Kid Millions (1934)

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Eddie Cantor's comedies, when they appear, usually still amuse the modern audiences that watch them. The only thing that jars is his use of black-face which crops up in his films - but while not liked by African-Americans it is less jarring with Cantor's films than with his contemporary Al Jolson. Jolson's use of black face in singing mingled his biggest asset (that melodious bleat of his voice) with a racial insult. But Cantor's use of the black face was not as overpowering as Jolson's - Cantor only would do one number in a film in black-face. His main persona was a cowardly or timid schlemiel who sang frequently without racist make-up on. Jolson could do it too, of course (most notably in HALLELUJAH, I'M A BUM), but usually he is fully willing to "black himself" up before his biggest numbers. It really was not all that necessary to Cantor's work.In KID MILLIONS Eddie is the son of an archaeologist (his photo shows Cantor in pith helmet and side whiskers) who found a great treasure in Egypt before he died. The deceased was not a nice guy, and there are a number of people who feel they should be his legal heir. Besides Eddie (his son), there is his girlfriend (Ethel Merman - assisted by her other boyfriend Warren Hymer), there is a southern con-man who may have raised some funds for the Professor's last expedition (Burton Churchill), the con-man's daughter (Ann Southern), and a representative of a learned society that did back the expedition (George Murphy). All of them head for Egypt to get the treasure, but it is actually still in the hands of the Egyptian sheik (Paul Harvey) who considered the Professor an infidel (some things never change). The interplay of the characters in the story make it so amusing. Besides Cantor's combination of fear and determination to get the treasure, he has to fend off his rivals (in particular Merman and Hymer). Southern and Murphy slowly find themselves falling in love. And Cantor finds he has picked up a lover too (Eva Sully, the Jewish sounding daughter of the Sheikh). As Eddie says in the tune, "Okay Toots", "I like the sheik and his silly daughter, but I prefer her under water!" and proceeds to push the girl into a pool. The humor is clever at times. While talking on the boat to Egypt, Hymer and Churchill lose track of each other's conversation: Churchill is mentioning his neighbors in Virginia. Hymer, getting momentarily sidetracked mentions a neighbor of his with a name like Birnbaum or Schwartz. Without losing a beat, Churchill says, "One of the finest families of the South", leaving one with the image of an old first family of Virginia with a Jewish name. Hymer is certainly surprised.Despite the use of black face in the big musical number "Mandy" (and only Cantor puts it on), the film is pretty amusing as an entertainment. I can give it only a "7" because of the racist content of that sequence, but otherwise I think that it would be acceptable to an audience.

In a recent and long overdue biography of Eddie Cantor it turns out that Cantor's daughter Marilyn was responsible for the casting of Ethel Merman in this and a subsequent film of her father's. The Cantors and the San Goldwyns saw each other socially quite a bit and young Marilyn Cantor became a fan of Merman's after seeing her on the Broadway stage. She lobbied with Goldwyn to get Merman opposite her father and the man relented.Cantor and Merman did work well together here and in Strike Me Pink. Eddie is playing his usual bullied schnook who is living with what I guess would be considered a foster family on the New York docks. But it turns out he's the son of an archaeologist who went to Egypt and went missing, but who found a reputed treasure. All he has to do is claim the treasure over in Egypt. Of course there are some other people who think they have a claim.Berton Churchill and daughter Ann Sothern helped finance the expedition and Ethel Merman claims a common-law relationship, a scheme cooked up by her hoodlum boy friend Warren Hymer. All of these people perform well and I have to say that Warren Hymer who never exactly played intellectuals on the screen actually dumbs HIS usual character down for the film. But I have to say that the man who seemed to be enjoying himself most playing the villainous Arab sheik is character actor Paul Harvey. He overacts outrageously in his part and I'm sure he was grateful for the false beard and mustache he had to wear to contain the grins he must have had on his face.Playing the Harvey's daughter and her beloved are the vaudeville team of Eva Sully and Jesse Block in their only screen appearance. I'm betting Cantor was responsible for their casting. Eva in her harem outfit and Jewish accent develops a crush on Cantor who's who'd rather be boiled in the sheik's oil than marry her. But that's part of the whole wonderfully silly plot.A whole host of song writing talents contributed to this film, Irving Berlin, Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn and Burton Lane and Harold Adamson. Some sharp ears might recognize a Lane tune that was revived with a different lyric by Alan Jay Lerner and danced to by Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding then called You're All the World To Me. There is also one of the strangest minstrel numbers ever shot on screen where no one but Cantor is in blackface. During it he has to dance with the Nicholas Brothers and I'm sure in the primitive minds back then it was felt he'd better look like them. He shouldn't have tried because Fayard and Harold dance him right off the screen.Other than the minstrel number, Kid Millions is one of the best musicals from out of the Thirties and another showcase of the talented Eddie Cantor.

