Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949) User Reviews (22)

Who's Taking Who?

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 14 September 2006]

When Lucille Ball did I Love Lucy few at the time suspected she had the comic talents she possessed. Her history up to then in films was usually as a wisecracking second banana in major films and some leading roles in B films.

And Miss Grant Takes Richmond is definitely a B film. Next year William Holden with Sunset Boulevard would step into the A list of players, but it wasn't his time yet. Holden proved to be a worthy foil for Lucy's comic antics.

The film is definitely Lucy's however. CBS executives must have seen Miss Grant Takes Richmond and seen what Lucy could do before passing on I Love Lucy as a television series.

There were some incidents that definitely could have come out of I Love Lucy. Her struggles with mastering the typewriter in secretarial school with Holden deftly catching a flying typewriter carriage, her dodging a steam shovel at a construction sight, her trying to use a jackhammer and the aftermath of that, all these could easily have been in any of her television series. Harbinger of things to come. Remember also that Bill Holden made a memorable appearance on I Love Lucy and got a pie in his face at the Brown Derby.

Lucy is a klutzy scatterbrained student at a secretarial school run by Charles Lane and Holden comes in looking to hire. To everyone's amazement he hires Lucy. He runs a scam real estate operation that is a front for a bookie joint. Her job is to basically babysit and commiserate with those who actually come in and are looking to buy property and shine them on. She doesn't know she's working for bookies, Bill Holden, Frank McHugh, and James Gleason.

Through her own wide-eyed Marie Wilson type view of the world before long she's got this trio actually building homes and trying to be bookies at the same time.

To see the Lucy Ricardo of the future by all means catch Miss Grant Takes Richmond.

If you don't, you'll have a lot of 'splaining to do.

bookies and real estate

[RanchoTuVu · 8/10 · 5 October 2006]

A small comedy with a nicely paced story about a bookie played by William Holden who tries to hide his operation behind the front of a real estate office that he opens in a medium sized town. He hires a secretary played by Lucille Ball who can't even type. To his consternation, she attracts interested first-time home buyers, WW2 vets and their wives and children. It almost has, at times, the feeling of George Bailey in Capra's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, building homes for the emerging middle class. Taking us out to the construction site, Lucy is nearly crushed under tons of earth in a rather incredible scene, while Holden and his associates (who are given many funny lines) are reluctantly led by the positive goodness of the buyers into being pioneers in real estate development and early suburban sprawl.

His gal Friday

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 29 September 2006]

Who in his right mind would give a secretarial job to Ellen Grant, a woman who doesn't seem to have mastered either typing or shorthand? Leave it to Dick Richmond, a man that wants to use Ellen as a distraction to be his receptionist at his real estate agency that serves as a front for his illegal betting activities that is his real business. Poor Mr. Richmond, he gets more than what he bargained for.

Ellen, who starts as an eager secretary, suddenly decides to help the firm in sponsoring the construction of badly needed housing in the area. This is happening at the 'baby boom' era in America, where the returning sailors and their families couldn't find affordable housing. Ellen, who has a heart of gold, wants to involve Richmond into being the builder. Little does she know she is getting in his way.

Lloyd Bacon directed this mildly funny comedy that showed Lucille Ball's talent as a comedienne, something she would exploit in later years as one of America's best loved funny woman in that new medium of television. William Holden shows he was an excellent comedy actor with the way he portrayed the con man Richmond. Two of the best character actors of the thirties and forties, James Gleason and Frank McHugh are seen as the men working the racket in the Richmond's real estate firm.

Although Lucille Ball was nearing forty at the time she appeared in this film, one tends to forget her contribution to the movies that came before this comedy and before finding fame in that new technology, television.

for actors

[Kirpianuscus · 5 May 2018]

A film who, today, could have a basic virtue - to see William Holden, Lucille Ball and James Gleason in a comedy with too many expectations. a student at secretarial school, her unexpected luck, a bookie joint under Realtor appearences, a moral end - confuse, off course, noble message , the importance of the poor people. all - pretext for a nice comedy . not more. and that is the good thing. because it represents the right choice for the public looking for easy old fashion comedies. I am one of small examples - the admiration for the real significant roles of William Holden, I saw this film not ignoring its easy charm. and Lucille Ball is perfect as miss Grant. so, a film for see. especially for the fans of actors.

