You Can't Buy Everything

1934
Passed
1h 22m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

William Bakewell and Jean Parker in You Can't Buy Everything (1934)

Hannah is so tight with her money that she takes her son, Donnie, to the charity ward a week after he hurts his leg. But she has always hoarded her money since her late husband wasted most o... Read allHannah is so tight with her money that she takes her son, Donnie, to the charity ward a week after he hurts his leg. But she has always hoarded her money since her late husband wasted most of it and now she plans to save it for Donnie. But when Donnie graduates from Princeton, he... Read allHannah is so tight with her money that she takes her son, Donnie, to the charity ward a week after he hurts his leg. But she has always hoarded her money since her late husband wasted most of it and now she plans to save it for Donnie. But when Donnie graduates from Princeton, he does not want to go into banking at Hannah's bank, he wants to be a writer, which upsets ... Read all

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IMDb RATING

6.6/10

231

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos5

Top cast37

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May Robson

Hannah

Jean Parker

Elizabeth

Lewis Stone

Burton

Mary Forbes

Kate

Reginald Mason

Dr. Lorimer

William Bakewell

Donny (As a Man)

Tad Alexander

Donny (As a Boy)

Walter Walker

Flagg

Reginald Barlow

Sparks

Claude Gillingwater

Banker

Bruce Bennett

Bank Clerk
(uncredited)

Margaret Bert

Miss Austin - Burton's Secretary
(uncredited)

Eddie Borden

Train Conductor
(uncredited)

Walter Brennan

Train Vendor
(uncredited)

Kate Campbell

Betsy - Kate's Maid
(uncredited)

Nick Copeland

Thomas - Bank Messenger
(uncredited)

Charles Crockett

Committee Man
(uncredited)

Eva Dennison

Woman at Graduation
(uncredited)

User reviews14

6.6231

Featured reviews

7planktonrules

Based, somewhat, on a real lady!

May Robson plays Hannah Bell--the cheapest and nastiest woman in Manhattan. The film begins with her taking her son to a charity ward--and you soon learn she is one of the richest women in Manhattan and is just too cheap to get the boy better treatment! You also see that she's not just cheap but amazingly bitter and just plain nasty. Much of the film consists of watching this horrible lady treat those around her with contempt. Why she is so bitter and how her ex-fiancé relates to this is an interesting thing you learn late in the film. You also see how tough it is to be the son of this wretched woman, as her son (now grown) is miserable because of her nasty ways. All in all, a fascinating portrait--especially because it's based on a real woman--the infamous Hetty Green. Green did several of the things you see Robson do in the film (such as seeking her boy treatment at a clinic for indigent patients) and was, by all accounts, a horrible old miser. But, being a Hollywood film, the film also tacks on a redemption and happy ending--something that did NOT happen to Green. All in all, a fascinating film and a dandy acting job for Robson who is in top form playing a cranky old prune. Worth seeing.

8hollywood1939

very interesting plotline, sometimes predictable

story has interesting twists of romantic history of main character. The image of tightwad is dispelled as she is deep down caring and sharing except with herself and her son. The ending is predictable yet unfolds with a turn to make it enjoyable.

7AlsExGal

A sweet little film with an unlikely heroine...

...that being 19th century financial wizardess Hetty Green, so called "The Witch of Wall Street". That nickname of the actual subject of the film, however diluted her story is here, seems a bit unkind to Ms. Green. She was legendarily tight where her male counterparts were given to ostentatious displays, but she did show selective charity and even loaned the city of New York 1.1 million dollars during the panic of 1907. If she never failed to collect a debt and showed unusual agency for a woman of her time, I think if she had been a man that, aside from her extraordinary thrift, she would not have a bad name. But I digress.

Mae Robson played this same basic role of Hetty Green twice - in this film as Hannah Bell, and in "She Wolf" in 1931 as Harriet Breen. I think the actual Hetty would have been mortified to have been portrayed as she was here - a figure treated badly by romance in her youth so that she holds fast to the only thing she can be sure of - her money.

If you don't know anything about the actual Hetty, you can take this film for what it is - a sweet little morality piece on the lifetime damage harboring a grudge can do, particularly when you don't know the whole truth concerning what you are harboring a grudge about.

