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15 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Overlooked screwball comedy, 14 May 2004
8/10
Author: Thomas W. Muther, Jr. (twm-2) from Topeka, KS

**MILD SPOILERS** I personally know of no one, other than myself, who has heard of this movie, let alone watched it. Miss Tatlock's millions in no way deserves to be relegated to obscurity. It's genuinely funny, sidesplittingly so at several junctures. John Lund (who plays an obscure actor) is hired to play the part of a long "lost" relative who has just inherited the "millions" in the title. Actually, this relative happens to be more than a little daft--a pyromaniac (a comic pyromaniac, of course, who goes about singing, "I Just Want To Set the World On Fire") who has spent 20 years or so in an insane asylum. The mayhem that follows is quite fun--and needless to say, there is the usual love interest, the confession that he is not what he seems, the rejection, the reconciliation, and (no surprise) the sudden appearance of the real heir. Obviously, it isn't the plot elements that make this worth watching--it's the hilarity gleaned from the trip. It certainly isn't a masterpiece, but it IS worth retrieving from the abyss of forgotten movies. 8/10

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11 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
An unjustly forgotten classic, 20 January 2003
9/10
Author: luannjim from Sacramento, CA USA

I'm told that when "Miss Tatlock's Millions" came out in 1948, it was a medium-size hit that had a small but extremely loyal cult following (sort of like the original "Bedazzled" in 1967). It's too bad that it's now almost completely forgotten -- a result of having never come out on video (except for a poor-quality bootleg dupe), a fate it shares with many late '40s Paramounts -- "The Great Gatsby," "The Big Clock," "Alias Nick Beal," and others. Like them, "Miss Tatlock's Millions" was long a staple of late-show TV but has now seemingly dropped off the face of the earth.

"Miss Tatlock's Millions" is, not to mince words, a riot. Another commenter here compares it to Preston Sturges, something that had never occurred to me before but which is very apt. It has the same kind of screwball pacing, distinctive characters, and brilliant dialogue (of course, Sturges remains peerless, but this one is in the same tradition and a very respectable specimen).

John Lund is wonderful as the fake "Skylar" and it's a pity he didn't get more challenges like this. I think he was a victim of his own good looks; the gang at Paramount decided he was a wooden pretty-boy, so that's all they gave him to do. But he sure delivers the goods here.

And the rest of the cast! Monty Woolley, Ilka Chase, Robert Stack, Barry Fitzgerald, Dan Tobin, Dorothy Stickney. That bunch would be fun to watch in anything, but give them Charles Brackett's dialogue and the combination is unbeatable. (The film, by the way, has at least one line that was, for a while anyhow, quite famous and oft-quoted by people who had no idea where it came from. Spoken by Monty Woolley: "I hate California. It's the only place on earth where you can fall asleep under a rosebush in full bloom and freeze to death.")

As the comments here attest, there is no one who's seen "Miss Tatlock's Millions" who doesn't love it and remember it as one of the funniest movies they ever saw. The only reason it's not up there with the great comedies -- the only reason, for example, that it placed nowhere on AFI's list of the (supposed) 100 greatest comedies -- is that not enough people have seen it.

Bring it back!

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8 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
My absolutely favorite Comedy!, 20 January 2005
10/10
Author: marilynhenry from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This remains my all-time favorite comedy. Has been since it's release in 1948. I had been a fan of John Lund for some time, but never realized he had this enormous gift for comedy. I mean, he is amazing, wild, hilarious--and romantic!

Paramount Studios was the home of most of my favorite actors back in my twice-a-week movie going days and I seldom missed one of their movies. This one proved to be far above all expectations!

From the moment we see Ray Milland replacing our feckless hero in a staged stunt on a Hollywood sound stage, we are hooked. 'Lower me gently, boys,' Milland instructs, as the already forgotten stunt man has to brush himself off after painfully setting the scene of a high fall. Enter Barry Fitzgerald and an intriguing proposal.

Skeptical at first, Lund gets into character with a vengeance as the story progresses and his impersonation of the loony Tatlock heir is alternately petted and put-down by various greedy family members. Monty Wooley is priceless, Ilka Chase perfect in her snobby zingers. Even she admits that her darling son Niki (Stack) has much charm but it wears off too quickly. When she sics Niki on Wanda Henricks, the innocent youngest Tatlock, Lund goes into gear!

Richard Hayden, that master of sly comedy, not only directs but also appears in a short role that adds to his luster as a character actor. In fact, he seems to have the perfect cast to work with here.

From midnight bloomings in a greenhouse, to sunny revelations on a beach in Maui, this is one fast-paced, hilarious, and oh-so-witty film. I have NEVER understood its obscurity. It is a gem.

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7 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Screwball classic...but where is it???, 8 August 2001
Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.