Silly and enjoyable fluff

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 29 March 2011]

Lucille Ball made this film couple years before starring in "I Love Lucy" and in many ways she plays a character with a lot in common with her Lucy Ricardo--clumsy, ditsy and yet quite eager.

"Miss Grant Takes Richmond" begins with Lucy in a secretarial school. She is utterly hopeless and stands almost no chance of graduating. However, oddly, a guy (William Holden) comes to the school looking for a secretary and picks, of all people, Lucy. You find out later that he's actually running a bookmaking business and wants a really stupid person to pose as a secretary--and just sit there and ask no questions. However, he doesn't anticipate that while Lucy's character isn't very bright, she is full of enthusiasm and drive. So, instead of just sitting around doing nothing, she decides to 'help' Holden with his business (he's posing as a real estate broker). Without his knowledge, she begins making business deals and suddenly Holden and his friends find out they actually have an honest to goodness land development--and new owners! What are they to do? They can't just fire her and abandon the deal, as she has a very well-connected family--including a local judge! What are they to do? Aside from one rather bad slapstick scene where Holden things Lucy was buried alive, the film actually is pretty clever and fun. While the film isn't all that deep, it is enjoyable and a nice vehicle for Lcuy.

Lucy and Bill

[wglenn · 6/10 · 13 April 2006]

I've always thought William Holden was an underrated comic actor and at his most charming in some of his comedies (Sabrina, Born Yesterday, Moon is Blue). Since he didn't make a lot of comedies, I was looking forward to this one with Lucille Ball. But it's not Holden's film. It's Lucy's film, with Holden playing the straight man. I'm not a big Lucy fan, but she's quite funny in this. Holden, on the other hand, seems a little stiff or disinterested. To be honest, there's not much to work with. Lucy probably succeeds because she's very good at physical comedy and can make us laugh without saying anything, which helps when the script is so weak. Holden's humor tends to come from his intelligence and his timing, which is harder to make work when the screenplay is mediocre or you don't want to be in the film to begin with. Miss Grant Takes Richmond came out the year before Sunset Blvd., so I imagine that Holden's frustration with his roles during much of the 1940s was reaching its peak around this time. But James Gleason and Frank McHugh, two wonderful actors, also seem to struggle a bit in this film, so I pin much of the blame on the writing. There are some funny bits here and there, but it's all a little sugary for me. Lucy fans will probably enjoy it, though - she does the best.

Need a secretary? Call "That Girl!"

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 14 September 2016]

When the brains behind a bookie racketeers the worst secretary in the world, you know he's up to something. "I'll take that girl!", determined William Holden tells curmudgeon secretarial school professor Charles Lane who is perplexed but fooled. Lucille Ball is the clumsy secretary who ruins typewriters like she was skeet shooting. Ribbons pop off their axles, the carriage shoots off like a champagne cork, and her waste basket is never empty. So in other words, she's perfect for the job of front for Holden's gambling operation.

With tough talking James Gleason and perpetually confused Frank McHugh as Holden's staff and Janis Carter as Holden's jealous girlfriend, Lucy doesn't realize what she's up against which is why she ends up doing better than anybody suspected she would. Of course, it doesn't hurt that her a uncle (George Cleveland) is a prominent judge and one of her suitors (Stephen Dunne) is the assistant D.A.

As Ball turns Bill upside down with her interference in his operation, he plots to get her to quit only to make her more determined, even though she does briefly quit after he makes a pass. This wasn't Lucy's first opportunity for wacky comedy, but the three farce comedies she made at Columbia showed the creation of Lucy Ricardo, Carmichael and Carter. Gleason and Carter get some really good lines, while it's ironic to see Lucy with Lane (who appeared on a majority of her sitcoms) and Holden who was memorable as himself on one of "I Love Lucy's" most notable episodes. This rates A+ as a smart comedy about corruption, with city slickers of tough attitudes deliciously taken down several notches thanks to "that girl".

A bookie meets his match.

[michaelRokeefe · 7/10 · 6 April 2011]

This comedy is well paced and stars Lucille Ball two years before she started on her super-stardom career on TV; and William Holden shortly before making it big on the silver screen. Ellen Grant(Ball)is the absolute worst pupil at a school for secretarial skills. Her dim-witted actions makes her the perfect secretary for Dick Richmond(Holden), who is using a phony real estate business that merely fronts for a bookmaking operation. The ambitious new secretary puts a venture in motion to find cheap housing for local citizens. Richmond gets himself in a crunch and decides to use down payments on non-existent homes to pay off a large gambling debt. Incompetence can be very humorous. The supporting cast features: James Gleason, Frank McHugh, Janis Carter, George Cleveland and Gloria Henry.

