Le gosse aux millions

A goodhearted New York barge boy becomes KID MILLIONS after inheriting an Egyptian treasure.

Comedian Eddie Cantor has a wonderful time, prancing through this lavish, nonsensical musical comedy while entertaining the viewers with his abundant high spirits. Don't expect the plot to make any sense--it doesn't--but just enjoy the laughs and the songs as Cantor and his costars present quite a romp.

The film enjoys quality production values, both in the shipboard scenes and in the Egyptian sequence which follows. Midway through the film the cast presents a minstrel show, complete with Eddie in blackface, which strays a bit into racial stereotyping but also offers an excellent venue for the young Nicholas Brothers' fancy terpsichorean footwork. (The choreographed numbers cry out for a Busby Berkeley in control, but they are still competent and even include Irving Berlin's rousing ‘Mandy.') The joyous finale erupts into Technicolor as Eddie shares the delights of his new ice cream factory with the audience.

A bold & brassy Ethel Merman, belting out both songs & dialogue, gives Cantor a real run for his money as to who will dominate the picture. The scene in which she convinces him that she's actually his long-lost mother, although younger than he, is hilarious. She's after Eddie's treasure, and so is her luggish boyfriend, Warren Hymer, who would rather kill than kiss his new ‘nephew.' Blustery Berton Churchill plays a Dixie colonel who also wants to appropriate the fortune; his lovely niece, Ann Sothern, yearns to merely appropriate Eddie's honest assistant, good guy George Murphy. Strangely, the plot completely abandons Churchill, Sothern & Murphy in a most precarious situation, leaving their fate a mystery. It also quickly dumps the rowdy bullies, including Stanley Fields & Edgar Kennedy, we met early in the proceedings.

While Paul Harvey, as a greedy Sheik, is given rather lackluster dialogue, zany Eve Sully, as his wacky Princess, proves a worthy match for Eddie. Wizened Otto Hoffman, made up to look like Gandhi, provides some funny moments as the royal advisor. Pretty Doris Davenport makes the most of her short screen time as Cantor's girlfriend.

Movie mavens should have no difficulty in spotting various OUR GANG members, including Matthew ‘Stymie' Beard and bad boys Leonard Kibrick & Tommy Bond, as barge kids, as well as Clarence Muse as a ship's steward and Lucille Ball as one of the chorus girls--all uncredited.

A musical comedy about a Brooklyn boy (Eddie Cantor) who inherits a fortune from his archaeologist father but must go to Egypt to claim it.

He's on a ship headed for Africa. Ethel Merman tags along for the singing parts.

So does Ann Southern who later had her own sitcom on television.

It's a big production that made a lot of money. Some Little Rascals make a surprise appearance at the beginning. Loan out from Hal Roach?

The musical numbers are good. Eddie Cantor even does his black face Minstrel Man routine. So weird. But what's weirder is that his uncle and mother are older than Eddie and no one says anything.

It may be hard to explain Eddie Cantor's appeal to today's moviegoers. In the 1930s he demonstrated a combination of ethnic relatability, physical comedy, song-and-dance dexterity, and out-and-out silliness that contemporary audiences found enormously appealing. This lavish Sam Goldwyn production may be his best shot, a nonstop parade of nonsense, where Eddie's backed by a wonderful cast. The story, about a Brooklyn boy inheriting a fortune and traveling to Egypt to claim it, reeks of all-night screenwriter conferences to wring out every possible joke. But it's so lively and silly, and there's so much besides Eddie to appreciate. Ethel Merman not only gets a lot to sing but demonstrates considerable comic chops, and she's partnered with a funny Warren Hymer. Ann Sothern is pretty and poised, and you don't mind her being partnered with a pallid George Murphy so much. A very young Nicholas Brothers get to do a specialty. Eva Sully, who didn't make a lot of movies, is an Egyptian princess with a Brooklyn twang (another silly joke), sort of Gracie Allen-esque, and she's very funny. The finale, in early three-strip Technicolor, is as fun as it is tasteless. Get past all the non-PC stuff offensive by today's standards (Eddie even dons blackface for a minstrel sequence; the other cast members fortunately don't), and you'll probably have a marvelous time.

All of the films of Eddie Cantor are great, but my two favorites have to be "Whoopee!" and this one. The storyline has our hero going to Egypt to inherit a 77 million dollar fortune, followed by a platoon of other people who would like to lay a prior claim to it. Among the co-stars are lovely Ann Sothern, in one of her earliest roles as the ingénue, and amazing Ethel Merman who really gives us "An Earful Of Music" in the opening sequence. Also along for the ride are the very young Nicholas Brothers who prove why they were so popular, and if you blink, you'll miss a glimpse of young Lucille Ball as one of the famed Goldwyn Girls. The finale is shot in spectacular three-color Technicolor, which was in an experimental stage at this point. Love this film.

There is no better example of Hollywood nonsense than this comedy with the bewilderingly popular Eddie Cantor. The jokes are so outrageous and politically incorrect that the film is mesmerizing as a look back at the times. The Goldwyn Girls and the brilliant dancing Nicholas Brothers stand out in this film, and the classic song "Mandy" also features Ethel Merman, Ann Sothern, George Murphy, and Cantor inexplicably wearing black-face minstrel make-up. --Musicals on the Silver Screen, American Library Association, 2013