If I Had A Million (1932)

Buoyant, star-studded comedy about a dying steel tycoon (Richard Bennett) who randomly selects eight people from a phone book and gives them each a million dollars. Among the lucky recipients are a clumsy china salesman (Charles Ruggles), a working girl (Wynne Gibson), a forger (George Raft), a husband and wife (W.C. Fields and Alison Skipworth) who use the cash to buy a fleet of cars, an office worker (Charles Laughton), and a trio of rowdy marines (Gary Cooper, Jack Oakie, Roscoe Karns). Segments directed by some of Hollywood's top names including James Cruze, Ernst Lubitsch, Norman Taurog, William A. Seiter and more. 83 minutes. Product Description

THOROUGHLY ENJOYABLE

IF I HAD A MILLION isn't going to top anybody's list of best movies of all time, but I found it to be a fascinating little picture. A previous reviewer claims that the only segment worth watching is the one with W. C. Fields. I loved it, but it wasn't the only one I liked and it wasn't even my favorite. (It's not the only funny one, either, as the reviewer says.) The plot centers on a dying millionaire who refuses to leave his money to his family, who are waiting like vultures for him to die. Instead, he picks eight names at random from the telephone book and for the rest of the movie we watch a diverse group of people receive a million dollars and how it impacts their lives. Not all of them are lucky to receive the money. The group includes a nervous, hen-pecked husband who works in a china shop and can't stop breaking china; a sympathetic prostitute; a known forger who can't cash his $1,000,000.00 check precisely because he's a known forger; a guy on death row about to be electrocuted; a rowdy marine (played by Gary Cooper) who gives his check away because he thinks it's an April fool's joke; a man working a desk job in the bowels of a gloomy office building; a little old lady in a nursing home who, after receiving the check, buys the home and turns it into a rolicking party house. Some of the segments work better than others, but I found all of them interesting in one way or another. The movie was made during the Great Depression (1932) and has historic value on that basis since it's clearly a Depression-era movie geared to lifting people's spirits via wish fulfillment. Aside from Cooper, the film stars Charles Laughton and W. C. Fields (among other stars of the time). The acting ranges from barely mediocre to simply excellent. Ernst Lubitsch wrote and I think directed one of the segments.

The now out-of-print DVD featured here was released in 2006 by a company called Hollywood's Attic. It's full screen. The transfer, while not digitally remastered or anything, is actually pretty good. There are no extras. The menu gives two options: Play and Select Chapter. Still if all you want is the movie, this DVD is fine. I definitely enjoyed it. July 20, 2007

Tedious to watch outside of Fields sequence.

This "episodic" movie is mostly a slow Melodrama with the only comedy coming from W.C. Fields' 10 minute sequence in the middle.

An ailing Millionaire decides to give away some of his wealth to those less fortunate ( this later bacame a television show in the 1950's ). The affects on the recipient's lives is dramatized in this multi-story movie. The highlight is the comedy relief story of W.C. Fields mid-way through. Fields buys a new (for that time) car and encounters a road hog.

The rest of the film is more interesting for the historic value of seeing Paramount's stars of that time.

Of historic note: in the 1960's & 1970's Castle Films sold the 10 minute Fields segment for home use on 8mm & 16mm film. In 1979 MCA Home Video sold the entire movie on "DiscoVision" Video Laserdisc as one of their first home video releases. Since then there has been no official release of this title to the home market ( the source of this DVD release is uncertain ). March 2, 2007

The Ultimate Episodic Film

This is the ultimate episodic film, full of Paramount's biggest stars at the time including Gary Cooper, Charles Laughton, Charlie Ruggles and George Raft. Each star is featured in short one or two reelers based on the theme-What would happen if a tycoon gave a million dollars to a random person in the phone book? The results are funny, poignant, sad, and all are interesting. The comic segments include a memorable one (very short and to the point) by Laughton, and one by W.C. Fields which helped to resurrect his movie career.

The shame of it is that Universal Pictures Video has this movie and thousands others of Fields and other comedies and features locked in a vault and never released for video. One wonders why they are keeping secret all of these films that they could be making money on as a retail item. It is interesting to note that W.C. Fields basically began his premium sound career with his short bit from this film, and ended it in 1942 in another episodic film (recently restored to include him), "Tales of Manhattan" by Fox Video. At least Fox knows the value of bringing an old chestnut like that one to the market. If we are lucky, maybe someone at Universal will wise up and release "If I Had A Million", too.

March 1, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...