Saw this one years ago and thought it was an uproarious screwball comedy with the talented John Lund doing wonders with his role, pretending to be a bumbling idiot. He is doing his "act" in order to help Wanda Hendrix inherit her millions. Directed by the wonderful actor, Richard Haydn with a wonderful cast, including Robert Stack, Ilka Chase and Monty Woolley.

John Lund was an excellent actor who never found his true potential on film--an actor with a Broadway background who won him his first screen role opposite Olivia de Havilland in 'To Each His Own'.

But here his comic timing is perfect. In 'The Perils of Pauline' he was merely a foil for the antics of Betty Hutton--but here he has the primary comic role and he does a smashingly good job. Too bad more couldn't be made of his multi-talents in later films.

Where is the video version? Another great Paramount film never transferred to home video.

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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
One of my favorites, 4 February 2003
10/10
Author: nixxnutz from Dublin, California

At age 14, I saw this movie in a theater when it was new in 1948, and I have never forgotten it. Yes, it's funny, but it's also very romantic at the end. I think it was the best film John Lund ever made. I would love to see it again. If anybody out there has any influence on what goes on video, please push for this wonderful cinematic gem.

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Mr. Lund's Real Film Debut, 25 February 2006
10/10
Author: theowinthrop from United States

John Lund always gave a good performance, but for some reason he was always relegated to background acting: that is he was present, frequently in the lead male part, but somehow his role did not stand out enough to be recognized. His first big film was TO EACH HIS OWN where he played two roles - a World War I American ace who meets the heroine, Olivia De Haviland, while on a bond drive in upstate New York, has a passionate, brief affair with her, gets killed, and reappears some twenty years later as his own illegitimate son, raised as an adopted child by De Haviland's neighbors. It should have been the role(s) to establish him - but it didn't, because the bulk of TO EACH HIS OWN was De Haviland's part as the mother who loses her son. In fact, the son is played by a child actor, for part of the film - and is more memorable to the audience than Lund.

His banner year would be 1948. He appeared in two films that year that showed his acting strengths: A FOREIGN AFFAIR with Marlene Dietrich and Jean Arthur (directed by Billy Wilder), and this film, MISS TATLOCK'S MILLIONS. A FOREIGN AFFAIR is a wonderful comedy of post-war Berlin by Wilder, with Lund as an army black marketeer who is trying to protect himself and his girlfriend (Marlene) from a Congressional junket investigating black marketeers (including Jean). He does very nicely in the comic bits, misleading and confusing Arthur, and slowly becoming aware that he may be giving misplaced protection to a former Nazi supporter (Dietrich). But the real stars are Arthur (doing crazy undercover investigation) and Dietrich (given several good Frederick Hollander numbers to sing. And Wilder's screenplay with Charles Brackett, as well as his direction are overwhelming on Lund too.

But Lund does dominate (wisely) MISS TATLOCK'S MILLIONS, as the Hollywood stuntman turned fake heir. Richard Haydn (in one of his rare directing jobs) allowed Lund to take off on the eccentric "Schuyler" Tatlock, who loves to set fires, and wants to make his sister (Wanda Hendrix) happy. Schuyler escapes from his "keeper" Barry Fitzgerald, and apparently perished in a fire. But this was before the death of his grandparents, and he is one of the heirs to their fortune, much to the disgust of his aunt and two uncles (Ilka Chase, Monty Wooley, and Dan Tobin). Ilka would also like to keep Wanda's share of the fortune close to home by marrying her to her son Robert Stack.

There is a fly in the ointment. Fitzgerald has been keeping mum about the demise of Schuyler because it allowed him to live on his salary in the South Sea island they lived on. Now is his day of reckoning, and to prevent it he discovers that Lund (a Hollywood stuntman) looks like Schuyler. So he makes a business proposition: play the role of Schuyler for a week or so, until the will is read, and then "return" with Fitzgerald to the South Seas. Lund agrees to this - and then learns it's easier to assume a role sometimes than to drop it.

For one thing, he (unlike the real Schuyler) understands human nature. He is supposed to be a half-wit, so everyone (but Wanda) treats him with a bare contempt. And he resents it, and manages (while maintaining his act) to humiliate them. For a second thing, he finds he's physically and emotionally attracted to Wanda - and he detests Stack. Finally, the family lawyer (Haydn, in a nice cameo), reveals that the bulk of the fortune was given to Schuyler, rather than to the others. This certainly means that Fitzgerald cannot drag such a wealthy figure back to their former island home.

An accidental fall, causing Lund to momentarily sound normal, also adds to the problems. The new "normal" Schulyer Tatlock is able to communicate his feelings to Hendrix - although his ultimate feelings have to be hidden, as an incestuous relationship is impossible.

