After five years of marriage, chemical engineer Lorenzo Xavier Vega tends to neglect his wife Susan in favor of his work. When she wishes aloud that she had a more attentive spouse, her Guardian Angel – coincidentally the mirror image of her favorite movie star – appears. The angel advises Susan to take a greater interest in Lorenzo's career, so she agrees to accompany him on a camping trip to test the revolutionary new insecticide he's developed. Susan's dream of a second honeymoon turns into a nightmare when everything that possibly could go wrong does. She becomes determined to save her marriage before it's too late.
The script originally entitled Guardian Angel had been written by Deutsch as a vehicle for William Powell and Myrna Loy and had been languishing unfilmed at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for several years. Later, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn were slated for the film, but it eventually fell through. When Lucy and Desi Arnaz expressed interest in making another movie for MGM, the studio dug this script out of their unused screenplay archives for the comedy couple's new film. The picture was filmed in part on location in Yosemite National Park. Interiors were shot at the Desilu Studios in Culver City, California, rather than MGM. It was the first time Desilu was involved in feature film production. Forever, Darling was the second film made by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz during hiatus from their weekly CBStelevisionsitcomI Love Lucy, following The Long, Long Trailer in 1954. The couple's marriage was showing signs of severe strain, and Ball hoped the project would bring them closer together. They promoted the film via a cross-country train tour aboard a special car provided by the Santa Fe Railroad, with stops in Chicago, Detroit, Dallas, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York City, and Ball's hometown of Jamestown, New York. Cary Grant was Ball and Arnaz's original choice for the Guardian Angel; however, he demanded a far higher salary than they were willing to pay. James Mason was then sought and hired for the salary that Grant had rejected. I Love Lucy writers Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. were called in to help salvage what Arnaz felt was a weak script. Their uncredited contribution was a lengthy slapstick camping sequence that had little to do with the plot that preceded it. The film was considered "sub-standard" by programmers at Radio City Music Hall, where Trailer had premiered, and it opened instead at the Loew's State Theatre, where the newlywed couple had performed their first vaudeville act in 1941. The film was a critical and commercial flop that barely recouped its $1.4 million cost. As a result, MGM opted out of its agreement for another picture with Desilu, and Arnaz decided to scrap plans to create a feature-film division at his studio. The title song, with lyrics by Sammy Cahn and music by Bronislau Kaper, was recorded by both Arnaz and the Ames Brothers, who performed it over the opening credits and ultimately had the bigger hit. The tune became an Arnaz family tradition, sung by Desi at special events, including his daughter Lucie's marriage to actor Laurence Luckinbill.
Critical reception
of The New York Times described it as a "thin, overdrawn, weak caper" and Time Out London calls it a "fitfully amusing offering."
Box office
According to MGM records the film earned $1,912,000 in the US and Canada and $376,000 elsewhere resulting in a loss of $188,000.
