Loving Lucy: Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949)

Aug. 5, 2011

67. Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949)

Starring Lucille Ball, William Holden, Janis Carter, James Gleason, Gloria Henry, Frank McHugh

Directed by Lloyd Bacon

Plot: "A bookie uses a phony real estate business as a front for his betting parlor. To further keep up the sham, he hires dim-witted Ellen Grant as his secretary figuring she won't suspect any criminal goings-on. When Ellen learns of some friends who are about to lose their homes, she unwittingly drafts her boss into developing a new low-cost housing development.” (from IMDb)

Since I haven’t seen many of Lucille Ball’s films, in honor of her 100th birthday blogathon I decided to view one of them. I honestly was not expecting much from this movie and it was about what I thought it would be. Not a bad way to pass the time, but not a profound cinematic achievement either.

  

Dependable character actor Charles Lane has a small role near the beginning of this movie. I Love Lucy fans will recognize him from several episodes of the show: “Staten Island Ferry” (1956), “The Business Manager” (1954), “Lucy Tells the Truth” (1953), and “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (1953).

 
Another actor in this that would later appear in I Love Lucy was Will Wright, who showed up in two episodes: "Tennessee Bound” (1955), and "The Handcuffs” (1952).

 
Lucy looks gorgeous in this film. Costumes were designed by Jean Louis.

Together with Holden, James Gleason and Frank McHugh make up the trio of bookies.

 

When this film was made, William Holden had not yet reached the height of his fame, which would be launched by his success the following year in Sunset Blvd. I found his character in this film a bit too cynical to be a sympathetic leading man for this type of light comedy. In fact, I actually thought Ellen’s (Ball’s) boyfriend was a lot nicer than the bookie character played by Holden. He is very handsome, and though comedy may not be Holden’s forte, there are glimmers of the dry wit and unmistakable voice that helped make him a star.

William Holden would later star in a very famous episode of I Love Lucy. Here is a clip from part of that show:

You can also watch Lucy light her nose on fire and throw a pie at Holden.

According to IMDb: “Rita Hayworth was going to star in this movie, but Hayworth requested script revisions, and went on suspension to avoid making it.” I can’t say I really blame her. The material is just not that good.

One of the best parts of the film was near the end when Lucy’s character pretends to be tough-talking gangster. It reminds me of the kind of comedy she would later come to embody as Lucy Ricardo.

Though the film as a whole is rather unremarkable, it is interesting to watch these promising stars at this point in their careers. A solid B picture, it’s not a great movie, but it is worth watching if one is interested in Ball’s career pre-I Love Lucy.

{Here are more photos and some behind-the-scenes pictures from this film.}

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This is post is my humble contribution to the Loving Lucy Blogathon, hosted by True Classics.