Der glücklichste Millionär

I remember the first time I saw this terrific film. I was nine going on ten and living in Westchester County, New York, at the time. "Happiest Millionaire" was the Christmas attraction at Radio City Music Hall that year [1967] and it was a delight! The performances, particularly those of Tommy Steele, Fred MacMurray, and Leslie Ann Warren are all bursting with effervescence and energy, and the Sherman brothers' songs, if not up to their work on "Mary Poppins," (But, then, what could be?) are consistently pleasant and enjoyable. As the last complete film that Walt Disney was to oversee before his death, it's one of his best latter-day works.

Which is why I find the critical drubbing it's taken over the years, particularly Leonard Maltin's in his book "The Disney Films," so hard to understand. "Happiest Millionaire" is what many family films try to be today, rarely succeeding. I was given a video of it as a present recently and found it just as enjoyable as I did 32 years ago, if not more so. Plus, living in the Philadelphia area as I do today, there's the historical interest, as well.

In short, "Happiest Millionaire" was great in 1967, and even better today. If you can see it, by all means do. You'll be in for a rare treat and a hidden treasure from the Disney vaults!

Despite a phenomenal cast, "The Happiest Millionaire" really never takes off.

This is probably because the star of the film should have been butler Tommy Steele who begins the picture on a high note with the clever tune Fortuosity. Steele is toothy and with that broad smile, he could easily captivate audiences. Unfortunately, he soon falls into a rather supporting role to an eccentric Biddle family.

Fred MacMurray is all right for the part but his monotone voice is annoying at times. As his wife, Greer Garson, is wonderful. She depicts that regal elegance that made her so famous through the years. She is just an older, elegant version of Mrs. Miniver and all the other great roles she had in the 1940s.

Gladys Cooper is a rather tame Auntie here. Cooper was always at her best when she was an upper class mean person. The upper class is certainly there but where is her usual nastiness? Ditto for Geraldine Page. Page as Lesley Ann Warren's prospective mother-in-law causes mayhem as she usually did in pictures. This being a musical comedy, her usual frustrations are missing and we could have used them there.

Enough with the alligator scenes already. MacMurray and family wear their bible shirts and practice boxing. MacMurray is anxious for the U.S. to be prepared for World War 1 and he urges President Wilson for this preparedness.

The big surprise of this film is that all our players could carry a tune. I thought that the argument scene between Cooper and Page would have been exacerbated.

The film falters as we have seen the bar-room brawls and social fights among the upper classes in society before.

"The Happiest Millionaire" is a lively musical adaptation of the hit 1957 Broadway play that starred Walter Pidgeon as Anthony Drexel Biddle. The play was written by Kyle Crichton, who adapted it from a biographical book he co-wrote with Biddle's daughter Cordelia, "My Philadelphia Father."

As adapted to the screen by AJ Carothers (who would go on to create the TV sitcom "Nanny and the Professor"), "Millionaire" tells the story of eccentric millionaire Biddle and his family in 1916 Philadelphia.

The movie actually isn't really about Biddle at all, instead it focuses on his daughter Cordelia [Lesley Ann Warren in her big screen debut] and her impending romance with Angier Duke [John Davidson in his big screen debut].

The two youngsters fall in love much to the dismay of Angier's mother [Geraldine Page]. The clash between Philadelphia "old money" [the Biddles] and New York's nouveau riche [the Dukes] comes into play, but ultimately love conquers all in the final reel.

Thrown in for good measure is Tommy Steele as "John Lawless", an Irish immigrant whose landed a job as the Biddles' new butler. He's the film's "narrator" of sorts and oversees the proceedings as they unfold.

The score is provided by Disney veterans Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman [of "Mary Poppins" fame], and while this score does not exactly reach the caliber of their work in "Poppins" it's not entirely bad either. There are some "gems": "Fortuosity", "Let's Have A Drink On It", "Valentine Candy" and "Are We Dancing" among them.

The choreography by Marc Beaux and Dee Dee Wood ["Poppins" and "The Sound of Music"] is brought to life by both Tommy Steele and Lesley Ann Warren.

