User reviews

This is a nice little part for Stewart, he's the reason to watch it. Stewart's demeanor and delivery are a joy to watch and he delivers some great classic comic moments. The story has that Shakespearean comedy feeling: comedy driven by mistaken identity which ends in marriage. Some good color added by journeyman studio character actors. There's some nicely blended musical numbers which mesh naturally with the story ... then there's the big production number during the radio program which feels like it dropped in from another planet and during the boarding house initiation number, I kept worrying about the stew getting cold. Aside from the musical interludes, the story is tight and never loses its way, delivering comic payoffs all along.

This movie was found in the dollar bin at Wal-Mart, and it couldn't be resisted, simply because Jimmy Stewart movies are worth watching, even oldies like Pot of Gold. Clear back in 1941 his trademark common man persona was much in evidence with this quirky little madcap comedy/musical. Considering this movie came just five years prior to It's a Wonderful Life, it's surprising it hasn't received more notice. The plot in a nutshell is that Stewart has to close up his music shop due to poor business, and goes to the city to go work for his cranky rich uncle. Along the way Stewart becomes involved with a band, a pretty Irish girl, thrown in jail, and could be arrested for running a illegal lottery. While there are plenty of madcap moments, honest understated humor, and delightful performances, it's the music that is absolutely incredible! Jimmy Stewart bluffs his way fairly incredibly on the harmonica and even sings a song. It may not have been his favorite movie, but it is still a Jimmy Stewart gem. Even if you have to pay more than a dollar to watch the movie, it's still a movie, especially for Jimmy Stewart fans, to find and enjoy. The dining room musical number is worth the rental fee alone (but dig through the Wal-Mart dollar bins anyway).

This light-hearted film sees James Stewart playing Jimmy Haskell, the owner of a failing music store in a small town. His music-hating uncle C.J. Haskell wants him to give it up and join the family business. Shortly afterwards he is forced to sell so heads to the city. Here he finds himself in an argument between a group of musicians, living at Ma McCorkle's boarding house and representatives of a local business man who is disturbed by their playing. Jimmy throws a tomato and hits the businessman... his uncle! He gets away without being recognised and is seen as a hero by the musicians; and Ma's daughter Molly. He is now in a predicament; his uncle is determined to identify and prosecute the man who threw the tomato and the McCorkle's might not take kindly to having a Haskell in their midst. Will he be able to reconcile the families or is he just going to upset everybody when the truth comes out?

This film won't provide too many surprises but that doesn't matter. It is charming, witty and features plenty of musical turns, but not too many. James Stewart is a delight as Jimmy and the rest of the cast are solid. The comedy is gentle; mostly based on the facts that Jimmy's uncle doesn't know he threw the tomato, the McCorkle's not knowing he is a Haskell and his attempts to keep it that way. Highlights amongst the musical numbers are a performance in a jail cell and the pre-dinner performance featuring 'musical glasses. Comedy highlights included making Uncle C.J. think he was hearing and seeing things that nobody else could and the finale where Molly comes up with a plan which could unfortunately land Jimmy in jail if he can't think of a way to implement it legally. Inevitably there is also some romance between Jimmy and Molly. Overall a fun little film with no offensive material and plenty of gentle laughs; well worth a watch.

As a concert organist/pianist always interested in musicals I just discovered this movie five days ago (5-1-05).

I was stunned by the musicality of the performers. These guys and gals could really sing and play...what a joy to hear fantastic intonation and real "in tune" singing.

The boarding house number is easily one of the most beautifully done and also the most complicated. The guys really played the water glasses and I can tell you that trying to get crystal to play as a "glass harmonica" (invented by Ben Franklin) is no easy job.

From start to finish a truly heartwarming film. From a more innocent era and one without guile. I laughed my self silly during the "drive uncle Charlie crazy" sequence.

How anyone could not like this as pure clean fun is beyond me. Perhaps you are hearing "Bugles on the phone"...hahaha,

I was surprised by this movie. Pleasantly surprised, but surprised. I bought this for $2 expecting an early, unpolished Jimmy Stewart. However, made after 'It's a Wonderful Life', 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington', 'Philadelphia Story' and other Stewart classics, this movie gives us the Jimmy Stewart we all know and love.