It's a strange thing, but some of the quips and jokes in older films such as this are so corny, so crusty and so hijacked over the years, yet still manage to be very funny and quite entertaining. Perhaps it's in the delivery or perhaps it's just surprising that something made over seventy years ago can still possess the wit and suggestiveness that we feel we have a lock on now. Cantor, who's close to being completely forgotten by today's audiences, had a winning formula for movies in the thirties. He played rather dim, but appealing, young men who find themselves in the middle of extraordinary circumstances and who weasel their ways out of danger though luck and fate, usually singing a few splashy songs in the process. Here, in one of his best films, Cantor plays a practically penniless wharf rat who inherits a fortune from his long lost father, a archaeologist in Egypt. He sails for Egypt to claim it, but has several others around him who feel that it's theirs. His chief rival is Merman, a saucy singer with a lunkheaded gangster boyfriend (Hymer.) Fussy Colonel Churchill and young singer Murphy also have their eyes on the loot for varied reasons. Churchill's lovely daughter Sothern is along for window dressing and as a love interest for Murphy. Once the gaggle of wannabee heirs reaches Egypt, they are confronted by the hostile spectre of Shiek Harvey and his giddy, lovestruck daughter Sully. When the dust has settled, Cantor returns to New York and opens a lavish, elaborate, unbelievable ice cream factory (this portion of the film is presented in extraordinary Technicolor.) The plot is paper thin, but the script is zesty and funny. The songs are catchy and extravagantly performed. One extended sequence features the fabulous talents of The Nicholas Brothers, who tap dance with exemplary skill as a (now controversially) black-faced Cantor looks on. The younger of the brothers is given greater showcase and adds plenty of good nature and fun to the proceedings. This same sequence also includes a well-coordinated bit with dozens of dancing girls passing tambourines to each other in sync. Nothing, however, can top the finale which is equal parts charming, bizarre, colorful and amusing. Cantor is given a great rondolet of supporting actors to work with here. Merman is excellent. Her sassy manner and booming voice are complimented by some nice bits (not the least of which is her character of 19 trying to convince 25 year-old Cantor that she's his mother!) Hymer (an actor who made a long career out of playing thugs with names like Pug and Lug) gets one of his best roles and rises to the occasion. He has one startling scene in which he is coerced into kissing Cantor on the lips, creating both a kooky and a kinky sensation for the viewer. Sothern is very pretty and provides some nice singing in a few numbers. Murphy is both green and vanilla, but compliments Sothern well. The biggest treat of all is the presence of Sully. In what is (criminally) her only feature film appearance, she commands every second of her screen time with a riotous, infectious and downright side-splitting portrayal. She's one of the few performers who can score laughs from an audience simply by laughing herself in her inimitable way. The film is delightful throughout, but is worth seeing for her work no matter what. It's a shame that Cantor seems to have such a small following. His work is all about entertaining the masses and quite a few of the masses would still find him entertaining if they only knew who he was!

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.