Beauty for the Asking

I really enjoyed this movie. At the beginning, I thought this movie would be predictable and formulaic, but it surprised me, especially at the end and I loved the ending.

Flora was my favorite character by far. I was sympathetic toward her at the beginning and really enjoyed seeing her transformation. And it was so fun to see Frieda Inescort play a character so different from the usual ice queen roles I've seen her play.

Lucille Ball was pretty and good in her role, but nothing to write home about. Patrick Knowles was good in his role as a character who doesn't realize what a huge jerk he is.

But, Inescort shines in her role as Flora. She is what made this movie good and different.

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.

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.

Beautician Jean Russell (Lucille Ball) gets dumped by Denny Williams who marries wealthy Flora instead. On top of that, she loses her job. She tries to launch her face cream with the help of ad man Jeffrey Martin. They get backing from Flora who doesn't know Jean's previous relationship with Denny. Denny has since become a kept man. Jean wants him to work again and puts him in charge.

This could work if Jean is more obsessive in her love for Denny. Lucille Ball may not have the range. She needs more desperation. She needs to be pathetic in loving such a jerk. She is too self assured to play that. If she has the desperation, she could break down and get saved by Jeffrey. That's the romantic move. That's the melodrama. As it stands, it couldn't reach quite that level. Also Lucille Ball is not using her funny bone. It's nice to see her do something else but this doesn't have much juice.

The beautiful Lucille Ball and she was back in her salad days gets jilted by Patric Knowles in Beauty For The Asking. Our heroine is down but not out. She manages to market the tricks of the beautician trade into a cosmetic empire and she can buy and sell Knowles and Frieda Inescourt the rich woman Knowles did marry.

Lucy does well in this role which has some comic and dramatic elements. But Knowles really comes out best in this story. Knowles was never a lead, he's probably best known as Will Scarlett in the Errol Flynn Robin Hood film. But he could occasionally be a villain and he does excel here.

Donald Woods is here, always reliable as the second lead. But he's always kind of bland and he really isn't given much to work with.

Lucille Ball fans should like this.