# Forever, Darling
**Forever, Darling** is a 1956 American fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Alexander Hall, written by Helen Deutsch, and starring the husband-and-wife team of [Lucille Ball](https://www.edgepedia.org/lucille-ball) and [Desi Arnaz](https://www.edgepedia.org/desi-arnaz) with [James Mason](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-mason) as a guardian angel. It was the second and final theatrical film in which Ball and Arnaz starred together, following *The Long, Long Trailer* (1954), and it marked Arnaz's debut as a producer.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51833-FOREVER-DARLING?cxt=filmography)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | February 9, 1956 (United States); New York opening 9 Feb 1956[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049225/) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51833-FOREVER-DARLING?cxt=filmography) |
| Director / writer | Alexander Hall; screen story and screenplay by Helen Deutsch[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51833-FOREVER-DARLING?cxt=filmography) |
| Cast | Lucille Ball (Susan Vega), Desi Arnaz (Lorenzo Xavier Vega), James Mason (The Guardian Angel), Louis Calhern, John Emery, John Hoyt, Natalie Schafer[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51833-FOREVER-DARLING?cxt=filmography) |
| Production | Zanra Productions, Inc. (a reversed spelling of Arnaz), distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Loew's Inc.; the only feature film Zanra produced[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51833-FOREVER-DARLING?cxt=filmography) |
| Runtime and format | 96 minutes (AFI records 90-91 or 96 mins); Eastman Color with a Technicolor print[3](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/forever-darling) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51833-FOREVER-DARLING?cxt=filmography) |
| Filming | Mid-June to July 12, 1955, at the Motion Picture Center in Hollywood, with camping sequences shot in Yosemite National Park[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51833-FOREVER-DARLING?cxt=filmography) |
| Commercial result | A box office disappointment that barely returned its production cost of $1.4 million, ending the couple's two-picture deal with MGM[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/118530/forever-darling) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Susan Vega (Ball) and her husband Lorenzo Xavier "Larry" Vega (Arnaz) have been married for more than five years and have grown apart. Lorenzo, a chemical engineer at the Finlay Vega Chemical Company, is absorbed in perfecting a new insecticide, number 383, and neglects his wife.[3](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/forever-darling) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51833-FOREVER-DARLING?cxt=filmography)
When Susan wishes aloud for a more attentive husband, a guardian angel appears, visible only to her, and takes the form of her favorite movie star, played by James Mason.[5](https://moviesanywhere.com/movie/forever-darling) On the advice of Susan's idle-rich cousins Millie and Henry Opdyke, tension in the household rises, and after a quarrel Larry announces that he has been asked to test his new product on a two-year worldwide field trip and suggests Susan join him.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51833-FOREVER-DARLING?cxt=filmography) The angel advises Susan to take more interest in her husband's career, and she agrees to accompany him on a camping trip during which he will test the insecticide, despite knowing nothing about the outdoors.[3](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/forever-darling) The trip becomes an obstacle course of comic mishaps with tents and sleeping bags, after which the insecticide works and the marriage is restored.[6](https://haphazardstuff.com/forever-darling-1956-movie-review/)
## Production
The phenomenal success of *I Love Lucy*, which had premiered on CBS in October 1951, convinced MGM to star Ball and Arnaz in *The Long, Long Trailer* (1954), one of the biggest hits of its year. Studio head Dore Schary then offered the couple a two-picture deal on terms favorable to them: the first film would be shot at the Motion Picture Center, Desilu's studios, increasing their profit participation, and Arnaz would produce it as a joint production of MGM, Desilu, and the Ball-Arnaz company Zanra. In exchange, MGM received prominent placement in the forthcoming *I Love Lucy* episodes in which the Ricardos go to Hollywood.[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/118530/forever-darling)
