The Millionaire

The gentle humor of this film is balanced by a certain amount of social conscience, making it even as a dated story something moderately charming. Set in California during the Great Depression, it is pure fantasy of the kind much needed in movie-houses during those dark days. Although it is now rare in our decadent corporate epoch to find a happy and generous -- not to say intelligent -- millionaire free of the desire to line his own pockets at the expense of his employees, the character as played by George Arliss transcends mere capitalism and inspires us to higher purposes.

Cameos by James Cagney and Wallace Beery provide some historical flavor for film buffs, as do some truly grand vintage automobiles going in and out of the service stations central to the story. Though that story remains thin and improbable, it is fast-paced and directed with élan. My own appreciation was enhanced by noting at the outset the name of Booth Tarkington as one of the writers. He was without a doubt one of the finest popular novelists of the early twentieth century, now largely forgotten. The playful tone he employed in the "Penrod" stories is much evident here.

A very fine production for 1931.

1930s pictures were awash with sexy young ladies so when wondering what to watch, you might trawl through everything with Joan Blondell, Loretta Young or Alice White. You've gone through all the Cagneys and Gables but a picture with some old guy might not seem that enticing. Wrong, wrong, wrong!

If you watch this, it will completely change your perceptions of what you want to see.

George Arliss is absolutely wonderful - he'll be your new favourite. You don't need Joan Blondell in a bathtub to make an early thirties movie wonderful, you just need talent and Mr Arliss is so talented that were I around back then I'd probably be sending him fan mail!

It takes a lot to make me laugh out loud but this film's perfect blend of witty writing, warm and believable characters with perfectly paced direction did it for me. This is not just a comedy, not just a clever, witty and genuinely entertaining comedy, it's a superb moving and uplifting feel-good drama. Everyone is excellent in this which is not always the case in early thirties movies. You often see those supporting actors just standing around at the back but John Adolfi makes everyone real. And there's of course three magic phrenetic minutes of Cagney.

You will feel like standing up and applauding at the end of this.

George Arliss's name was synonymous with "Great Acting" back in the early talking film era and he more or less lives up to the reputation herein, playing a Henry Ford-style auto magnate in failing health whose doctor insists that he retire and take it easy lest his heart give out. So he reluctantly but obediently moves to sunny California with his wife and daughter where he settles into a life of vice-free boredom. One day a cocky insurance salesman (played by the motor-mouthed James Cagney in an early supporting role) suggests that he would be happier if he bought a small business as a hobby just to keep the old juices flowing. Arliss finds the advice intriguing and responds to a newspaper ad offering half interest in a filling station. Posing as an ordinary investor under an assumed name, he purchases the half interest without hesitation from a suspicious seller (Noah Beery) and discovers his partner is a handsome young would-be architect (David Manners in one of his better efforts) biding his time until he can get his real career off the ground. Soon it becomes clear to both that Beery has swindled them, knowing that a new superhighway nearby would soon open and attract all vehicles away from the spot where their filling station was located. Using the business acumen he has accrued through the years, Arliss hatches a plan to purchase property across the street from the swindler's new filling station and drive him out of business with better service, better advertising and a more attractive establishment. Meanwhile, Arliss's daughter drives in for a fill-up and is recognized by Manners as the attractive girl he met briefly at a college dance a few years earlier. He falls head over heels in love with her and decides to marry her, little knowing she is the daughter of his partner. As this romantic subplot plays out, Arliss's health improves by degrees under the healthy stimulus of running a small business, even as he declines to swallow the medicines prescribed by his doctor. It's fun to watch Arliss play this lovable character who learns how to heal himself. It's a wise film indeed, demonstrating that care of the spirit is just as important as medicinal regimens. The whole thing moves along at a brisk pace. Cagney's brief bit is memorable in a "star is born" manner—the elegant old pro Arliss generously allowing the brash young actor to steal the scene. Arliss did a similar favor for young Bette Davis in THE MAN WHO PLAYED GOD a year later.

If you see "The Millionaire" come on TV, check it out. Record it if you can't watch it 'live'. This is a wonderful and funny movie. In brief, the owner of an automobile manufacturing company - apparently patterned on Henry Ford - is told by his doctor that he must retire or the stress may kill him. He turns over his company to underlings and soon we see him out west in California, sitting in a chair at a lawn party, blanket over his legs, and a young woman asks him if he wants a piece of buttered toast. Telling her he's not allowed - his 'sulfurated wafer' is waiting for him - he tells her he can only have toast on his birthday next April. "You'll call again in the Spring..." he suggests.

There is a wonderful appearance by a very young Jimmy Cagney as an insurance salesman who refuses to sell him life insurance after learning that he is retired. Cagney tells him that once men retire to the sidelines they just fall apart. He suggests that the older man buy a business and run it 'as a toy' to give himself something to do.

The old guy does just that - he and a younger man buy a service station but it turns out they've been swindled; they weren't told by the seller that the road where it's located is about to be bypassed, and with it, almost all of the customer traffic. The old guy sets about evening up the score.

You can't help but like the main character, and his dry wit is such a difference from the punch-you-in-the-stomach "humor" of today's comedy, much of which depends on precocious kids and sexual innuendo and poddy-mouth comments. No sir, this old film has some genuine humor, if you are mature and intelligent enough to appreciate it.

I snagged this film and burned it to a DVD, and am glad I did. It's a great old movie - if you can see it, I promise you'll enjoy it.

Coerced into early retirement, a bored former automobile tycoon decides buy a petrol station and operate it, but keeping the business a secret from his concerned family and competing with a rival petrol station proprietor prove challenging in this amiable comedy starring George Arliss. The film is best known nowadays for James Cagney's brief turn as a fast-talking, pipe-smoking insurance salesman who first makes Arliss consider buying a side business after noting that retirees tend to pass away earlier than those who remain employed to the end. Cagney absolutely nails the role, but the film belongs to Arliss all the way who proves himself a surprisingly sharp and shrewd businessman (he puts up a sign saying "don't ruin your car with cheap gas" as a response to his competitor lowering his prices). The film takes an incredibly long time to warm up though and it is only really in the second half of the movie that the comedy side of the film takes off. The laughs are, however, very good with lots of confused identity business as Arliss has to pretend to be penniless for his gas station partner and also has to pretend to not be working for the benefit of his family. 'The Millionaire' is a tad problematic if viewed as a message film (it advocates blatantly ignoring medical advice), but the writers are smart enough to keep any such themes in the background though and the comedy at the forefront. Noah Beery (brother of Wallace) also turns in a fine performance as the petrol competitor who learns an unexpected lesson or two from the highly experienced Arliss.