Forever, Darling

Forever, Darling (1956)

M-G-M Presents Their Riotous New Comedy In Color

Susan and Lorenzo have been married for over five years and they are starting to drift apart. So into her life comes an angel, which only Susan can see, to tell her that there will be trouble ahead if they do not work out their problems. Lorenzo is developing insecticide #383 at Finlay Vega Chemical Co. and plans to test it on a camping trip that he takes with Susan, but the trip becomes an obstacle course for him.

Date of release
1956-02-09
TMDB
6.9 / 10 (10)
Runtime
1h 31m
Genres
Comedy, Romance
Director
Alexander Hall

Casting

Interesting facts

Forever, Darling is a 1956 American fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Alexander Hall, written by Helen Deutsch, and starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, and James Mason. In the film, Ball stars as a wife who tries to save her struggling marriage to a chemical engineer (Arnaz) with the help of her guardian angel (Mason). Louis Calhern and Natalie Schafer co-star in supporting roles.

Production

The script initially titled Guardian Angel had been written by Deutsch in the 1940s as a vehicle for William Powell and Myrna Loy and had been languishing at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for several years. Later, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn were slated for the film, but it eventually fell through.

Following the success of their 1954 film The Long, Long Trailer, Ball and Arnaz had signed a two-picture deal with MGM in an attempt to set up a film unit for Desilu Productions. MGM head Dore Schary suggested Guardian Angel to the couple as the first picture of the deal. Ball believed the project would bring the couple closer together, and they agreed to do it. It was the first time Desilu was involved in feature film production.

In March 1955, Cary Grant was the reported choice for the guardian angel; however, his demanded salary was too high, so the role went to Mason. Alexander Hall — who was Ball's boyfriend at the time she met Arnaz — was hired as the director. Arnaz felt the script was weak, and he brought in I Love Lucy writers Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr.

Filming started in mid-June 1955 while Ball and Arnaz were on hiatus from filming I Love Lucy. Although mostly filmed at Desilu Studios in Culver City, California, some scenes were filmed on location in Yosemite National Park. Filming wrapped on July 12.

The title song, with lyrics by Sammy Cahn and music by Bronislau Kaper, was recorded by both Arnaz and the Ames Brothers, who performed it over the opening credits and ultimately had the bigger hit. The tune became an Arnaz family tradition, sung by Desi at special events, including his daughter Lucie's marriage to actor Laurence Luckinbill.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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