The Millionaire Kid (1936)

The Millionaire Kid is young Tommy Neville whose wealthy parents, Thomas and Gloria Neville are preparing to fight it out in divorce court.Tommy runs away from home. The private detective ... See full summary »

Director:

Bernard B. Ray

Writers:

Jack Natteford (original story), Blanche Church (original story)

Stars:

Betty Compson, Bryant Washburn, Charles Delaney

Cast

Cast overview:
Betty Compson	...	Gloria Neville
Bryant Washburn	...	Terry Malone
Charles Delaney	...	Breezy Benson
Lois Wilde	...	Kitty Malone
Bradley Metcalfe	...	Tommy Neville
Creighton Hale	...	Thomas Neville
Eddie Phillips	...	Joe Toronto
Eddie Gribbon	...	Hogan
Al St. John	...	Matthews
Josef Swickard	...	The Tutor
John Elliott	...	Yellerton
Earl Dwire	...	Black
Ed Cassidy	...	Red
Arthur Thalasso	...	Morley
Roger Williams	...	City Editor

Storyline

The Millionaire Kid is young Tommy Neville whose wealthy parents, Thomas and Gloria Neville are preparing to fight it out in divorce court.Tommy runs away from home. The private detective assigned to watch him tells Mrs. Neville he has been kidnapped. She immediately suspects her husband. Meanwhile, Tommy is selling newspapers in another city. He is attacked by a bully, and is rescued by gangster Terry Mallon and his daughter Kitty. Unaware of his identity, they take him to their beach home. Reporter Breezy Benson is sent to interview Mrs. Neville about the divorce, and is fired when she won't talk to him. He meets Kitty at the beach and is intrigued by her. He meets her father, who is curious but not suspicious as news of the alleged kidnapping has not been reported.

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Plot Keywords:

kidnapping | damsel in distress | private investigator | newspaper reporter | mother son relationship | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is one of over 200 titles in the list of independent feature films made available for television presentation by Advance Television Pictures announced in Motion Picture Herald 4 April 1942. At this time, television broadcasting was in its infancy, almost totally curtailed by the advent of World War II, and would not continue to develop until 1945-1946. Because of poor documentation (feature films were often not identified by title in conventional sources) no record has yet been found of its initial television broadcast. Post-WWII television viewers got their earliest documented looks at it in Chicago Tuesday 5 July 1949 on WGN (Channel 9), in Los Angeles Tuesday 25 October 1949 on KTSL (Channel 2), and in New York City Tuesday 5 December 1950 on WATV (Channel 13).

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Goofs

Main character Terry Malone (Bryant Washburn) is so named in the newspaper headline, "Terry Malone Indicted!", though the opening credits (which show a picture of each primary actor with their name underneath) spell his name "Terry Mallon".

User Reviews

Poor Dialogue Direction Hobbles An Okay Story

Betty Compson and Creighton Hale are getting a divorce, and they're fighting over the custody of Bradley Metcalfe. He doesn't like the fighting, and he doesn't like being cooped up, so he runs away, into the arms of Lois Wilde and her gangster father, Bryant Washburn. They're pretty good when they discover the actual situation, but some of their gang think holding the boy for ransom is easy money.

It's a pretty good story, but the dialogue direction by director Bernard B. Ray is awful. Only Miss Compson manages a consistent performance, and Bryant Washburn is believable about half the time. Everyone else sounds stilted and artificial.

Silent movie fans may be pleased to see Al St. John in a brief role and a nice, natural gag. Joseph Swickard also shows up early as a stuffy tutor.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 March 1936 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Reliable Pictures Corporation (I)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

59 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1