If I Had A Million(1932) Movie Review

I found this on a streaming site and I enjoyed it so much that I have decided to write a review of it.

Directed by : Ernst Lubitsch, H. Bruce Humberstone, Norman Z. McLeod, Norman Taurog, William A. Seiter, Stephen Roberts, James Cruze

Cast: Gary Cooper, Charles Laughton, W. C. Fields, George Raft, Jack Oakie, Charles Ruggles, Mary Boland, Roscoe Karns, Mary Robson, Richard Bennett, Alison Skipworth, Wynne Gibson, Frances Dee, Gene Raymond, Lucien Littlefield

Writing Credits

Robert Hardy Andrews...(based on a story by) (as Robert D. Andrews)

Claude Binyon, Whitney Bolton, Malcolm Stuart Boylan, John Bright, Sidney Buchman, Lester Cole, Isabel Dawn, Boyce DeGaw, Oliver H.P. Garrett, Harvey Gates, Ernst Lubitsch, Lawton Mackall, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, William Slavens McNutt, Robert Sparks

Quite the film from 1932.

If I Had A Million

Synopsis: (from Kino Lorber)

To prevent his inheritance from going to his greedy family, a dying steel tycoon (Richard Bennett) chooses eight random strangers and gives them each one million bucks. Among those chosen are an entertainer (W.C. Fields) who uses the money to clear bad drivers from the road, a Marine (Gary Cooper) who believes the check is an April Fool’s Day prank, and an office clerk (Charles Laughton) who finally sees an opportunity to quit his job. The unexpected windfalls bring joy—or tragedy—to the recipients. The anthology film If I Had a Million rounds up a veritable who’s-who of Hollywood filmmaking luminaries (including Ernst Lubitsch, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, James Cruze, H. Bruce Humberstone, Stephen Roberts, Norman Z. McLeod, William A. Seiter and Norman Taurog) and turns them loose for a zany, star-studded Pre-Code classic that bristles with imagination and wit.

What follows is a short film of each of the recipients who are fortunate to have been picked.

First is a clutz who works in a china shop, and keeps getting pay cuts due to the amount of items he breaks. Upon receiving his cheque he returns to the shop and happily announces his retirement in a shattering way.

Next is a woman of the night, who rents herself the nicest room in a very nice hotel.

I was surprised to see her strip down to just her bra and panties. It's 1932 after all.

Bank fraud is the next story, a man who is wanted for bank fraud by the banks and police, has a difficult time trying to get even a bed for the night, when he tries to get others that he knows in the underworld won't even help him with getting the cheque cashed, because of who he is.

W.C. Fields' wife is granted the next million after having their brand new car totaled by what he calls "road hogs", they buy almost a whole lot of cars, with drivers to follow them. He then uses each of them to run the road hogs off the road, with quite hilarious results.

Next is a man on death row, who claims that he's been sentenced to death because he didn't have the money to hire a good lawyer. Not al the stories have a happy ending.

Next is the shortest one where a man is working in a room full of other men with typewriters and filling out paperwork. He receives his check, tucks it into his inside coat pocket, walks up a number of stairs to the President of the companies office, and gives him a raspberry, lol.

Gary Cooper is next, working in a guard house, in the navy, playing craps with fellow guards, bidding with money they don't have. When he is presented with his check, he checks the calendar and sees it is April 1. He tells his buddies that you don't play April fools jokes on April 1, do it in July. He uses the money to pay for food he and his friends owe, he tries to fool the man who owns the burger stand and says that the cheque is worth $10.

Finds out later not everyone can be trusted.

They often times save the best stories for last, this is easily my favorite of the group. In a home for senior ladies, is your typical story of a woman who runs the facility under a tight rule. No cats, No gambling, and sheets must be tucked into the bed.

Mrs Watson would love nothing more than to cook in the kitchen and have a cat. She is denied both things until the day she is granted a visit and a check for a million dollars.

She buys the facility and turns it into a members-only club, where uncomfortable table chairs are turned into lounge chairs and sofas. Gambling is allowed and the place is run over with cats. She and a good majority of the women are in the kitchen, showing the previous chefs how to cook.