This comedy finally enabled Lund to show he was not just a dependable male lead. He was shown to be capable of insane comic antics as Schuyler. The result was a pleasure up to the satisfactory conclusion of the comedy. It was John Lund's finest hour on screen.

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Miss Tatlock's Millions: A Forgotten Gem, 11 March 2004
10/10
Author: Charles A. Miller from North Carolina, USA

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I originally saw this film when it first came to television in the 1960s... I was a 9 year old kid at the time, and I thought it was the funniest thing I had ever seen--which was probably quite right, considering everything else that passed for TV comedy in the 1960s was a reworked hodgepodge of stale vaudeville routines. Since then, to my knowledge, "Miss Tatlock's Millions" has not reappeared on broadcast TV, not on cable, not on satellite.

For all practical purposes, this movie had been entombed in some chilly crypt, far from the reach of mainstream entertainment. In fact, if my mother (now in her 70s) had not recently mentioned the name "Schuyler Tatlock"--referring to an idiotic person--I myself may have completely forgotten the movie, as well.

Schuyler (pronounced Skyler), you see, is the gravitational center of this 1948 black & white offbeat comedy... Which is pretty odd, when you know the whole story, because the character of Schuyler Tatlock dies 2 years before the film even begins.

Suffice to say that Schuyler Tatlock is IMPERSONATED by a reluctant impostor for the duration of the film--and you can understand his reluctance when you understand that the late Schuyler Tatlock was a brain-damaged, gibbering lunatic with a penchant for arson. When the straight-laced impostor asks for pointers, he's instructed: "You'll be impersonating a man who once broke up a Thanksgiving dinner because he thought HE was the turkey. Gobble-gobble."

That should be a clue as to where the story is headed.

The film moves at an alarming pace, with twists and turns, action, some great dialogue and comic bits that grab your attention every few seconds. AND, above all, there is a really WEIRD sexual tension: The Schuyler impostor falls in love with Schuyler's younger sister (who is also being seduced by her cousin), and SHE falls in love with the impostor even as he is impersonating her brother!

I know, it sounds incredibly convoluted--and it is--but the charming thing about this film is how its many complexities are cleverly remedied to the viewer's complete satisfaction. The seemingly incestuous love triangle MAY be the reason that "Miss Tatlock's Millions" has been locked away for so many decades, even though there is no actual incest in the story... I think... In any event, this is a sweet, sexy, smart and very, very entertaining comedy that is entirely TOO HARD to find.

There is at least one VHS dealer online who carries a really awful recording of the movie for less than $20; but, trust me, you're not going to find a better copy (or even ANOTHER copy) of this film ANYWHERE. Believe me, I know. Even with terrible video tracking, "Miss Tatlock's Millions" is worth the purchase.

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4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
hard to find gem, 20 August 2005
8/10
Author: paul boyer (paulhboyer@yahoo.com) from dearborn, michigan

This movie is a dandy. Itis extremely underrated,and even more difficult to find. I happen to have a poor copy on VHS. Watch it if you have the opportunity.A classic screwball comedy, with a great cast,Barry Fitzgerald is top notch as usual, in a supporting role. This is a movie that deserves to be restored, shown on Turner Classic Movies, and given the respect it should have been given years ago.This is a perfect example of "they don't make em like that anymore". I first viewed this movie when I was about ten years old. Naturally I was curious to see if time and maturity had changed my mind. It hadn't. John Lund and Wanda Hendrix never achieved stardom, this movie would have advanced that cause.Made in the late forties it embodies the optimism of that era. This movie has a sweetness that is sorely lacking in today's film. Films of similar likeness would include Bringing Up Baby, and maybe the Topper series of movies.It is the only movie veteran character actor Richard Haydn directed. I wish he would have directed more.

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4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
A comedy gem that got away, 10 November 2004
Author: mrsboops from Santa Rosa, California

In 1948, I saw this movie with friends, not expecting much. I went in not knowing much about the actors and came out howling with glee at the sparkling writing, crisp direction, romantic story and most of all the peerless company of scene-stealing character actors. Now, I was very young at the time so I probably couldn't have told you then exactly why I would never forget it until I became a film buff years later.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a decent video available. I recently bought one at Amazon and it is of the same poor, frustrating quality as the one that occasionally pops up on late night TV.

This is the gem that got away and deserves to be recognized. Anyone know someone with clout at AMC??

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4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Great Comedy., 24 November 1999
10/10
Author: lunzy (lunzy@hotbot.com) from Pennsylvania, USA

This movie has to be right up there as an all time Classic Comedy.Great acting by John Lund and Barry Fitzgearld.One of my favorites.This movie also has a good music score.Again I saw this on a late show and have not been able to locate it since.I even wrote to American Movie Classics and Turner Movies Classics and inquired when they would be airing it.I'm still looking to see it listed.Once again a great classic movie.

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