Easy Living

Easy Living is an amusing and overall well-paced screwball comedy starring Jean Arthur with a young Ray Milland (love doesn't mean saying you are "sorry") as her love interest. 

I enjoy her in various films, though If You Can Only Cook was too mannered. Her career spanned from the silent era to limited roles on television. 

She had to step aside after a few performances when she co-starred in the Supreme Court-themed play First Monday in October. I still don't know how she was not too old for the role. She was in her 70s. The role was for a much younger person (a young Jane Alexander stepped in to play the role).  

[The Wikipedia entry says she stepped out because of a viral infection. I read in the past that stage fright was also a major concern; she suffered it over the years and overall was a very private person.]  

Easy Living is also a dramatic film regarding an aging football star learning that he has a heart condition. Victor Mature (his real name) stars. Lucille Ball has a supporting role. She was quite good in a variety of dramatic roles. 

A familiar face portrays a doctor who confirms the condition. "Jeff Donnell" (a woman; "Jeff" is a childhood nickname), who plays the pregnant wife of a friend on the team, looks familiar, but I don't see anything in her resume that looks familiar. 

Overall, I liked this film too. 

ETA: T11 Incomplete (title concerning the injury of her client) is not quite as good as that review says.

Still, I liked it. Karen Sillas, as the older home health aide who is struggling with personal demons and other problems, is excellent. The other actors are a mixed bag, but overall give good performances as a bunch of flawed people.  It weighs a bunch of themes well.

The DVD box suggests a lesbian angle, which does exist, but there are multiple interlocking stories here. For instance, her son becomes more important as the film goes along. And, as with all good films, the supporting cast provides good touches. I wouldn't mind learning more about the daughter-in-law.

There is not much "easy living" here.