In terms of the rest of the movie, the plot is thin, and doesn't quite deliver on the comedic mayhem for which this story certainly has the potential. The dialogue isn't quite as quick and witty as one would like, because this is where Jimmy Stewart shines the brightest in films like 'Harvey', 'Philadelphia Story', and 'Destry Rides Again' with his slow drawl and deadpan delivery.

The musical numbers are generally well integrated with good music, until the Caballero song towards the end which drags on too long and seems to suffer from Busby Berkeley envy. But then again, who doesn't?

Overall, this is a quality film, especially for devoted fans of Mr. Stewart.

Based on a popular radio show of the period. Jimmy Stewart was reunited with the director of 'Destry Rides Again' in this, the final film he completed before his war service. (He returned a changed man, with a new grace before the cameras in generally less frivolous fare, at least until the sixties.)

More like a thirties screwball comedy with songs (one of them performed by by a surprisingly substantial black contingent), with Paulette Goddard (ne Levy) as an Irish colleen living in New York.

Charles Winninger's grumpy old curmudgeon performs a similar plot function to Lionel Barrymore as the satanic Potter in Stewart's postwar return, 'It's a Wonderful Life', without of course presenting anything like as big a threat.

It's kind of interesting that while all the posted comments play up Jimmy Stewart and Paulette Goddard, only a few mention the music -- but that's what happens over time when some stars retain their luster (like Stewart) and others fade (like bandleader Hoarce Heidt). The movie "Pot O' Gold" was inspired by the runaway success of Heidt's incredibly popular radio show of the same name -- one of the most highly-rated of the era. Hoarce Heidt & his Musical Knights racked up 52 hits between 1937 and 1945 (when Heidt left music to go into real estate). Over it's run, the band scored several chart-toppers, including "Gone With The Wind," "Ti-Pi-Pin" and "I Don't Want To Set The World on Fire." (Amazingly, none of the "Pot O' Gold" soundtrack songs ever became hits.) Pianist Frankie Carle, cornet star Bobby Hackett, sax man Frank DeVol, electric guitarist Alvino Rey and singers Mary Martin, Gordon MacRae, The King Sisters and, yes, comedian Art Carney, too, all put in their time on the Heidt bandstand. "Pot O' Gold" marked the band and bandleader's only motion picture appearance.

...as to what it wanted to be. A comedy, a musical, a fantasy, a romance. Jimmy Stewart said it was his least favourite of all his movies. But I enjoyed his singing in one part of it (another part was dubbed) and some of the scenes are fun, the dancing and singing especially. It gave me the feeling it had about 5 different directors, each with his own vision, 4 script writers with different skill sets, I was strangely uninvolved apart from determining the level of embarrassment our Jimmy tried not show in each scene. Paulette had some nice numbers, particularly a rumba scene and I was delighted to spot a dapper and suave Art Carney as a radio announcer. Some neat little bits that were funny as in Jimmy telling the mother of a little girl that she needed to practice the piano a little harder and then the mother leaves and the child proceeds to play like a prodigy and everyone ignores her. This could have been a really funny movie but it missed by a wide mark. It was almost as if everyone got bored with the whole project about 1/3 of the way through. A 4 out of 10.

James 'Jimmy' Stewart once, reportedly, said that he considered Pot o' Gold his worst film. Well it is certainly nowhere near among his best work (one of his weakest actually) and it is kind of easy to see why he would think that. But even lesser Stewart is worth seeing, even if it is only once, because Stewart was that good an actor.

Pot o' Gold's biggest debit is the story. There is very little to it structurally and it does struggle to sustain the running time, which is not that long. It could also have done with some tightening up with some parts that felt creaky and forced. Stewart and Paulette Goddard I felt did lack romantic chemistry, apart from the odd charming moment it felt more clinical than natural and tender and it did seem like they weren't that fond of one another.

Scripting-wise, Pot o' Gold has mixed results. A good deal of it is witty and quite funny, and there is a likeably feel-good honesty. Other parts however are a touch hokey and contrived, as if they were really to raise laughs but were struggling to do so, and crisper timing and more freshness might have helped.

