From RKO. At the open, we see the warden describing some new additions to his prison. One big name in here (besides Lee Tracy) is Shemp Howard as "the Professor", a prisoner, who is clearly here for comic relief. Of course, they make fools of themselves the first day, expecting the blue chip treatment, which doesn't happen. Brent and Keats come up with a plan to try to scam the other cell mates over a copper mine. Keats is played by Chester Clute, who always played background roles, typically with no lines. Often hotel clerks, or waiters. I remember him from Copacabana, Easy Come Easy Go, Saratoga Trunk, Mildred Pierce. When you see his face, you'll say "of course, that guy!". Burton (Lee Tracy) is one of the smarter prison mates who knows what's up, kind of the ringleader. The girlfriends of the prisoners meet on visiting day, and also form an alliance. It's pretty entertaining. Some left turns along the way. Keep an eye out for Grady Sutton, the nephew who comes to see his uncle on visiting day. Sutton had been in a bunch of W.C. Fields' films. There is a comedic side to this mostly serious plot, and according to wikipedia.org director Ray McCarey had directed Our Gang episodes, as well as Laurel and Hardy and the Three Stooges. McCarey croaked quite young (44), but I haven't been able to find the cause of death. Film is mostly well done. A little over the top, but not a bad way to spend 64 minutes.
9 Reviews
Being a Lee Tracy fan I wanted to like it, but it was just too corny and contrived to be paroled.
Larry41OnEbay-227 January 2006
Warning: Spoilers
There's nice work from supporting players Paul Guilfoyle, Cliff Edwards, Raymond Walburn, Thurston Hall and Shemp Howard, but this is the squeaky cleanest jail with the nicest crooks this side of THE PRODUCERS.
SPOILERS: The only real dramatic conflict is will the good doctor save the cons the warden has agreed to secretly inject with killer germs against the good doctors wishes to save the good doctors good face and test an untried drug so that the cons families can get $10k in case they die, or as I like to call it Plot #27. And then there's the corrupt pair of millionaires who want to steal even more money by duping their new roommates (remember their murders, rapist, homicidal maniacs) out of what little money they have by tricking them into investing in a busted copper mine so they can get richer (millionaires who risk their lives in jail for another $50k, right?)! The bottom line it is an Andy Hardy Goes To Jail movie light drama.
SPOILERS: The only real dramatic conflict is will the good doctor save the cons the warden has agreed to secretly inject with killer germs against the good doctors wishes to save the good doctors good face and test an untried drug so that the cons families can get $10k in case they die, or as I like to call it Plot #27. And then there's the corrupt pair of millionaires who want to steal even more money by duping their new roommates (remember their murders, rapist, homicidal maniacs) out of what little money they have by tricking them into investing in a busted copper mine so they can get richer (millionaires who risk their lives in jail for another $50k, right?)! The bottom line it is an Andy Hardy Goes To Jail movie light drama.
Conning the cons
bkoganbing28 March 2019
An upgrade in the per capita wealth of a certain prison population with the addition of some wealthy folks. Two millionaires who you know inherited their
loot Thurston Hall and Raymond Walburn at their bloviating best. Two others
played by Morgan Conway and Chester Clute who actually continue their
crooked ways conning the cons with some phony mining stock. Some are just
incorrigible. Also in a character based on the protagonist in Magnificent Obsession is Truman Bradley a wealthy playboy doctor who was doing research
into tropical diseases but got into a bad drunk driving incident. He's working
out his rehabilitation working in the prison hospital under Dr. Selmer Jackson.
All this and other cons look up to Lee Tracy who while Thomas Jackson is the warden, it's Tracy who knows the system and how to survive in the joint best. Even the guards tell the prisoners to take their cues from Tracy.
With some cons like Shemp Howard, Horace McMahon, and Cliff Edwards these guys make serving time look like enforced summer camp. Still millionaires in prison has quite a few laughs to it. With a cast like this you would expect it so.
All this and other cons look up to Lee Tracy who while Thomas Jackson is the warden, it's Tracy who knows the system and how to survive in the joint best. Even the guards tell the prisoners to take their cues from Tracy.
With some cons like Shemp Howard, Horace McMahon, and Cliff Edwards these guys make serving time look like enforced summer camp. Still millionaires in prison has quite a few laughs to it. With a cast like this you would expect it so.
Too Silly to Work
Michael_Elliott20 June 2013
Millionaires in Prison (1940)
** (out of 4)
Silly "B" picture from RKO about four businessmen who go to prison for embezzlement and we see the "changes" they make while behind bars. Whenever I see a movie come up on Turner Classic Movie and it involves prison, it always gets recorded because the Golden Age of Hollywood usually delivered some pretty good prison films. Sadly, this here isn't one of the good ones despite some fine performances. The biggest problem is the screenplay, which just offers up way too many cliché moments as well as some really stupid plot twists and turns. One such moment is some comic relief when two of the men want better food to eat during their stay. Um, not funny. Another weird twist happens towards the end and involves a doctor needing to do something good but I won't spoil it for you. Again, at just 63-minutes the film seems twice as long and that's never good when you're watching a second-tier picture. The one saving grace are the fine performances scattered throughout the film. Lee Tracy is extremely good in his leading role and we get nice support from Raymond Walbum, Morgan Conway, Linda Hayes and even Shemp Howard has a nice role that you wouldn't expect to see him in. Still, MILLIONAIRES IN PRISON just doesn't have enough credibility to work.
