''Quick Millions'' is a 1939 American comedy film directed by Malcolm St Clair and co-written by

Buster Keaton Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent films during the 1920s, in which he performed physical comedy and inventive stunts. He frequently ...

, one of the series of seventeen

20th Century Studios 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

Jones Family films beginning with ''Every Saturday Night'' (1936) and ending with ''

On Their Own ''On Their Own'' is a 1940 American comedy film directed by Otto Brower and written by Harold Buchman and Val Burton. This last of 17 Jones Family films stars Spring Byington, Kenneth Howell, George Ernest, June Carlson, Florence Roberts, a ...

'' (1940).

Spring Byington Spring Dell Byington (October 17, 1886 – September 7, 1971) was an American actress. Her career included a seven-year run on radio and television as the star of '' December Bride''. She was an MGM contract player who appeared in films from the ...

appeared in all seventeen;

Jed Prouty Jed Prouty (born Clarence Gordon Prouty; April 6, 1879 – May 10, 1956) was an American film actor. Biography Born as Clarence Gordon Prouty in Boston, Massachusetts, Prouty was a vaudeville performer before becoming a film actor. Mostly appe ...

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.

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 The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

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.

Cast

as John Jones *

as Mrs. John Jones *

Kenneth Howell Kenneth Howell (February 21, 1913 - September 28, 1966) was an American actor. He is best remembered for roles in films such as ''Pardon My Pups'' (1934), ''The Wrong Way Out'' (1938), ''Pride of the Bowery'' (1940) and ''Ball of Fire'' (1941), ...

as Jack Jones *

George Ernest George Ernest (born George Ruud Hjorth; November 20, 1921 – June 25, 2009) was an American actor and Office of Strategic Services (OSS) combat photographer/cameraman during World War II. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1930 an ...

as Roger Jones *

June Carlson June Carlson (April 16, 1924 – December 9, 1996) was an American film actress. Early years A native of Los Angeles, Carlson was the daughter of Hjalmas Carlson and Carrie Rogers Carlson. Film Carlson began her career as a child actress, appe ...

as Lucy Jones *

Florence Roberts Florence Roberts (March 16, 1861/1864 – June 6, 1940(photo included) was an American actress of the stage and in motion pictures. Stock company actress Born in New York City, she began acting onstage there. Her career began at the Brooklyn ...

as Granny Jones *

Billy Mahan Billy Mahan (July 9, 1930 – August 30, 2002) was an American film actor. A child actor, he played the recurring role of Bobby Jones in Twentieth Century Fox's Jones Family series of films. His son is voice actor Kerrigan Mahan.Drew p.180 Sele ...

as Bobby Jones *

Eddie Collins Edward Trowbridge Collins Sr. (May 2, 1887 – March 25, 1951), nicknamed "Cocky", was an American professional baseball player, manager and executive. He played as a second baseman in Major League Baseball from to for the Philadelphia Athle ...

as Henry 'Beaver' Howard * Robert Shaw as National Park Ranger Barry Frazier * Helen Ericson as Daisy Landers *

Marvin Stephens Marvin R. Stephens (March 23, 1922 - May 22, 2008) was an American film actor.Dwyer p.225 A child actor, his first Hollywood roles were in the Mickey McGuire films. Stephens then played the recurring role of Tommy McGuire in Twentieth Century Fox ...

as Tommy McGuire *

Paul Hurst Paul Michael Hurst (born 25 September 1974) is an English football manager and former player. As a player, he was a left back from 1993 to 2008, notably playing his entire career at Rotherham United, bar a brief loan spell with Burton Albion i ...

as Sheriff *

John T. Murray John T. Murray (28 August 1886 – 12 February 1957) was an Australian stage and film actor.Leider p. 316 Biography Born in Melbourne in 1886, Murray was married to actress Vivien Oakland, who he had appeared with on the vaudeville stage.

as Professor Pete Mathews * George Lynn as H. Jenkins 'Hank' Pierson *

Horace McMahon Horace McMahon (May 17, 1907 – August 17, 1971) was an American actor. He was one of Hollywood's favorite heavies. McMahon began his acting career on Broadway, then appeared in many films and television series. In 1962, he received a Pri ...

as Floyd 'Bat' Douglas * John Sheehan as Fire Chief * Eddie Dunn as Deputy Sheriff * George Guhl as Deputy and Jailer * Billy Griffith as Druggist * Edwin Gaffney as Gas Station Attendant *

Edward McWade Edward McWade (January 14, 1865 – May 17, 1943) was an American actor, and screenwriter. Biography McWade was born in Washington, D.C., on January 14, 1865. His father was notable stage actor Robert McWade Sr. (1835-1913) and his younger ...

as Storekeeper * Arthur Rankin as Notary * Clarence Wilson as Assayer *

Douglas Gerrard Douglas Gerrard (12 August 1891 – 5 June 1950) was an Irish-American actor and film director of the silent and early sound era. He appeared in more than 110 films between 1913 and 1949. He also directed 23 films between 1916 and 1920. He ...

as Indian

Reception

Frank Nugent Frank Stanley Nugent (May 27, 1908 – December 29, 1965) was an American screenwriter, journalist, and film reviewer. He wrote 21 film scripts, 11 for director John Ford. He wrote almost a thousand reviews for ''The New York Times'' before lea ...

in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' rates ''Quick Millions'' "the weakest entertainment to date" in the

Jones Family The Jones Family film series is seventeen 20th Century Fox second feature family comedies produced between 1936 and 1940. Somewhat similar to the mildly comic tone of MGM's ''Andy Hardy'' and Columbia Pictures '' Blondie'' films, the Joneses sta ...

saga, but finds merit in

vaudevillian Vaudeville (; ) is a theatre, theatrical genre of variety show, variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comic ...

in the role of Henry "Beaver" Howard, "who practically steals the show."

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. And yet you can see ''Quick Millions'' here

ref>https://ok.ru/video/1615272872543

Notes

References

* Dwyer, Ruth Anne. 1996. ''Malcolm St. Clair: His Films, 1915–1948''. Filmmakers Series, No. 38. ''

The Scarecrow Press Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an American independent academic publishing company founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns t ...

'', Lanham, MD & London. * Nugent, Frank S.. 1939. THE SCREEN: FOUR FILMS IN REVIEW; FEATURED IN NEW PICTURES HERE. ''

,'' September 22, 1939. https://www.nytimes.com/1939/09/22/archives/the-screen-four-films-in-review-featured-in-new-pictures-here.html Retrieved 17 June, 2024.

External links

* * * Quick Millions https://ok.ru/video/1615272872543 {{Malcolm St. Clair 1939 films 20th Century Fox films American black-and-white films Films directed by Malcolm St. Clair American comedy films 1939 comedy films 1930s American films 1930s English-language films English-language comedy films