It is a good-looking film though. It is not exactly lavish and there are times where it looks like it was made quickly, but on the most part it does look pretty and like it was made with professionalism, so it hardly looks cheap. Also loved the film's quaint period charm. The music score has the appropriate amount of whimsy, and the songs, while not the most memorable for a musical, are tuneful, energetic and enough to leave the feet tapping. Do You Believe in Fairy Tales and With a Knife, a Fork and a Spoon (don't worry, the song is not as silly as the title sounds) are particularly fun. The choreography is spirited and doesn't try to do anything too complicated (neither does it get simplistic), also managing to keep within the lightweight feel of the rest of the film. The dream sequences are imaginatively surreal and colourful, without being too heavy-handed or inappropriate.

George Marshall's direction is lively and does a good job keeping the film light and bouncy. While not always working, the humour is mostly feel-good, witty and honest, and the film does have a sweet charm regardless of the story's flaws. Stewart has a great easy-going charisma and a sparkling twinkle, and acquits himself reasonably well in the singing department, and Goddard, who is much better than she was in Second Chorus, is beautiful and fiery. Good amusing support too from Charles Winniger (particularly excellent) and Mary Gordon, and while there could have been a little less of him Horace Heidt does fine too and is in no way a liability.

To summarise, Pot o' Gold passes the time more than amiably and is a decent enough film, but, considering Stewart's calibre as a personal favourite actor of mine and as a fan of musicals, this viewer was hoping for more. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Pot o' Gold (1941)

This is a rousing, fun, slightly goofy movie that has a couple important aspects if you actually watch it through. First, there is the persona of James Stewart in a pre-Wonderful Life role that must have influenced Capra in that 1946 film. Second, the war is winding up and here is a Big Band inspired kind of cheerleading about community and keeping a good face on things as the world falls apart.

Director George Marshall clearly had a mandate from somewhere not to take this too seriously. Even as a musical, it's got some creaky story elements and a number of forced scenes. But it's the 1940s, and Hollywood has really learned how to crank out a good movie, so this one is fast, has some great musical numbers, and is tightly if conventionally filmed.

Besides Stewart is Paulette Godard, who is an underrated natural, once upon a time Charlie Chaplin's wife (she had the starring role in "Modern Times"). It's also fun to see Stewart pretending to play harmonica--he's right on the with it, so he probably played pretty well.

So, no great shakes here, unless you like that period music a lot.

If you are a fan of Jimmy Stewert, then this is a movie you will enjoy. James plays the person he does best, namely himself. A small town man trying to make it in a big business world. Throw in the gorgeous Paulette Goddard, and the chemistry is dynamic. If you don't enjoy musicals, this movie might not be for you. But the old time music is something that most will enjoy. Especially those of us who have an affinity for classic Hollywood.

Pot o' Gold will not rank in the upper half of either the films of James Stewart or Paulette Goddard. But it is a tribute to the influence of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Take a look at the producer's name, James Roosevelt. That folks was the oldest son of the President of the United States. One day Jimmy Roosevelt said Dad I want to be a movie producer, so some calls got made. All the Roosevelt kids had some problems settling into careers and Jimmy was no exception.

I think the only way for Pot o' Gold to really have worked is if they had gone all the way with some professional musical talent other than Horace Heidt's band. If Dick Powell, who at this time was trying so hard to leave musicals behind or John Payne were available that would have been better than Stewart. Instead of Paulette Goddard, a singer like Alice Faye. Some really good songs could have helped and definitely someone like Busby Berkeley to do the fantasy sequences.

The two best in this film by far are Charles Winninger and Mary Gordon. Winninger is Stewart's curmudgeonly uncle and owner of a health food factory which is located next to Mary Gordon's house. Mary is Paulette's mom. Watching these two go at each other shows them and Director George Marshall at his best.

When Pot o' Gold got a less than enthusiastic reception from the public that didn't faze producer James Roosevelt. He settled in California and served several terms in Congress.

A really fun movie. The music was performed live in front of a camera, no overdubing. I was amazed at how well arranged, choregraphed and performed the pieces were. I only wish that the DVD master had cleaned up the sound more and brought out better frequency response.

Jimmy Stewart was his usual charming self. Its hard to hate a movie with Jimmy in it. Even better, Jimmy actually sang and did quite well with the song. The first half of the movie had me laughing out loud!

