyer becomes the target of a corrupt politician who decides to frame the attorney for the murder of a young woman. Desperate to clear his name, the attorney sets out to track down the real culprit with the help of his assistant and some unexpected help from a nightclub dancer. The trail to the real killer ends up leading our attorney to someone connected to him a lot closer than he ever imagined.
SUMMARY: Wow. I've seen this movie twice and still didn't follow all of it. There's about 10 guys who are hard to tell apart on a small screen such as I have. There's some plot about trying to win a contract to build highways, and a big courtroom demonstration to go with it. A toughened socialite (Claire Dodd) gets murdered, which starts local politicians trying to get the lawyer arrested for the murder.
The real gems in this movie are the women. The too young dancer (Ruth Terry) who forces herself onto the lawyer steals every scene with her over zealous stupidity. Eve Arden is fabulous as the bitingly witty secretary, a role she seems typcast in, but still a joy to watch.
The one liners are fast and furious. The movie ends with the lawyer driving to a graveyard in Texas to discover clues to the murder and his tag-a-long partner tries to kill him. Once back home the next morning, the lawyer confronts his partner and they fight to the death. The nightclub singer witnesses the whole thing and notifies the police, clearing the lawyer. Somehow the truth about the corrupt politicians who were trying to frame the lawyer gets all straightened out too. I couldn't follow the plot too well as I was trying to keep everyone straight and keep up with the flying one liners. Not an Earth shattering melodrama, so I didn't worry about losing the plot, I just enjoyed the humor.
