Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
THOROUGHLY ENJOYABLE, July 19, 2007
This review is from: If I Had A Million (DVD)
IF I HAD A MILLION isn't going to top anybody's list of best movies of all time, but I found it to be a fascinating little picture. A previous reviewer claims that the only segment worth watching is the one with W. C. Fields. I loved it, but it wasn't the only one I liked and it wasn't even my favorite. (It's not the only funny one, either, as the reviewer says.) The plot centers on a dying millionaire who refuses to leave his money to his family, who are waiting like vultures for him to die. Instead, he picks eight names at random from the telephone book and for the rest of the movie we watch a diverse group of people receive a million dollars and how it impacts their lives. Not all of them are lucky to receive the money. The group includes a nervous, hen-pecked husband who works in a china shop and can't stop breaking china; a sympathetic prostitute; a known forger who can't cash his $1,000,000.00 check precisely because he's a known forger; a guy on death row about to be electrocuted; a rowdy marine (played by Gary Cooper) who gives his check away because he thinks it's an April fool's joke; a man working a desk job in the bowels of a gloomy office building; a little old lady in a nursing home who, after receiving the check, buys the home and turns it into a rolicking party house. Some of the segments work better than others, but I found all of them interesting in one way or another. The movie was made during the Great Depression (1932) and has historic value on that basis since it's clearly a Depression-era movie geared to lifting people's spirits via wish fulfillment. Aside from Cooper, the film stars Charles Laughton and W. C. Fields (among other stars of the time). The acting ranges from barely mediocre to simply excellent. Ernst Lubitsch wrote and I think directed one of the segments. The now out-of-print DVD featured here was released in 2006 by a company called Hollywood's Attic. It's full screen. The transfer, while not digitally remastered or anything, is actually pretty good. There are no extras. The menu gives two options: Play and Select Chapter. Still if all you want is the movie, this DVD is fine. I definitely enjoyed it.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Ultimate Episodic Film, February 28, 2007
This review is from: If I Had A Million (DVD)
This is the ultimate episodic film, full of Paramount's biggest stars at the time including Gary Cooper, Charles Laughton, Charlie Ruggles and George Raft. Each star is featured in short one or two reelers based on the theme-What would happen if a tycoon gave a million dollars to a random person in the phone book? The results are funny, poignant, sad, and all are interesting. The comic segments include a memorable one (very short and to the point) by Laughton, and one by W.C. Fields which helped to resurrect his movie career. The shame of it is that Universal Pictures Video has this movie and thousands others of Fields and other comedies and features locked in a vault and never released for video. One wonders why they are keeping secret all of these films that they could be making money on as a retail item. It is interesting to note that W.C. Fields basically began his premium sound career with his short bit from this film, and ended it in 1942 in another episodic film (recently restored to include him), "Tales of Manhattan" by Fox Video. At least Fox knows the value of bringing an old chestnut like that one to the market. If we are lucky, maybe someone at Universal will wise up and release "If I Had A Million", too.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
FIELDS GOLD IN U.K., September 8, 2009
This review is from: If I Had A Million (DVD)
Like others, I purchased this DVD-R, together with "Tillie & Gus" and "Mississippi". A week ago I was thumbing through some UK sites (AmazonUK) and discovered Universal has released a 17 movie box set of WC Fields. Included are the 10 already released in the 2 Fields Box sets, plus "Six of a Kind", "Big Broadcast of 1938" AND RESTORED COPIES OF "Million Dollar Legs", "Follow the Boys", "Mississippi", "If I Had a Million" and "Tillie and Gus". Had been selling for 60-odd English Pounds, I bought it for @ $50 AU (about $45 American dollars). I'm stoked!!! Now, there's only "Mrs Wiggs", "Her Majesty Love", "Alice in Wonderland", "Songs of the Open Road" and "Sensations of 1945" to go. (Fields' bits in "Tales of Manhattan" is already out on a Fox DVD).
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
