Watch Miss Grant Takes Richmond For Free

Thanks for the memories!

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

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.

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.

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.

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).