''Sudden Money'' is a 1939 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Nick Grinde Nick Grinde (January 12, 1893 – June 19, 1979) was an American film director and screenwriter. He directed 57 films between 1928 and 1945. Biography Born Harry A. Grinde in Madison, Wisconsin but nicknamed "Nick," Grinde graduated from th ...

, written by Lewis R. Foster, and starring

Charlie Ruggles Charles Sherman Ruggles (February 8, 1886 – December 23, 1970) was an American comic character actor. In a career spanning six decades, Ruggles appeared in close to 100 feature films, often in mild-mannered and comic roles. He was also the e ...

, Marjorie Rambeau, Charley Grapewin,

Broderick Crawford William Broderick Crawford (December 9, 1911 – April 26, 1986) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actor, often cast in tough-guy roles and best known for his Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning portrayal of Willie Stark in '' All ...

, Billy Lee and

Evelyn Keyes Evelyn Louise Keyes (November 20, 1916 – July 4, 2008) was an American film actress. She is best known for her role as Suellen O'Hara in the 1939 film '' Gone with the Wind''. Early life Evelyn Keyes was born in Port Arthur, Texas, to Omar D ...

. It was released on March 31, 1939, by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

Plot

Winning a $150,000 prize in a sweepstakes gives the Patterson family grand plans. Particularly head of the family Sweeney, a frustrated drummer who decides to reassemble his old college ragtime band. Everybody begins spending money. Sweeney's wife Elsie enrolls in an art school, eager to become a painter. Her brother Doc begins gambling on horse races. Off to an expensive finishing school goes the Pattersons' daughter, Mary, while son Junior is enrolled in a military academy. Grandpa Casey looks on with disapproval, believing the family should be more careful with its new windfall. Sure enough, things go wrong. Sweeney takes a shine to a young woman called Yolo, who joins the band and immediately creates problems, her jealous ex-convict boyfriend even punching Sweeney in the nose. Elsie's art teacher disappears with her tuition fee. Mary's new beau Johnny Jordan and his father are appalled by the family's behavior, and she ends up expelled from school. Bit by bit, the family goes broke. Grandpa gives them an "I told you so." But after he wins a small cash prize himself, the family begins once again thinking big.

Cast

References

External links

* 1936 films American black-and-white films 1930s English-language films Films directed by Nick Grinde Paramount Pictures films American comedy films 1936 comedy films 1939 comedy films 1939 films 1930s American films {{1930s-comedy-film-stub