I'd recommend it. The only thing really bad I can say about it is that in the beginning, when Robson is playing a 30 something version of her character when she is actually 76, a dark wig is just not going to make me believe she is young.

7HotToastyRag

Strong May Robson performance

May Robson stars as an ambitious, vengeful woman in You Can't Buy Everything. She's a widow and a single mother, and she scrimps and saves every penny so her son can be a wealthy gentleman when he grows up. Deep inside, she has a terrible heartache from before she was married. Lewis Stone broke their engagement and left her hurt and humiliated, so whenever their paths cross, she does everything she can to avoid him. "I hoped I'd live the rest of my life without having to speak to you again," she hisses after pulling all her money out of the bank of which he's just been made president.

May's son grows up, and of course, he falls in love with the one woman that his mother wouldn't approve of: Lew's daughter. Such a classic move; children find their parents' Achille's Heel and make sure to wound them. This movie is really May's show, so if you're a fan of hers, you'll probably like it, and vice versa. I've only seen her in a couple of movies, like Lady for a Day, but I was really impressed with her in this one. She's very convincing of a mother who loves her son above all else. As a bonus, if you rent this one: keep your eyes open and you'll catch a glimpse of a very young, pre-discovered Walter Brennan as a train conductor.

7view_and_review

A Tight Wad's Story

With a title like "You Can't Buy Everything" my suspicions were that a rich person, who had everything, didn't have love and/or happiness. I wasn't too far off.

The rich person was Hannah Bell (May Robson), but you wouldn't know it. She was the tightest of tight wads, hence she looked poor. But like every tight wad, she was one because she loved money more than anything else except, maybe, her son Donny--but that was debatable. Hannah's attitude matched her appearance. She was coarse, hard, and difficult to get along with. Things had to be her way or no way and she was rich enough to where people would cater to her and put up with her nastiness.

As much as she loved money she hated John Burton (Lewis Stone). Why? We don't find out until the end. All we know is that she hated John Burton with every fiber of her being.

May only had money and her son, but she'd have to make a decision between the two when Donny (William Bakewell) decided he'd had enough of his mother and her greed.

What keeps you holding on and plugged into the movie is the mystery between Hannah and John. Was he responsible for what she'd become or was she like that before she even met him? I was dying to know.

May Robson is an excellent actress. She was the star in my favorite movie of the pre-code era, "Lady for a Day." She seemed right in her element playing a crabby old lady, but you know that there's something good under that rough exterior. So, as frustrated as I was with the old bitty, I had hope that I'd find out her story in the end.

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Trivia
According to a contemporary article in the Motion Picture Herald, May Robson's character is based on Hetty Green (1834-1916), known as "The Witch of Wall Street," because of her financial acuity and frugality. During her career she was the richest woman in the United States, and was also known as "The Queen of Wall Street." She also had a daughter, but just her son was portrayed in this film.

Hetty Green was born in 1834 in New Bedford, Massachusetts to the richest whaling family in the city with a Quaker upbringing. She learned business basics at the knee of her father and grandfather. At 13, she became the family's bookkeeper and later helped manage her family's business. She was "the richest woman in America" during the Gilded Age."

She was an early proponent of empowered women, believing "It is the duty of every woman to learn to take care of her own business affairs," and "A girl should be brought up as to be able to make her own living..." "Whether rich or poor, a young woman should know how a bank account works, understand the composition of mortgages and bonds, and know the value of interest and how it accumulates." She predicted the Panic of 1907, was a well-established financier and "was the only woman invited to the critical meeting with J.P. Morgan and the leading banking executives at the height of the crisis."

Despite Hetty Green's exceptional investment instincts, discreet generosity, and admirable character, most media reports from the era (and soon thereafter) characterized her thrift as evidence of miserliness. The Guinness Book of World Records named her the "greatest miser." Stories that were often cited include her refusal to buy expensive clothes, pay for hot water, instructing her laundress to wash only the dirtiest parts of her dresses (the hems) to save money on soap, and her habit of wearing a single dress that was only replaced when it was worn out. Yet many of these habits were considered abnormal mainly because the Gilded Age was a time of celebrating excess rather than hiding it. When Hetty Green's life is evaluated in its entirety and in the context of the time period, it is clear that media criticism grossly misrepresented her true character.