Beauty for the Asking

Thin production courtesy RKO Pictures has a plot-line that Lucille Ball's Lucy Ricardo would positively envy. Ball plays the inventor behind a pricey face cream for high society customers; she makes a fortune with it and draws a former flame back into her life. Relatively low-keyed comedy from the era of the screwball farce, relying on cynical jabs at the beauty business rather than sight-gags. Script was worked on at different times by five writers (Grace Norton, Adele S. Buffington, Edmund L. Hartmann, Doris Anderson, and Paul Jarrico), none of whom provides that much-needed hilarious set-piece. Some leisurely laughs along the way, mostly forgettable. Lucy-addicts will raise the rating a notch. ** from ****

Lucy tells the story of a woman who is dropped by her fiance, but who goes on to bigger and better things. She takes on selling of her beauty cream, and parlays it into a multi-million dollar industry. She blusters he way into Jeff Martin's (Don Woods) office, and bullies him into helping her set up the business. they also get her ex-boyfriend and the new girlfriend involved for financial help in setting up the salon to sell the beauty products. The stress of having the "ex" involved is one of the sub-plots. It's also interesting that one of the characters is called Eve Harrington. Eve Harrington will also be the star of "All About Eve". Patric Knowles, Frieda Inescort co-star. It's mildly interesting, considering its based on a true story. Script could be a little stronger... i found it difficult to believe that so few people in the story would know that Denny was Jean's fiance originally. I think it would have been a pretty well-known fact. and this one has a bit of the back-stabbing wit that we see in "the Women" from 1939. Directed by Glenn Tryon. started as actor in the (silent) 1920s, did some writing. "Beauty" was one of the eleven films he directed in the 1930s and 1940s. and of course, Lucy would end up OWNING the RKO studio lots, as Paramount.

Pleasantly surprised in how modern the story and characters were quite frankly. All the casts were marvelous, but miss lucille ball definitely stands out. She was not only talented comically, as we found out later in the career, but was really good as a dramatic actress as well. And as a matter of factly she was also strinkingly beautiful in her own right. Mister Patrick Knowles was particularly handsome, reminiscent of erroll flynn, montgomery clift, and tyrone power. So happy to have found and watched this classic movie gem on TCM.

Pleasantly surprised in how modern the story and characters were quite frankly. All the casts were marvelous, but miss lucille ball definitely stands out. She was not only talented comically, as we found out later in the career, but was really good as a dramatic actress as well. And as a matter of factly she was also strinkingly beautiful in her own right. Mister Patrick Knowles was particularly handsome, reminiscent of erroll flynn, montgomery clift, and tyrone power. So happy to have found and watched this classic movie gem on TCM.

Just caught the last 45 minutes of this unexpectedly well-written and performed movie gem. Excellent melding of a sharpe, no-nonsense script with sharp, no-nonsense acting on Miss Ball's part. Nice underlying feminist message of two women rivals becoming friends after experiencing betrayal by the same man...very protocol-feminist.

It starts like a formulaic 30s romance, but the female leads (Ball, Inescort, Courtney) play surprisingly savvy - though definitely fallible - women.

The male leads play their roles quite well, Patrick Knowles especially, but it's Ball and Inescort, and their relationship, that really stand out and make this movie well worth watching.

Even the beauty salon theme feels more honest and better thought-out than what you'd expect from a Depression-era rags-to-riches tale. Ball's character even emphasizes that good health is the key to beauty.

FWIW, I watched this (thank you, TCM) with someone who almost never has patience for old films, and she was hooked after about 20 minutes.