If I Had a Million (1932)

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

Directors:

James Cruze (uncredited), H. Bruce Humberstone (uncredited)

Writers:

Robert Hardy Andrews (based on a story by) (as Robert D. Andrews), Claude Binyon

Stars:

Gary Cooper, Charles Laughton, W.C. Fields

Cast

Complete credited 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

Storyline

Tycoon John Glidden, dying though still vigorous, is so dissatisfied with his relatives and associates that, rather than will his money to any of them, he decides to give it away in million-dollar amounts to strangers picked from the city directory. He picks a meek china salesman; a prostitute; a forger; two ex-vaudevilleans who hate road hogs; a condemned man; a mild-mannered clerk; a boisterous marine; and an oppressed inmate of an old ladies' home.

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Plot Keywords:

screwball comedy | tycoon | condemned man | road hog | relative | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 February 1933 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

China Shop

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min 83 min (USA) (DVD release)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of over 700 Paramount productions, filmed between 1929-49, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

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Goofs

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.

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Quotes

John Glidden: [Glidden's assistant brings him the city directory] The first name that this drop falls on is going to get one million dollars. What's that name?
Marvin - Glidden Assistant: John D. Rockefeller.
John Glidden: What? Pull that book over here.
[He flips through the city directory and picks other names]

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Connections

Featured in Tôkyô no onna (1933)

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Soundtracks

(I'll Be Glad When You're Dead) You Rascal You
(1931) (uncredited)
Written by Spo-De-Odee
Sung by an unidentified male voice on a record

User Reviews

Unique multi-story rarity

IF I HAD A MILLION is one of those rare films worth having on tape. I was thrilled to find this back in the 1980's, and it's a prized item of my collection.

The plot is simple, but crazy. A dying billionaire, sick of his greedy relatives, decides to randomly give million dollar checks to strangers picked via the phone book. Since this is in the middle of the depression, the results are eye-popping!

My two favorite segments involve George Raft as a petty thief unable to cash the check because the law is after him. His downward spiral is rather chilling.

The other favorite segment, and the one this 1932 film is most famous for is the one where two eccentric ex-vaudevillians (W.C Fields and Alison Skipworth) decide to run selfish road-hogs off the road. Road rage has never been funnier than in this segment. Fields' angry comments to fellow drivers is a scream.

The rest of the segments run from sappy (a man going to the electric chair gets the check) to sweetly funny (The almost wordless segment with Charles Laughton, May Robson as a fiesty rest-home victim, and Gary Cooper as an out of control Marine) This film is worth a million!