Brewster's Millions

This 1935 British film is the first sound picture made of the 1902 novel and play by George Barr McCutcheon. Two silent films were made before this, and the first straight comedy would be made in 1945 by Edward Small and United Artists in the U.S. That would prove to be the best of several versions, including a couple later ones; although the 1985 Universal picture that starred Richard Pryor was quite good.

Jack Buchannan does well in portraying the frantic time his Jack Brewster has in trying to squander 500,000 pounds in a short time, in order to inherit his distant uncle's entire fortune. But this film comes across as two separate films shuffled together. One is a musical, mostly resembling a musical revue, and the other is the comedy. The comedy is mostly lost in this transition back and forth.

The best thing about this version of the story is the musical numbers with Jack Buchanan's dancing and singing. But for laughs, be sure to see the 1945 film that stars Dennis O'Keefe.

The Brewster's Millions plot has been done several times (either under this title or other titles with similar circumstances) by several different directors and actors. Some are done very well, while others are a bit too slick. This particular version is passable and view-worthy.

The story revolves around a young man with little money who inherits several million pounds. However, there is a caveat that he must spend half a million pounds in a short period of time in order to obtain the balance of the inheritance. Some Depression-era audiences found this to be amusing, while others found it to be silly. Judge for yourself.

This was the first sound version of this hoary old chestnut but already it was the fourth film version.Jack Buchanan and the rest of the cast are poorly directed.there are some good tunes but they are woefully staged and filmed.They are often photographed in medium shot or medium close up.Just compare them to say "the Carioca","the continental" or "Lullaby of Broadway".All numbers which still linger in the memory.Here the numbers just seem to go on for ages with no particular purpose.The best things in this film are Lil Damita and Fred Emney.the sight of Emney trying a high step routine is definitely one to behold.The climax of this film is a sad comedic failure and about as unfunny as you could get.Not a memorable effort.