Easy Living

Edward Arnold, Jean Arthur & Ray Milland

Here’s a fantastic film I never heard of:  Easy Living directed by Edward Leisen in 1937. It stars Jean Arthur, Edward Arnold and Ray Milland. Too many screwball comedies seem to start with a misunderstanding, that leads to a little lie which builds to many lies and I’m just screaming, “Come clean for crying out loud!!” But this one doesn’t have the distraction of dishonesty. Just misunderstandings that lead to hilarious outcomes. Is Jean Arthur ever NOT wonderful?  I think not. And in this movie she is too adorable for words. She’s a working girl who gets involved with a banker played by Edward Arnold. His character is a blustering rich guy who loves his family, but his wife and son both raise his blood pressure. The working girl then falls for Ray Milland.

He is at his hunkiest in the film and plays dreamboat as well as angry son with aplomb. It’s hard to reconcile this man with the one who was in Frogs and The Thing With Two Heads with Rosie Grier (both movies made in 1972). If you have not seen The Thing With Two Heads, and like bad movies, this is a must see. It defies description.

Rosie Grier & Ray Milland

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