Pot o'Gold was a successful radio show at the time, the first to give listeners money. The success was such that no one left the radio set, at the time of the program. The cinemas had such a big drop in the audience, that they announced that they would give 1000 dollars anyway, to any viewer who was drawn and happened to be in the cinema, at the time of the programme.

The transition from a successful radio contest to the cinema does not seem at all logical or desirable, but a simple trick to gain audiences.

The duo of protagonists, James Stewart and Paulette Goddard, also seems a little unlikely for a musical comedy, although I must admit that they don't even do badly.

The musical arrangements are of excellent quality, authored by Basil Adlam, Frank de Vol and Dudley Chambers, under the musical direction of Louis Forbes and with the harmonicas of Jerry Adler and Nat Bergman, doubling the performances of James Stewart.

But even that doesn't save this typical production of the time. The plot is poor and predictable, a mere pretext for the succession of musical numbers. The characters lack depth, it's a light film, on all levels, that you forget ten minutes after it's over.

James Stewart himself, confronted, years later, with one of the most striking scenes in the film, when he is bombarded with a jet of water in the face, from a siphon, by Paulette Goddard, thought it was a sitcom, because he had no idea of having done that scene.

No wonder, the film was produced at the same time that Stewart was filming Ziegfeld Girl, with Judy Garland. The actor was taken from one studio to the other, several times a day, to be able to film both films at the same time.

A Hollywood serial product, for all intents and purposes, positive and negative.

The plot of "Pot o' Gold" jumps all over the place, and the screenplay hardly gives much substance to any character development or romantic relations between the leads. And, that's mostly because it's so frenetic. The frenzy is mostly music, but includes some hurrying here and there by some of the lead characters. The most prominent of those is a very boisterous and bellicose Charles Winninger as C. J. Haskell.

The music and crazy comedy make the picture. James Stewart is Jimmy Haskell, a small town music store owner who inherited his dad's shop. He's also the nephew of the health food king and millionaire, C. J. Haskell. When Jimmy can't make the payments any longer, he takes up his uncle's offer which was more of a plea to join him and eventually inherit his big business. So, he leaves the small town for the big city.

But, uncle C. J. isn't a happy camper with all his millions. He hasn't been able to expand his plant in one direction because of the widow, Ma McCorkle, played by Mary Gordon. So, they have a type of Hatfield and McCoy feud going, with Ma boarding a whole swing band of young musicians trying to break out in the music world. Their constant playing drives Haskell mad, and he's grown to hate music. Of course, his nephew loves music, having been in the business. And Jimmy himself plays one jivin' harmonica. Well, with Paulette Goddard as Ma's daughter, Molly McCorkle, it's not hard to guess that this will have a happy Hatfield and McCoy ending without bloodshed.

The music and many of the cast parts are played by Horace Heidt and His Californians. It's a crazy film that's nevertheless fun and entertaining. At one point, C. J. is loaded down with a pack that looks like he's gone gold prospecting, and he and a French-speaking guide enter the Hudson Bay Trading Post No 21, in the wilds of northern Canada. With the help of some band members, Jimmy had tricked uncle into thinking he was hearing things - music playing constantly when no one else did, so he needed a long rest somewhere away from the noise of civilization. Here are some favorite lines.

C. J. Haskell, "And I told him when he opened this place, he'd never make a go of it." Jimmy Haskell, "Well, he kept it fairly successful for 25 years. That's not bad."

Mr. Backus, "You know very well that I have charge of the Happiness Hour during Mr. Haskell's absence. He trusts me implicitly." Jimmy Haskell, "Well, not a hundred percent." Backus, "I beg your pardon."

Mr. Backus, "Well, it didn't take you long to undermine me with your uncle, did it?" Jimmy Haskell, "Hmm, mmm." Backus, "How do I know you didn't write that yourself?"

Jimmy Stewart plays a man named Jimmy who is fond of music. His uncle is a bigwig who hates music. The first half of the movie is the funniest-it gave me quite a lot of laughs. It starts to get crazy and sort of lame towards the end, but it's still a good movie.

