7/10
Lucy's Dress Rehearsal
15 December 2008
The one and only big screen teaming of Lucille Ball and Eddie Albert finds them as a pair of newlyweds wondering how they're going to make the payments on their dream house. Then Lucy gets the bright idea of getting a job as a Fuller Brush Girl. Just to show how good she is, she even takes her friend Jeff Donnell's sales route.

What I'm describing is typical Lucy Ricardo behavior and it brings typical Luc Ricardo results, all kinds of complications for everyone around her and much laughs for an audience.

The Fuller Brush Girl is like a dress rehearsal for I Love Lucy, she gets to try out some material that would become familiar on the small screen very shortly. From the beginning where she blows up a telephone switchboard to a drunk act straight from the classic Vitametavegimen routine, the film pulls out all the stops.

One thing that was different is that Eddie Albert being a different type than Desi Arnaz is far more passive and far more a victim in this film than Desi ever was.

Would you believe that poor Lucy who's just trying to make a little extra money winds up being accused of the murders of Albert's boss Jerome Cowan and his wife Lee Patrick? Frank Tashlin's script glides right into that with no effort. The twenty minute or so final chase scene on a freighter is a scream from start to finish.

Special mention should go to Mel Blanc who provided the voices for a pair of South American parrots who help as well as hinder Albert and Ball and provide a wonderful commentary on the proceedings. The Fuller Brush Girl is a must for fans of Lucy.
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