Million Dollar Baby

I love Priscilla Lane, who was great at light comedy but could also play characters with real depth when given the chance. (Check her out in "Blues in the Night"). Her role here is not very demanding, and I could see it being played by many of the other talented movie comediennes of the era. Anne Sheridan was apparently considered, and I could also see Ginger Rogers in the part, but I can't imagine anyone would've played it with more charm and gusto than Priscilla.

May Robson is also great, as always, but the one sour note for me in the movie (no pun intended) is the performance of Ronald Reagan as Priscilla's aspiring composer boyfriend. Ronnie could be a good light comedy leading man, but somehow I just can't buy him as a struggling, tormented artiste. Even worse, he's an entitled, arrogant jerk. I get that he's frustrated playing piano in a "spaghetti restaurant" and not Carnegie Hall, but why does he take it out on Priscilla, who does nothing but give him love and encouragement? His behavior towards her is bullying and borderline abusive, and she must have some serious self-worth issues to put up with him. Sorry if it sounds like I'm looking at a 1941 movie through a 2020 lens, but there were other movies of the period in which women didn't act like such door mats. Maybe it's the way he was directed, but Ronnie needed to bring a lighter touch to his scenes with Priscilla in order for us to understand what she sees in him. (I could see Jimmy Stewart being very good in this role.)

As a movie made during the tail end of the Depression it has that frequent Hollywood theme that money can't buy happiness, and so we see Priscilla having to give away her new found fortune in order to find true love. It's also a favorite Hollywood trope of the time that a real man would never let himself be supported by a wealthy wife. (I doubt that was ever true. Certainly a pianist who wants to spend his time composing symphonies would be happy to have a wealthy benefactress). The business of Priscilla giving her money away gets a bit silly, and the scenes are not directed with the skill of a Capra or Preston Sturges. By the time the movie comes to its anticipated "happy ending" I was sad to say goodbye to Priscilla but feeling a bit exhausted by the whole thing. ("Happy ending" is in quotation marks, because if this were reality, Priscilla would discover she's married a perpetual malcontent, who considers himself too good to play in a restaurant, too good to play in a swing band, and whose symphony got booed, showing that he really isn't anywhere near as talented as he imagines himself.)

As a side note, as a native New Yorker I can tell you that even in 1941 the provided Greenwich Village address of the boarding house was in a pretty nice neighborhood, and not a slum as depicted. Now, in 2020, it's smack in the middle of the richest zip code in America.

Priscilla Lane and May Robson dominate proceedings in this agreeable comedy that borrows themes from the worlds of Frank Capra, Cinderella and Pygmalion, among others.

Jeffrey Lynn is quite appealing as Robson's lawyer, a handsome young fellow assigned to deliver a one million dollar check to department store salesgirl Lane. (It's "conscience money" – Robson has discovered her family fortune is based on a decades-ago swindle that ruined Lane's grandfather.) Naturally Lynn finds himself falling for the very charming Lane, who despite her newly acquired wealth remains stuck on…

Ronald Reagan, a piano player and would-be serious composer whose sour disposition may indicate a stubborn independent streak in the great American tradition—or, may mean he's just kind of a jerk. In any case, Reagan is less than thrilled when suddenly-rich girlfriend Lane urges him to quit his job to write music while she supports him.

Robson plays her trademarked feisty old lady and she is a pleasure to watch, as always. Lynn is fine although the character he plays is unfortunately a bit bland. Reagan has a somewhat challenging role—a potentially fine songwriter who scoffs at popular music and would rather starve than sell out, he doesn't quite succeed in making us see whatever it is that Lane apparently can't resist.

Priscilla Lane herself is certainly the best thing about the picture: She's a Cinderella who sticks to her values and her man regardless of sudden riches and despite Robson's well-intentioned attempts to make her a "lady." Madcap, affectionate, completely charming—when Lane is on the screen (and that's almost every scene), it's really fun to watch.

