A Girl, A Guy, And a Gob

The guy is Edmond OBrien, playing Steve, a shy shipping magnate. The girl is Lucille Ball, playing Dot, a down-to-earth, bright-as-a-penny executive assistant. The gob (sailor slang for swabbie) is George Murphy, playing Coffee Cup, a light-on-his-feet soon-to-be-former Navy man who plays all the angles with heart to spare. Together, they make three sides of a triangle that sparks more laughs and affection than tension and division. When Steve and Dot have a meet-cute (she accidently steals his opera box seats and drops her purse on his head), her sense and sensibility, along with her You Can't Take It with You-style clan prove the tonic that Steve needs to escape his shell. When Dots fiance, Coffee Cup, arrives on leave from the Navy, he proves more comrade than complication, and a delight of confusions ensues as each tries to do right by the other. The hand of silent-comedy king Harold Lloyd is felt throughout this fine, fizzy film.