Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949)

Director:

Lloyd Bacon

Writers:

Devery Freeman (writer)
Everett Freeman (story)

Release Date:

20 September 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

She was never so insulted in all her life...and it was wonderful!

Plot:

A bookie uses a phony real estate business as a front for his betting parlor. To further keep up the sham...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Character Name In Title

Cast

Lucille Ball	...	Ellen Grant
William Holden	...	Dick Richmond
Janis Carter	...	Peggy Donato
James Gleason	...	Timothy P. Gleason
Gloria Henry	...	Helen White
Frank McHugh	...	Mr. Kilcoyne
George Cleveland	...	Judge Ben Grant
Stephen Dunne	...	Ralph Winton

Also Known As:

Innocence Is Bliss (UK)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Rita Hayworth was going to star in this movie, but Hayworth requested script revisions, and went on suspension to avoid making it.

Quotes:

[Dick and Peggy are about to have a drink. Ellen enters, dressed in a trenchcoat and fedora, with an unlit cigarette dangling from her lip, acting the part of the tough moll. She is followed by her "gang," similarly garbed, consisting of her father, Ralph, and another man]
Ellen Grant: [to her "boys"] Gimp! Louie! Fingers!
[to Peggy]
Ellen Grant: Musclin' in on my organization, huh? Hijackin' my key man. You're in a jam, sister!
Dick Richmond: Listen, Ellen, I made a deal.
Ellen Grant: [slaps him twice, knocking him over] Shut up, ya rat! So ya tried to shake me for this tahmata, huh?
Peggy Donato: [to Dick, angry and upset] What is this? You said she was only a front!
Ellen Grant: Just a front? So that's the pitch!
Dick Richmond: [getting up off the floor] Please, Ellen, you'll only get hurt if they...
[Ellen slaps him across the face hard several times]
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Lady with the Torch (1999)

For Lucy fans only

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.