MartinHafer
"Her Husband's Affairs" is not a very good film. It also has an incredibly sexist message that must have ticked off many in the audience when they went to see this picture, as its underlying message is that wives should keep their mouths shut and let the man do all the thinking...even if he's wrong!!The basic idea behind the film could have been great...but wasn't handled especially well...sexist message or not. Bill (Franchot Tone) is an advertising executive and his wife (Lucille Ball) often has great ideas. In the midst of making a very successful campaign for hats (thanks in large part to the wife) his goofy neighbor, a crackpot inventor, shows him his new invention. It seems this cream instantly cleans off whiskers. With no scientific testing to see if it really works AND if it has any negative side-effects, a multi-million dollar campaign is initiated....and only a day later do they learn that instead of removing hair, it creates lush hair overnight! There's more to the dopey invention than this...but by that point my patience was gone. I just wanted this incredibly bad film to end!! This is tough, however, as the film got progressively worse.The bottom line is that this movie comes off like a very bad sitcom...very bad. The story goes everywhere...too many places. It also has lots of folks getting upset and acting like caricatures instead of real folks. Pretty dopey...as well as incredibly sexist.
ksf-2
Lucy had a bit part in Franchot Tone's "Moulin Rouge" ten years prior to this film, but this time she gets the female starring role up against Tone. Right from the beginning of "Her Husband's Affairs", we see that William Weldon (Tone) gets himself into jams, and wife Margaret (Lucy) has to get him out of them every time. William's boss JB, is the awesome Edward E. Horton, made up to look quite old and bald. (Viewers will recognize Horton's effeminate, whining, voice from Fractured Fairy Tales and all those Fred Astaire films.) Our story seems to be an early version of the TV show "Bewitched", where hubby is an advertising man, and relies on the wife's quick thinking to save him. When one of the products they are involved with causes a major crisis, they must figure out a solution quickly before the newspapers get there to take pictures. Lucy had been getting starring roles for a few years now, and she does just fine in this lightweight one. The second half of the picture takes place in a courtroom, and feels like an episode of I Love Lucy (Oh Fred!)...Gene Lockhart is here as Mr. Winterbottom. Also look for a 13 year old Dwayne Hickman (played in his own show "Dobie Gillis") in the laboratory scene. Directed by Sylvan Simon, who died at age 41, just a couple years after this project. No big surprises here, but we get a fun, early look at Lucy being Lucy just a couple years before her TV show.
edwagreen
Lucille Ball tries to be funny but she really can't be given the written material that she is given to work with. In fact, it's really pathetic. Franchot Tone co-stars and proves that he certainly was not adept at comedy.As a husband and wife advertising team, they are always bound for Bermuda until something comes along to thwart the long delayed honeymoon. In this case, the thwarting may be attributed to the writing here.The inane subject dealing with a hair removal, hair add-on for bald individuals and a glass-like flower are just a little too much to contend with. Then, there is the plot where the scientist making these inventions is supposedly killed and Tone is blamed for the murder.I guess that Larry Parks had to do this film contractually. Fortunately, his appearance his brief. Not a great encore for the Jolson star.
Neil Doyle
There's a lot of the Lucy Ricardo personality in the wife LUCILLE BALL plays in HER HUSBAND'S AFFAIRS--only here the husband who gets exasperated with her brainstorms is FRANCHOT TONE. It starts out with an amusing idea about a scientist MIKHAIL RAHSUMNY whose embalming lotion can be used to remove beards without shaving. It does so very efficiently until several hours have passed--and then it grows abundant amounts of hair.FRANCHOT TONE is an advertising man who thinks he's going to have some successful products to launch with the help of the mad scientist, except that most of the plans go haywire thanks to the manipulations of his scatterbrained wife. The plot fizzles out after the first half-hour or so and after that it just gets sillier until the courtroom ending when things finally get straightened out in time for a happy ending.Summing up: Below average vehicle for Lucy five years before she made her big splash on TV as an even more troublesome wife in America's most beloved situation comedy I LOVE LUCY. Some laughs but the jokes wear thin long before the conclusion.Trivia note: LARRY PARKS has a bit part as himself in a scene where various big shots gather to try the new product.
AD