I'm not exactly sure what kind of movie "Pot O' Gold" is. It's a Jimmy Stewart movie, but it is definitely not the usual Jimmy Stewart movie. It's a musical, sort of. It's a romantic comedy, but not really. It is a fantasy film, but then again, it's not. No, it is not possible to pigeon hole this film.

That is what made it interesting to watch, for me. This was obviously a pretty low budget film, with all of the production costs going into the main musical number, "Broadway Caballero". In addition, the film is all over the place. Comedy, Musical, Romance, Fantasy Sequence. All in a little 86 minute movie.

There's some really terrible acting, but Jimmy Stewart is terrific, and Paulette Goddard is pretty good. And both sing surprisingly well.

The plot isn't even worth going into, just know that there are huge holes in it, large enough to drive a truck through.

In many respects, it's the worst Jimmy Stewart movie I've ever seen (and I remember reading that he thought it was the worst movie he ever made), especially since he had just won the Oscar a year prior to this one, and yet I could not stop watching it.

Only for those that are truly curious.

5 out of 10

Jimmy Haskell (James Stewart) is a music-loving teacher. His food processing tycoon music-hating uncle C.J. Haskell pushes him to close his late father's failing music store and go work for him. C.J. is battling the musical McCorkle family and trying to buy up their property. Jimmy arrives in the city and is befriended by Molly McCorkle (Paulette Goddard). As C.J. sets the cops on the McCorkles, Molly convinces Jimmy to throw a rotten tomato which hits C.J. in the face. Jimmy has to keep his relationships secret from both his uncle and from Molly.

I don't know much about Jimmy Stewart in musicals. It's not necessarily his forte but the rom-com with Paulette Goddard is right up his alley. The setup is fun and the story is ready to go but something is off. The story meanders into a mess. Stewart and Goddard simply don't have enough time together. Jimmy should man-up to his uncle. It makes him look weak in personality and his love for Molly. It adds up to a movie of what could have been.

Reportedly James Stewart's least favourite of all his movies, you'd have to say at the very least it has the worst title. Based on a popular radio show of the time where contestants could win $1000 if they picked up the phone to receive an incoming call from a live-on-air disc-jockey, this sure enough turns out to be the major plot point in a rather extreme example of early product placement, if you ask me.

Young genial James plays young genial Jimmy in another unnamed small American town. He runs a music store and is just as good-hearted and generous as you'd expect, unlike his perpetual Scrooge-like old uncle Charles Winninger, who particularly detests noise, especially if it's musical in nature.

Well, wouldn't you know it, there's a local big-band comprising the mostly poor local townsfolk who always seem to crank it up whenever old Charles is in the vicinity. Egged on by Paulette Goddard's pretty young singer, Jimmy lobs a rotten tomato when the local noise abatement society turns up which misses its intended target but pleases the crowd and Goddard by smacking his old Unc right in the face.

Unca Charles is determined to change Jimmy into a hard-nosed businessman but you can easily guess long before the end just who changes who. I must admit I was surprised when of a sudden full musical numbers were being sung and played, singing parts seemingly extended to background extras with Jimmy getting in on the act too by blowing a mean harmonica himself. He and Goddard even get to rather improbably lip--synch a couple of songs themselves.

I'll make this quick, this was really weak, lame stuff pretty much from start to finish, with way too many hackneyed situations, a surfeit of forced slapstick and an overload of fake bonhomie.

Jimmy, you were right!

The story line is not the best, but the movie is worth watching anyway. It starts off with a decent premise about a music-loving failing music shop owner (Stewart) going to work for his music- hating uncle. The uncle, who loves the big bangs from his "shot-with-guns" cereal factory is annoyed by the music of the big band in the building next door -- a building the uncle wants to buy but the musicians' house-mother won't sell. There's no question that when nephew Jimmy Stewart (not telling his relationship to the uncle) meets singer Paulette Goddard, romance will begin, then sparks fly, then the couple reunited. Old story, but still lots of fun. Unfortunately, it begins to unravel about half way through -- still humorous, but more preposterous. The movie does have some good character parts, and bits of swing dancing and other dancing, especially during the live radio show. What makes the movie is the music, especially in the beginning! Wonderful swing numbers, terrific harmony vocals, and a great barbershop quartet. I probably won't watch the entire film a second time, but I'll definitely listen again through the first half hour or so, at least through Stewart's introductory dinner with the entire ensemble in the boarding house.

