Quick Millions (1939 film)

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Quick Millions
Quick Millions, 1939 film, 20th Century Fox, publicity poster.jpg
Directed by Malcolm St. Clair
Written by Buster Keaton (story)
Joseph Hoffman (story)
Produced by John Stone
Starring Jed Prouty
Spring Byington
Edited by Harry Reynolds
Distributed by 20th Century-Fox
Release date
  • August 25, 1939 (1939-08-25)
Running time
62 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Quick Millions is a 1939 American comedy film directed by Malcolm St Clair and co-written by Buster Keaton, one of the series of seventeen 20th Century Studios Jones Family films beginning with Every Saturday Night (1936) and ending with On Their Own (1940). [1]

Contents

Spring Byington appeared in all seventeen; Jed Prouty in all but the last one. Quick Millions is one of the two Jones Family films with gags and a story line provided by Keaton, briefly moonlighting from MGM for his old friend Malcolm St. Clair, tdirector of seven in Jones Family series. [2] [3]

Plot

After returning from an adventure in Hollywood, patriarch Jones na d his clan discover they have inherited a gold mine from his uncle Ezra. When the family travels to the Grand Canyon to inspect the claim, they are approached by swindlers, who assure them that they have inherited a rich gold mine. At the remote mountain cabin, John Jones and his brood discover no fortune. Mr. Jones is almost fleeced by a fraudulent collector of Indian artifacts, and is soon mistaken for a notorious bank robber by the local sheriff. Son Jack and daughter Lucy seek romance with undesirables. After a number of misadventures, the Jones’ safely escape back to their small town. [4]

Cast

Reception

Frank Nugent in the New York Times rates Quick Millions “the weakest entertainment to date” in the Jones Family saga, but finds merit in vaudevillian Eddie Collins in the role of Henry “Beaver” Howard, “who practically steals the show.” [5]

Film archival status

Film archivist Ruth Anne Dwyer reports that a copy of Quick Millions exists only on “delicate nitrate stock,” and, as such, is unavailable for viewing. [6]

Notes

  1. ↑ Dwyer, 1996 p. 147: On “...the production of seventeen films” in the series.
  2. ↑ Keaton, the Man Who Wouldn't Lie Down, Tom Dardis, pgs. 246-248
  3. ↑ Dwyer, 1996 p. 147: “...seven of which St. Clair directed…” And p. 42: The other film in the series on which Keaton worked is The Jones Family in Hollywood (1939).
  4. ↑ Dwyer, 1996 p. 228-228: Filmography, plot synopsis
  5. ↑ Nugent, 1939
  6. ↑ Dwyer, 1996 p. 57: Footnotes p. 57, no. 6

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References

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