Saturday filler

[ArtVandelayImporterExporter · 6/10 · 22 October 2021]

I watched because I am a William Holden fan. Others will watch b/c they are Lucille Ball fans.

They work well together in this harmless comedy. The concept was probably scratched on a diner napkin. Bookie with a fake real estate company hires dimwit secretary. Wacky hijinks ensue.

Throw in veteran support. Include a couple of double entendres along the way. Let Lucy do some physical comedy. And let Bill Holden be his super cool self. And away you go.

Lucille Ball shows a glimmer of things to come...as Lucy...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 27 September 2006]

This is a not so funny comedy that does at least provide a few laughs, mostly because it's a set-up for some shenanigans that are reminders of what would happen when LUCILLE BALL left films for television to become America's number one comedienne with I LOVE LUCY.

There are more than a few hints of her deft handling of physical comedy and there's a nice chemistry between Lucy and her handsome boss, WILLIAM HOLDEN. Then too, there's the additional advantage of having JAMES GLEASON and FRANK McHUGH as supporting actors for a thin story about a daffy secretary who is slow in catching on to the fact that the real estate office she works for is really a front for bookies.

MISS GRANT TAKES RICHMOND has all the appearance of a low-budget programmer and it's surprising to find WILLIAM HOLDEN still drifting around in this sort of weak material when he had so many golden opportunities just ahead of him. Still, he's not bad and shows a definite flair for handling light romantic comedy. But there's no doubt about it, this is a vehicle designed to promote the comic flair of his co-star, soon to become famous as a scatterbrained housewife.

The thin script plays more like a half-hour TV comedy padded to the running time of a feature film. The funniest bits are the slapstick elements, particularly Lucy avoiding a building crane that seems intent on burying her in a pile of dirt and mud. But the stronger laughs are few and far between when the script is as painfully weak as this one.

Strictly for Lucy's most ardent fans.

No Wonder We Loved Lucy in this Preview of What Was to Come **1/2

[edwagreen · 6/10 · 30 September 2006]

Some funny antics are shown in this 1949 comedy with Lucille Ball and William Holden.

Ball immediately showed her comedic gifts as a dimwitted secretary hired by a bookie (Holden) to watch over the office.

Trouble is that she is the niece of a judge. Thinking that Holden is in real estate, she begins to bring prospective customers and builders to him. Frank McHugh and James Gleason co-star and do well as comic foils.

Some of the scenes are hilarious where Ball shows her "stupidity" and other happenings. Holden is young, adept at comedy but was chain smoking throughout the film.

This movie was a definite pre-test for Lucy Ricardo. Too bad Vivian Vance and Bill Frawley weren't in it as well.

Generally Ho-hum but -- Here Comes Lucy!

[Handlinghandel · 4/10 · 10 August 2007]

This is the only big-screen movie I have seen in which the Lucille Ball of "I Love Lucy" was clearly apparent. The movie was released only a few years before the TV series started. The TV series: Of course I love it. The movie: It's nicely done but warmed-over from numerous earlier films.

Ball is hired by bookie William Holden from a secretarial school. What's odd about that? Only this: She is far and away, and very obviously, the worst student there. She makes a mess of typing, gets tangled in the typewriter ribbon, etc., Just like Lucy. A little like Charlie Chaplin.

And she uses that high, bleating voice we came to know and love in her television show. She'd made comedies before this but she was always kind of tough, the way she came across in most of her more serious outings too.

This has a fine supporting cast. Seeing James Gleason is always a pleasure. Ditto Frank McHugh, looking a little prosperous here but playing his usual sort of role. And Janis Carter is hilariously mean as Holden's onetime romantic interest.

Holden holds up his part of the movie but seems distracted. He was fine in "Golden Boy" but didn't come into his own until "Sunset Boulevard," also a few years later.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with "Miss Grant Takes Richmond." Maybe it's good, too, that if one dozes off for a bit, one will be right there and know exactly what's going on. It's familiar stuff, nicely handled.