POT O'GOLD (United Artists, 1941), directed by George Marshall, is not exactly a luck of the Irish fantasy about a leprechaun and his pot of gold, but a forgotten yet unsuccessful musical with title derived from a popular radio program. POT O'GOLD also has the distinction of being both presented and produced for the only time by James Roosevelt, older son of the then current United States president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Independently made, it also has the distinction of starring not two newcomers on the rise but two major actors on loan-out assignment from their home base studios, James Stewart (from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) and Paulette Goddard (from Paramount). Other than being the movie debut of band-leader, Horace Heidt, it has little to offer except for the presence of recent Academy Award winner, James Stewart, in what he claimed to be his worst movie. Maybe not his very worst, except only when watching bad reproductive copies on video or DVD, but one of his lesser contributions with fine actors performing to second-rate script with third-rate songs to boot.

The story revolves around James Hamilton Haskell (James Stewart), a harmonica player who has inherited his late father's music store. Because business is failing, his rich uncle, Charles J. Haskell (Charles Winninger), sponsor of the weekly radio program, "Haskell's Happiness Hour," offers Jimmy the opportunity of going into business with him. As much as Jimmy loves music, his uncle detests it, especially when his establishment happens to be across the alley of Mrs. McCorkle's (Mary Gordon) boardinghouse on 419 63rd Street where Horace Heidt and his band play their music on the rooftop. As Jimmy arrives to meet with his uncle, he encounters Mrs. McCorkle's daughter, Molly (Paulette Goddard), singer of the band, who, during a disruption between the McCorkles and the Haskills, unwittingly throws a tomato at his uncle's face, thus, becoming a hero to the McCorkles and tenants of the building. As Jimmy tries to hide his identity from Molly and her friends, he attempts on helping the music makers by having them appear on his uncle's radio program without his knowledge.

Other members of the cast include: Frank Melton (Jasper); Dick Hogan (Willie McCorkle); Jed Prouty (J.K. Louderman); James Burke (Officer Grady); and Charles Arnt (Parks, the Butler). Notable performance goes to Mary Gordon in another one of many stereotypical strong-willed Irish mother/landlady; Charles Winninger playing a sort of role he's done hundreds of times before, with the only exception of not being an entertainer who feels vaudeville will be making a comeback; and future TV personality, Art Carney Ed Norton of "The Honeymooners") briefly playing an announcer during the radio giveaway segment.

Though Stewart is not actually associated with musicals, interestingly POT O'GOLD happens to be his fourth, and second for which he sings a song or two. The motion picture soundtrack, with tunes by unfamiliar composers as Lou Forbes, Henry Sucher, Dave Franklin, Mark David and Vee Lawnhurst, is as follows "Hi Cy," "Pete, the Piper Man" (sung by Paulette Goddard); "By the Moonlight," "When Johnny Toots His Horn" (sung by James Stewart); "Hail, McCorkle," "A Knife, a Fork and a Spoon," "My Irish Stew," "Oh, Boarder House," "Do You Believe in Fairy Tales?" (sung by band members, later sung by James Stewart during dream sequence); and "The Caballero from Broadway." Of the songs, "The Cavallero from Broadway" gets the production number treatment, choreographed by Larry Ceballos. A lively tune and well staged, it's something best appreciated from the standpoint of the story for television as opposed to listening radio audience who couldn't very well see what they are hearing, otherwise the score is a far cry from being Irving Berlin, Cole Porter or a George Gershwin. I doubt is any one of these composers would ever consider such title songs as "A Knife, A Fork and a Spoon" and make a success of it.

While POT O'GOLD reportedly began its broadcasting on television during its earliest years before disappearing by the mid 1950s, it wasn't until the advent of cable television and home video did POT O GOLD, having become a public domain movie title, began to find a new audience by the early 1980s, especially on public television. In later years, it's turned up on many cable channels, notably in recent years on Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: April 14, 2007).

POT O GOLD may not win any jackpot as a sort-after movie musical classic, but a curiosity for those interested in the careers of its major leading players, especially that of Jimmy Stewart. (***)