Screen legend Greer Garson is Cordelia Drexel Biddle, Sr. and generally plays it straight opposite MacMurray's eccentric-slightly goofy portrayal. Also in the cast Gladys Cooper ["My Fair Lady"] as Aunt Mary, Paul Petersen ["The Donna Reed Show"] as Anthony, Jr., Eddie Hodges as Livingston and Hermoine Baddeley ["Mary Poppins"] as the Biddle's maid.

At an original 164 minute running time, "Millionaire" may seem to some a bit excessive in length, and while this may be true it is still in my opinion a very entertaining movie which for some reason or another Disney has ignored [save for an occasional 3 am screening on "The Disney Channel"]. It took Anchor Bay Entertainment to save this gem from relative obscurity when in 1998 they licensed the film from the Disney studios and released it on VHS and DVD in both a general release and road show edition. Disney finally got wise and finally dusted off the film's soundtrack and released the long out-of-print score in August 2002.

I recommend this film for it's music, it's light-heartedness and a compelling motion picture debut by the multi-talented Lesley Ann Warren.

I just bought the DVD roadshow version of this film, as I had seen it as a teenager and thoroughly enjoyed it....this is the complete 3 hour version with prologue, intermission, and exit music; although it has been panned through the years, I have always thought highly of it...it is based on the memoirs of Cordie Biddle, who is the daughter of Anthony Biddle the highly conservative and inventive head of the Biddle household..there are some wonderful actors including Fred MacMurray as the patriarch, Greer Garson as his wife, Gladys Cooper (in I believe one of her last roles) as Cordie's grandmother, and of course Leslie Ann Warren, and John Davidson as the younger romantic interest....If there is a complaint, I would have to say there is too much time spent on the romance of the two younger players, and whatever happened to Paul Petersen, and Eddie Hodges, who are only in ONE scene as the brothers of Cordie....their scenes must have been left on the cutting room floor if they indeed had anymore!!! This is an early 20th century piece, with wonderful costumes, decor, and settings of the period, and lilting music for the most part...and as others have said Tommy Steele as the butler STEALS the show with his singing, dancing, and commentary on the goings on throughout the story. I have on order the movie "Half a Sixpence" which Tommy originated on the stage in London; am looking forward to this film also...I think we all miss the family oriented musicals, and movies of this time period; they are so easy to view and so enjoyable...One final comment; what a wonderful way to end the movie with Fred MacMurray and Greer Garson doing a duet on "Let them Go" a poignant ballad on their feelings of dealing with the empty nest syndrome...this was added for the roadshow version I believe, I don't recall it in the original version....Does anyone know whether Greer Garson's voice was used in this; I wasn't sure if she was a singer or not....at any rate I would recommend this film to any one...

A combination of desires- to top "Mary Poppins" and to capitilize on the then-current trend of big-budget, three-hour musical films playing to roadshow audiences- caused Walt Disney to make this film, the last he personally oversaw. He hired several of the same people to work on it that had worked on "Poppins", including the songwriting team of the Sherman brothers, the chereography team of Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood, and supporting cast member Hermoine Baddely in much the same role of the acerbic maid. In addition, he spent freely on costumes and production and hired an impressive cast, including Fred Macmurry, Greer Garson, Tommy Steele, Gladys Cooper, Geraldine Page, and in their film debuts, Lesley Ann Warren and John Davidson.

The result was a pleasent, somewhat entertaining but all-around silly and, for the most part, instantly forgettable confection. Yes, it's fine for the whole family, but it will be hard for the kiddies (and even the adults) to stay awake as the rather simple story is stretched to nearly three hours, with a series of plotlines connected by merely a shimmer all going on at once. Macmurry is at his least inspired, making the title character into a bumbling, blustering idiot; it's pretty hard not to cheer whenever someone shows him up, verbally or physically. The songs are nice enough, but only one or two really stick in the memory, and half of them are totally irrelevant. (I saw the restored roadshow edition; there are a variety of other editions that cut out several of the songs) Still, Tommy Steele is likable as the forever perky Irish butler (He gets a very hummable song to sing called "Fortuosity") and the chereography certainly is lively. The songs, for all the irrelevance of many of them, really move the picture along, as it slows down considerably whenever the screenplay takes over.

It's too bad Disney's last film couldn't have been better, but oh, well. That's life.