Preview of "I Love Lucy"

[Red-125 · 7/10 · 18 May 2005]

Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949) directed by Lloyd Bacon, stars Lucille Ball as Ellen Grant, probably the worst student the Woodruff Secretarial School has ever graduated. William Holden plays Dick Richmond, a bookie who needs a naive person to lend respectability to his illegal gambling operation. Naturally, he chooses Ellen Grant.

The movie is totally predictable, and very much a product of the 1940's. To my knowledge, not a single person of color appears in the film. Bookmakers have a code of professional ethics, to which they scrupulously adhere. When a boss kisses a secretary, she's flattered, not offended, and so on. (Some things in our society have really changed for the better in 56 years!)

By 1949, it was obvious that Lucille Ball was no longer starlet material, and the director was intelligent enough to recognize her abilities as a comic actor. Many of the scenes in the movie could have come right out of the "I Love Lucy" show, which began two years later. (Incidentally, co-star William Holden appeared in a memorable episode of "I Love Lucy.")

As one reviewer has already noted, this film is for Lucy fans only. However, if you *are* a Lucy fan, the video is worth finding and seeing.

Lucy and William Holden make a fine team in this entertaining comedy

[Emaisie39 · 7/10 · 28 June 2007]

Lucille Ball starred in many films from the late 30's until she entered TV in 1951. Many of these films are forgotten but were highly popular at the time. WHile no classic this charming comedy gives Lucy a chance to shine in a tailor- made role that allows her to show real chemistry with a very handsome young William Holden who would along with Lucy become one of the very biggest superstars of the 1950's and 1960's. She plays a somewhat scatterbrained secretary for secret bookie Holden. Although some have said this is a B-film they are wrong. This was a major Columbia picture at the time. The glossy production values prove it. Definitely *** out of ****. For the best Lucy movie comedy check out the superior Technicolor MGM smash "The Long Long Trailor(1954).

Charming comedy that falters at the end

[raskimono · 7/10 · 29 December 2005]

Before Lucille Ball would become forever famous as the star of the beloved TV series "I love Lucy" and William Holden would become one of the biggest stars, if not the biggest star of the fifties, they were both dependable leading man and lady respectively in fluffy comedies for the studio system. Movies that were not very deep, did not charm the critics but did well at the box office as this one did. This is more Lucille's show than Holden who was already growing into his craggy, weary, doggerel expression that would serve him well in later years. Plot must be a twist on a popular fifties phenomenon of hard to find affordable housing in Washington DC and the scam artists who bilk the people desperate for affordable prices. Lucille is a dumb red-head who wants to do good things while being inept and dyslexic. Holden needs a not too bright secretary who won't ask questions and will not catch on to the underground shenanigans of his front real estate business. Lucille proves to be more headache than bargain, and gets Holden into a tight spot. He tries to fire her in a funny and unsuccessful attempt. She learns the truth, hates him, loves him and an ending comes. There is also another girl involved. You know it already it's a romantic comedy, Hollywood style. That said, the first two-thirds of the movie is very funny and sharp as the two of them grate each other's nerves, well it's Holden doing all the gritting. But the last third is very weak and not very intelligent, especially the final scene. So it's good but not quite there. Passable entertainment for the house-wife or loved one.

Lucille Ball Demonstrating Her Comedic Talents

[Uriah43 · 6/10 · 11 December 2020]

Of all the people in the Woodruff Secretarial School, "Miss Ellen Grant" (Lucille Ball) is the most inept student there. She can't type very fast or accurate and she also can't take dictation well either. So when the owner of the Richmond Reality Company by the name of "Dick Richmond" (William Holden) comes to the school everyone is surprised when he hires her as his new administrative assistant. What people don't realize is that Dick Richmond is using his real estate company as a cover to hide a gambling operation and the reason he selected Miss Grant is that he figures that she will be satisfied to field customer inquiries and leave him and his other two colleagues in a back office all alone. What he doesn't count on is the fact that Miss Grant currently lives with a judge who has a great deal of influence in civil cases involving housing and real estate and feels duty-bound to get him involved in Mr. Richmond's operation in order for him to succeed-and that's the last thing Dick Richmond wants or needs. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a nice little comedy which got better as it progressed with Lucille Ball demonstrating her comedic talents in this particular role to great effect. Admittedly, the film does show its age but it's a clean comedy and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

TV Lucy

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 28 November 2021]

Ellen Grant (Lucille Ball) is the worst typist in class. Everyone is surprised when Dick Richmond (William Holden) hires her for his new secretary. He's actually a bookie running a horse race gambling operation out back and a fake property rental business front. He needs a dumb blonde as the face of his fake business but she starts making the fake operation real.

