Pot o' Gold (1941)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

George Marshall

Writers:

Haydn Roth Evans (idea) &
Robert Brilmayer (idea) ...

Release Date:

3 April 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

It's the prize romantic laugh of the year... more fun than winning the POT O' GOLD!

Plot:

Jimmy, the owner of a failed music shop, goes to work with his uncle, the owner of a food factory. Before he gets there...

Plot Keywords:

Music Shop | Harmonica | Big Band | Feud | Beautiful Woman

Cast

James Stewart	...	James Hamilton 'Jimmy' Haskell
Paulette Goddard	...	Molly McCorkle
Horace Heidt	...	Himself, Horace Heidt
Charles Winninger	...	Charles 'C.J.' Haskell
Mary Gordon	...	Mom McCorkle
Frank Melton	...	Jasper Backus
Jed Prouty	...	J.K. Louderman
Charles Arnt	...	Parks (butler) (as Charlie Arnt)
Dick Hogan	...	Willie McCorkle
James Burke	...	Police Lt. Grady
Donna Wood	...	Donna McCorkle
Larry Cotton	...	Larry Cotton, Vocalist

Also Known As:

Jimmy Steps Out (USA)
The Golden Hour (UK)

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

UK:PG (re-rating) (2005) | UK:U (original rating) | Finland:K-18 | USA:Approved (TF1 certificate) | Spain:T | Sweden:Btl

Company:

James Roosevelt Productions

Trivia:

First movie for Art Carney.

Quotes:

Charles 'C.J.' Haskell: They're in the phones now! Listen to that!
Hames Hamilton 'Jimmy' Haskell: [takes the receiver] Oh yes, very beautiful string quartet.
Charles 'C.J.' Haskell: String cor-tet!? That's bugles!
Himself, Horace Heidt: [writing down a medical report] Hears bugles in phone.

Soundtrack:

Hi, Cy, What's A-Cookin'?

Unusual

This is not really an odd movie. Just unusual, in that instead of it being a musical, it's a comedy with a conceit, i.e., common people sing, rich people are miserable. It could be developed more in this film but it's highly effective. In a musical, everyone sings, because the premise of a musical is that life has some sort of musical undercurrent of fantasy only visible in musicals. In Pot o'Gold, music belongs to a class. The performances do have fantasy sequences, but by and large, for the plot's movement, all the singing is consistent with the action, if that makes sense. I would only recommend the movie if such things interested you. Paulette Goddard is charming but doesn't really get to do anything. The music itself is banal.