The Millionaire

It's a shame that George Arliss was already an old man by the time the talking picture era arrived. Had he been younger, he would have been an even bigger star as he was simply a terrific actor--the best of his era. He's so good that every film he's in has a lot of charm simply because of his presence. Because I have loved so many of his pictures, that's why I made sure to watch "The Millionaire" when it came on TCM.

The story is about James Alden, a rich man who owns a prosperous car manufacturing company. One day his doctor tells him he's got to quit work and retire to a quiet life...or his days are numbered. So naturally he retires...and soon is bored to death! When he meets a fast-talking insurance salesman (James Cagney), he realizes that it's better to die happy...and that means going back to work. However, his wife (played by Arliss' real life wife) isn't about to stand for him go to work...so he decides to do it on the sly.

Alden decides to buy himself something small...a job he can own and work at his own pace. He buys a half interest in a gas station and is shocked to learn that he's been cheated--as the man selling it knew that a new road was going in and it would bypass the station! He and his new partner are angry...and both vow to give that jerk a run for him money, as the nasty guy (Noah Beery) has used the money from the sale to open a new station on the new road.

In the meantime, Alden likes his new partner, Bill...but he doesn't reveal that he's Alden. Instead, he pretends that Alden gave him money for the station and Bill that Alden is a real jerk! This is a problem...as in the meantime Bill's fallen in love with Alden's daughter. Alden is happy, as her old boyfriend is a real putz! But instead of giving them his blessing, he decides to have a little joke! And, this leads to a very delightful finale.

Overall, this is yet another great Arliss film...and much of it is clearly due to Arliss. He was simply marvelous in the film and with most other actors it simply couldn't have been this good...and it is amazingly good and well worth your time. A cute and enjoyable little comedy.

... and it's a shame that he is largely forgotten to film history. He was in Warner Brothers' earliest talking films, and even scored a Best Actor Oscar for his performance in Disraeli in 1929. He was later lured to Fox, and I think that was a mistake since his best film work was at Warner Brothers. He was largely known for his stage work.

Here Arliss plays James Alden, owner and founder of an automobile company. When his doctor tells him he must stop work at age 60 and take a prolonged rest or die, at first he wants to ignore the warnings, but then thinks of his wife and daughter (played by Arliss' actual wife and Evalyn Knapp, respectively).

So off the trio goes to California, and the next we see of Alden he is sitting at a table in a garden wrapped in a blanket surrounded by prescription bottles, looking entirely unhappy about his situation. He is visited by an insurance agent, Scofield (James Cagney) who wants no part of selling him life insurance once he finds out Alden is retired, because he says the retired tend to die quickly. Scofield says if he had Alden's money what he would do is find one of the small business opportunities in the newspaper, and take an interest in running some small place so that he has a sense of purpose.

Alden takes Scofield's advice, but in the meantime he must fool his wife and daughter so that they don't worry or put a stop to his plans, and he must also fool his new business partner (David Manners) because he doesn't want him to think/know that they can just go to James Alden for any money they need. He wants to live by his wits, like he did when he started out, because he thinks the challenge might refresh and thus cure him. Things get complex when Manners' character gets interested in Alden's daughter, independent of the business venture. Noah Beery plays the villain here, trying to thwart the plans of Alden and his partner. It is rather refreshing here to see him play a normal kind of villain for a change.

I can't help but believe that Arliss might have been, in real life, the same kind of person he played on the screen - mischievous, impish, energetic, and always trying to help out the younger crowd. He gave Bette Davis her start at Warner Brothers, and I wonder if this cameo role for James Cagney wasn't his doing too.

At any rate, this film is a light hearted delight and I'd recommend it.

Health problems force an elderly auto tycoon into retirement. Refusing to stay idle, he buys half ownership into a service station & gleefully begins to work there, incognito. The old man is now able to help his young partner in matters of business & romance. But what will happen if he's discovered to be, in reality, THE MILLIONAIRE?

George Arliss was a wonderful actor, now sadly neglected. The merest glance, the smallest movement of his hands, the raised eyebrow or vocal inflection, these all spoke volumes. Here, he has a fine outlet for his artistry. The film moves right along, without any dull moments, fueled by the fun of watching Arliss act.

He is given good support by David Manners (a fine leading man of the 1930's) as his partner; Noah Beery as a beefy business rival; and real-life wife Florence Arliss. James Cagney, not quite yet a star, breezes in for a few moments as an insurance agent who gives Arliss some good advice. Effortlessly, he steals the scene from Arliss (the old man seems amused), a very rare event, indeed.

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.

James Cagney is forever in the minds of movie buffs as the hyper-acting gangster hitching up his pants before he fires guns-a-blazing. The New York City-native played a variety of characters throughout his long career in addition to his many roles as a criminal. One account describes how director William Wellman and the Warner Brothers studio selected the actor to be in "The Public Enemy" when May 1931's "The Millionaire" was being filmed on the studio lot in late 1930. Cagney's role as a life insurance salesman is brief in the movie, but it is pivotal to the plot's development.

George Arliss plays wealthy car maker James Alden, and has just retired. He's completely bored with new his sedentary life-style when he's approached by Schofield (Cagney) to give Alden a sales pitch on a life insurance policy. Once he realizes it's futile for an elderly man to buy such a policy, Schofield tells him if he were retired he would start a new business just to liven those retirement years up. That spurs Alden to go partners with Bill Merrick (David Manners) to buy a gas station, only to realize he's been swindle by the seller. The garage owner knows a highway is being planned a mile up the road where he aims to place his new gas station while Alden is stuck with a white elephant.

What makes "The Millionaire" so noteworthy, besides being a light-hearted movie showcasing veteran stage and film Academy Award Best Actor winner George Arliss, is how Cagney and he play off one another in that short scene. Cagney, in his budding film career, was limited to small roles in several of his movie appearances. He didn't advance into larger ones because studios felt his quick-talking delivery was unsuitable for the emerging audio technology. For the first couple of years of sound dialogue, the standard practice was to have the actors speak in slow, deliberate voices, with pauses between the actors' lines so viewers could digest what was being said. With Cagney, his lightning-fast delivery was completely opposite. Arliss, who was given the power to select the actor for that brief, albeit crucial scene, chose Cagney among those young actors whom Warner Brothers offered. Arliss loved Cagney's "natural behavior and innate cockiness," he said, just the perfect characteristics for the role.

As reviewer Mick LaSalle noted, the passing of the torch between generations of actors was occurring during that one brief scene. "In The Millionaire, the past and future meet at a moment of ideal stasis, just before the past has started to end and the future about to start. Two actors, two styles, and two eras are there before our eyes- in a union both incongruous and yet surprisingly harmonious."