If I Had a Million (1932)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Directors:

James Cruze
H. Bruce Humberstone

Writers:

Robert Hardy Andrews (story)
Claude Binyon (writer) ...

Release Date:

2 December 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

A dying tycoon gives million-dollar windfalls to eight people picked from the city directory.

Plot Keywords:

Tycoon | Relative | Money | Forger | Prostitute

Cast

Gary Cooper	...	Steve Gallagher
Charles Laughton	...	Phineas V. Lambert
George Raft	...	Eddie Jackson
Jack Oakie	...	Private Mulligan
Richard Bennett	...	John Glidden
Charles Ruggles	...	Henry Peabody (as Charlie Ruggles)
Alison Skipworth	...	Emily La Rue
W.C. Fields	...	Rollo La Rue
Mary Boland	...	Mrs. Peabody
Roscoe Karns	...	Private O'Brien
May Robson	...	Mrs. Mary Walker
Wynne Gibson	...	Violet Smith
Gene Raymond	...	John Wallace
Frances Dee	...	Mary Wallace
Lucien Littlefield	...	Zeb - Hamburger Stand Owner

Runtime:

88 min | USA:83 min (USA) (DVD release)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #1415-R, 31 August 1935 for re-release) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Three sequences intended for the movie were not in the final print: "The Pheeneys" with Cary Grant and Miriam Hopkins, "The Man Who Drops Dead" by Oliver H.P. Garrett, directed by Thornton Freeland and Clive Brook, and "The Randall Marshalls" with Sylvia Sidney, Carole Lombard and Fredric March, and directed by Lothar Mendes. It is not known if the first 2 segments were filmed and dropped or simply not filmed. The last sequence was partially filmed, but dropped because March would not participate in retakes without salary.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Discovering he's about to die, millionaire Glidden decides to leave his money to names he's randomly selected from the phone book. But when first name he chooses turns out to be John D. Rockefeller, he flips a few pages further into directory and selects someone named Peabody -- a name that would actually have appeared in the book before Rockefeller.

Quotes:

Mrs. Mary Walker: There ain't any jail of steel or stone that can hold a body prisoner as tight as one built of old age... and lack of money.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Shadows of Suspense (2006) (V)

Soundtrack:

I'll Be Glad When You're Dead (You Rascal You)

Excellent

Superb, episodic film showing what various people would do if they got a million dollars. The cast includes all of Paramount's biggest stars at the time and all the segments are by different directors. All the episodes are excellent--some are tragic, some are hilarious (the Fields one especially). All the acting is great (Raft especially) and there's never a dull moment. All of the episodes are short and don't wear out their welcome (the film is under 90 minutes). Basically, one of the best all-star films of the 30s--right up there with "Grand Hotel" or "The Women". If you get a chance, see it! It's well worth it.