**A recycled property.** For the first film under the deal, Schary suggested a property MGM had bought in the 1940s, originally intended as a vehicle for [Spencer Tracy](https://www.edgepedia.org/spencer-tracy) and [Katharine Hepburn](https://www.edgepedia.org/katharine-hepburn), and extensive revisions were needed to fit the couple's television personas.[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/118530/forever-darling) The working title was *Her Guardian Angel*.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51833-FOREVER-DARLING?cxt=filmography) The couple wanted [Cary Grant](https://www.edgepedia.org/cary-grant) for the angel, but he was too expensive, so the role went to James Mason.[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/118530/forever-darling) Ball hired Alexander Hall, an old boyfriend and mentor from her starlet days in the 1930s, to direct, though a Desilu executive recalled that the couple "hired Al Hall, but wouldn't let him direct," running the production themselves and bringing in *I Love Lucy* writers Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll for uncredited script doctoring.[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/118530/forever-darling)
The camping sequences were filmed in [Yosemite National Park](https://www.edgepedia.org/yosemite-national-park), with an acknowledgment to the Department of the Interior and the [National Park Service](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-park-service) following the closing credits.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51833-FOREVER-DARLING?cxt=filmography)
## Reception and aftermath
Reviews were poor. *The New Yorker*'s critic found the film "even more simple-minded than the sort of thing that often passes for entertainment" on television and described Mason as looking "utterly indifferent to everything that was going on."[7](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1956/02/18/woe-and-insecticide) Officials at [Radio City Music Hall](https://www.edgepedia.org/radio-city-music-hall), where *The Long, Long Trailer* had premiered, called the film "substandard" and refused to open it there; instead it premiered at Loew's State, where the newlywed couple had performed their first vaudeville act in 1941.[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/118530/forever-darling)
The film was a box office disappointment, barely returning its production cost of $1.4 million (IMDb separately lists an estimated budget of $951,000).[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/118530/forever-darling) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049225/) By mutual agreement, Ball, Arnaz, and MGM canceled the second picture in their deal, plans for Desilu to move into feature film production were dropped, and the couple returned to *I Love Lucy*. *Forever, Darling* was the last time Ball and Arnaz appeared together on the big screen.[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/118530/forever-darling) • [6](https://haphazardstuff.com/forever-darling-1956-movie-review/) Later assessments have been mixed: Time Out called it a "fitfully amusing offering" whose comedy comes alive mainly in the concluding field trip, when Ball "hits her stride in physical slapstick,"[8](https://www.timeout.com/movies/forever-darling) and it holds a 6.0 rating on IMDb from about 1,400 votes.[3](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/forever-darling)
## The title song
The film's title song, with music by Bronislau Kaper and lyrics by Sammy Cahn, is sung by the Ames Brothers over the opening and closing credits, and Arnaz, in character as Lorenzo, also serenades Ball with it on accordion during the camping trip.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51833-FOREVER-DARLING?cxt=filmography) Despite the film's failure, the song became a lasting family tradition for the Arnazes, sung by Desi at anniversaries and other events long after the marriage ended; when he sang it at his daughter Lucie's wedding to actor [Laurence Luckinbill](https://www.edgepedia.org/laurence-luckinbill), his ex-wife wept, and the two embraced after the song.[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/118530/forever-darling)
## References
1. [Forever, Darling (1956), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51833-FOREVER-DARLING?cxt=filmography)
2. [Forever, Darling (1956), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049225/)
3. [Forever, Darling streaming: where to watch online?, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/forever-darling)
4. [Forever, Darling, Turner Classic Movies article by Margarita Landazuri (2006)](https://www.tcm.com/articles/118530/forever-darling)
5. [Forever Darling | Full Movie, Movies Anywhere](https://moviesanywhere.com/movie/forever-darling)
6. [Forever Darling (1956) - A Review, HaphazardStuff](https://haphazardstuff.com/forever-darling-1956-movie-review/)
7. [Woe and Insecticide, The New Yorker (February 18, 1956)](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1956/02/18/woe-and-insecticide)
8. [Forever, Darling 1956, directed by Alexander Hall, Time Out film review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/forever-darling)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1950s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license