Lucy is showing off some of her physical humor which would come in handy later on her TV show. She does need to be much dumber. The comedy would work better if she's a complete moron. Ellen should be absolutely a young innocent. One can absolutely see the TV Lucy especially when she turns fake thug. The plot is a bit convoluted but a screwball comedy can do that. This is a great progression into one of the great TV shows of all times.

For Lucy fans only

[robertcicco3035 · 5/10 · 19 October 2000]

Miss Grant Takes Richmond is an OK comedy starring Lucille Ball as a somewhat dizzy secretary who is hired by Mr. Richmond, a bookie using a phony real estate business as a front. Lucy, of course, doesn't know this, and she believes that he will build low-cost homes for her friends. This film is, unfortunately, not very funny. There are a couple of humorous sequences, but overall it should have been funnier. There's also very little slapstick, which is strange considering that Lucy was so adept at it. She and Holden do have some chemistry, though, and the supporting cast is good. A 5 out of 10.

Miss Grant is a Funny One

[daoldiges · 6/10 · 2 August 2022]

Miss Grant Takes Richmond gives us a solid preview of what Lucille Ball would become most famous for, the physical comedy talents and charisma of Lucy Ricardo. For me she successfully delivered on some solid laughs here. Holden, who I generally really like, is a bit too detached here and plays it too cool, to the detriment of all involved. The supporting characters are all solid and the film does make an unexpected turn toward the end, but is still a pleasant enough viewing.

Few Laughs.

[rmax304823 · 4/10 · 25 March 2011]

Lucille Ball is a clumsy student who barely graduates from secretary school. William Holden and his two buddies, Gleason and McHugh, run a bookie joint and hire Ball as a front for the "Richmond Realty" office. Ball thinks it's a genuine realty firm and disarticulates Holden's arrangement by committing the office to a low-rent real estate project for returned veterans and their families.

There are lots of opportunities for chuckles in this set up, involving conversational exchanges, situational absurdities, and slapstick. And if William Holden is no expert comedian, Lucille Ball ought to make up for it, and almost does. Gleason and McHugh, of course, are veterans of this sort of shtick.

It doesn't work. The writers must have been in a melancholy mood. The funniest scene is at the beginning, when "I Love Lucy" is trying to take dictation and type a letter and the ribbon pops out and rolls across the floor and her fingers are all blotched with ink and smears appear on her face -- and when not looking horrified she's intermittently trying to smile reassuringly at the instructor who is goggling at her from his desk. It's downhill from there.

I watched this years ago and didn't find it successful. So I watched it again tonight, wondering if the years had improved my ludic faculties. Nope.

A comedy disappointment for Ball and Holden fans...

[moonspinner55 · 4/10 · 20 April 2011]

Lucille Ball plays the worst student at secretarial school who is hired by a phony realty company precisely due to her innocent ignorance--and her nice legs! William Holden is Lucy's boss; he doesn't mind if she can't type so long as she provides a good cover for his private bookie joint in the back room. It took four writers to concoct this slapstick un-merriment, which has very few jokes (never mind good ones). It's a treat to see Ball and Holden together in a film, but the movie has been conceived on the most basic comedic level (and even there it fails, what with Lucy suddenly becoming an office firebrand and whipping Holden's non-business into shape). Several fine character actors like Gloria Henry and Charles Lane are decent in support, but nobody gave much thought to the heroine--and Ball can't carry the movie on charm and legs alone. ** from ****

Strictly for fans of Lucy

[edchin2006 · 4/10 · 5 August 2007]

You can think of this as a missing episode of "I love Lucy" - only longer. So many episodes were without Ricky that I didn't even notice he wasn't in this one. After a while, I was thinking this must've been just before she met Ricky. With a few minor changes this could've been a prequel.

The stock characters are there, and as for William Holden, who seems to be the same in every film - sort of like John Wayne, who doesn't act but just plays himself. William Holden does the same. Anyways, this really feels like a prequel with a guest appearance by William Holden - only he's Dick and she's Ellen.

If you're hankering for something nostalgic, this may be the ticket, but unless you're really a fan of "I love Lucy", there are lots better ways of spending your time.