If the plot doesn't quite work, it is nevertheless a very nice try. The picture does deserve credit for good intentions—and is especially worth watching for any fan of Priscilla Lane.

The best thing about this film is its cast of likable characters. Especially noteworthy is May Robson's performance as Cornelia Wheelwright, the strong-willed millionaire who sets out to right an inherited wrong. She is the perfect mix of gruffness and warmth. Jeffrey Lynn, who plays attorney James Armory, is the biggest surprise for me; I don't remember seeing him before, but he shines as one of the men who fall for the main character.

Priscilla Lane is the titular blonde, Pamela McAllister. Ms. Lane turns in a typical, wonderful performance. Her high energy and ready smile light up the screen.

I think the producers were aiming for a screwball comedy, but the script does not rise to that level. The relationship between Jessica and Peter (Ronald Reagan), the struggling pianist, is problematic. His constant negativity and sarcasm undercut any romantic tension.

Jessica has big decisions to make, and you might be guessing until the end which way she will go. Personally, I found her final choices somewhat disappointing. But this is an entertaining film that guarantees smiles, if not belly laughs.

For years I have wanted to found a city just to be able to name one of the nicest streets "Priscilla Lane." Of course, I'd want two more to name Rosemary and Lola, too.

But Priscilla is the star of "Million Dollar Baby," giving one of her most sparkling performances. She is so lovable, so adorable that even if she had ever given a bad performance, this role would wipe it out.

Ronald Reagan also gives one of his best performances, with him as a pianist/composer hitting just -- pardon the pun -- the right note. It's worth saying twice: He gives one of his best performances.

Jeffrey Lynn is also great. He was a good-looking guy and extremely likable in this role.

May Robson probably couldn't give a bad performance, and she certainly didn't in "Million Dollar Baby."

Very interesting is John Qualen, in a sympathetic role and not speaking with a Scandinavian accent.

There are some wonderful lines in this intelligent script, even if some of us watching are puzzled by some of the characters' attitude toward money, and toward getting wads of it.

Oh, look for the handsome Charles Drake in an uncredited role.

He was just one of a large and excellent cast, far too many of whom didn't get credit, including the great Herb Vigran (whom I had met when he was in a play with Richard Thomas, and than whom he was a better actor), and he was on screen so briefly I didn't even see him, but he's listed here at IMDb.

One other standout among the un-credited is Irving Bacon as the repulsive federal PIG (Person In Government). Though the scene was no doubt intended as comedy, today's headlines make it too true to be funny.

Seriously, this is a very good movie. I'll watch it again.

Don't tune this one in if you're expecting the Clint Eastwood classic, someone may try and slip this one by you. Not that this Million Dollar Baby is entirely bad. It's the kind of silliness that an incredibly skilled group of familiar players make palatable so that you can accept the nonsense on some level.

May Robson does her Applie Annie role in reverse, she's the dowager spinster heiress of an old robber baron whom she discovers got his fortune by bilking a partner back in the day who committed suicide. Seeking to right some wrongs Robson discovers the granddaughter and heir of the deceased partner is Priscilla Lane, proud working person where you find Million Dollar Babies, in a five and ten cent store.

Her lawyer, young Jeffrey Lynn is the agent for Robson's largess, quite a dapper fellow himself. Priscilla's got a boyfriend though, struggling composer Ronald Reagan. Given what Reagan's politics were when he became President of the United States it's a bit much to her him railing against the rich, but who would have figured in 1941.

Some of the best character players around fill out the rest of the cast of Million Dollar Baby and they make the incredible story entertaining in its own way. Helen Westley as Lane's landlady, John Qualen as an eccentric scientist, George Barbier as Robson's former attorney, Lee Patrick as a burlesque queen. There isn't a name I've mentioned in that group that doesn't summon up an image and type that old film viewers know exactly what to expect.

That cast gives Million Dollar Baby the vitality it has. As for Priscilla and her new found millions, will she choose lawyer Lynn or composer Reagan. I won't say, but I will tell you that I think she chose wrong.