** (out of 4)
Silly "B" picture from RKO about four businessmen who go to prison for embezzlement and we see the "changes" they make while behind bars. Whenever I see a movie come up on Turner Classic Movie and it involves prison, it always gets recorded because the Golden Age of Hollywood usually delivered some pretty good prison films. Sadly, this here isn't one of the good ones despite some fine performances. The biggest problem is the screenplay, which just offers up way too many cliché moments as well as some really stupid plot twists and turns. One such moment is some comic relief when two of the men want better food to eat during their stay. Um, not funny. Another weird twist happens towards the end and involves a doctor needing to do something good but I won't spoil it for you. Again, at just 63-minutes the film seems twice as long and that's never good when you're watching a second-tier picture. The one saving grace are the fine performances scattered throughout the film. Lee Tracy is extremely good in his leading role and we get nice support from Raymond Walbum, Morgan Conway, Linda Hayes and even Shemp Howard has a nice role that you wouldn't expect to see him in. Still, MILLIONAIRES IN PRISON just doesn't have enough credibility to work.
Pasteur of the Prison
dogwater-11 February 2012
A thoroughly "Pac Man" plot that busily chews its way through any scenario of reason, this film features a cure for "Malta Fever", a con scheme involving a copper mine, and two rich men trying to improve prison cuisine. There is also two love stories of a sort and a murder off-screen featuring a convict shoved into a furnace. Lee Tracey stars with a great group of character actors, Raymond Walburn, Thurston Hall, Shemp Howard and Chester Clute. Top it off with Horace McMahon and Cliff Edwards and who wouldn't bite.
It's another country club prison where the warden admits if he were fired, he wouldn't run the place without Mickey Burke (Tracey) who, indeed seems to be the general manager of the place. Burke has stuck up a joint to get money to marry his girlfriend and is rather happily serving an eight year stretch. Its all total nonsense, but these are the mugs anyone would serve time with.
It's another country club prison where the warden admits if he were fired, he wouldn't run the place without Mickey Burke (Tracey) who, indeed seems to be the general manager of the place. Burke has stuck up a joint to get money to marry his girlfriend and is rather happily serving an eight year stretch. Its all total nonsense, but these are the mugs anyone would serve time with.
No steak, no oysters, but eat those beans toot sweet!
mark.waltz4 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Fast moving but often corny crime drama with the plethora of popular character comedians of the early 1940's. What is known today as white collar criminals has them in general population and forced to live exactly like everyone else. There's only a little bit of explanation for what Raymond Walburn and Thurston Hall are in for, but they go from their expensive suits to prison uniforms white quickly as they arrived to serve their sentence. Cliff Edwards, Chester Clute and Shemp Howard are among the other funny men who find themselves in a more serious predicament, with the cynical Lee Tracy (often amusing with his world weary eye rolls, even when serious) as the top cheese who has an angle for every con.
There's also Truman Bradley as a young doctor, fearing he might lose his medical license because of being locked up, yet going to work in the prison hospital, as well as tough guy Morgan Conway as the inmate predictably planning a breakout. Linda Hayes and Virginia Vale offer the feminine touch to the story, befriending each other on their way up on the train to meet their perspective boyfriends.
The mixture of comic and dramatic elements of the script doesn't necessarily work in this RKO programmer, with wealthy businessman Walburn and Hall truly delusional for thinking that they can get special treatment in a blue collar prison. The most interesting elements of the film focus what goes on behind the scenes in the prison hospital, a unique twist on the typical subplots that dominate most films of this nature. Tracy and Bradley give the most memorable performances, although Walburn and Hall try their best not to be too silly with the material they are given.
There's also Truman Bradley as a young doctor, fearing he might lose his medical license because of being locked up, yet going to work in the prison hospital, as well as tough guy Morgan Conway as the inmate predictably planning a breakout. Linda Hayes and Virginia Vale offer the feminine touch to the story, befriending each other on their way up on the train to meet their perspective boyfriends.
The mixture of comic and dramatic elements of the script doesn't necessarily work in this RKO programmer, with wealthy businessman Walburn and Hall truly delusional for thinking that they can get special treatment in a blue collar prison. The most interesting elements of the film focus what goes on behind the scenes in the prison hospital, a unique twist on the typical subplots that dominate most films of this nature. Tracy and Bradley give the most memorable performances, although Walburn and Hall try their best not to be too silly with the material they are given.
Excellent second feature
F Gwynplaine MacIntyre2 December 2002
'Millionaires in Prison' is an excellent example of something that doesn't exist anymore, but which was commonplace in the days of the big Hollywood studios: the second feature. In the 1930s and '40s, Americans went to the movies expecting to receive a full evening's worth of entertainment: a double feature plus short subjects and a newsreel. The second feature (which was actually **first**, as it was screened **before** the main feature) typically had a shorter running time, lower budget and more obscure actors and director than the more prestigious main feature ... but, at their best, the second features were always well-made and solidly entertaining in their own right. 'Millionaires in Prison' is one of the very best examples of that tradition.
The movie opens with a brisk but heavy-handed expository scene, featuring a newspaper editor named R.J. Reynolds. (Could this be a plug for the tobacco company?) Reynolds is giving his reporters an assignment to do a story on four millionaire financiers who have recently been sent to prison for financial shenanigans. Interestingly, the editor tells his reporters in advance precisely how they're supposed to slant their reportage. (This sort of thing happens all the time in the real world, but I've never seen it depicted in any other movie: in Movieland, reporters are always objective truth-seekers.)
Two of the millionaires, well-played by veteran actors Raymond Walburn and Thurston Hall, are befuddled fall guys who somehow took the rap for someone else's embezzlement. Reynolds tells his reporters (and us) that these lads are innocent, and he adds: 'Go easy on them, boys.' On the other hand, the other two millionaires are outright crooks who are guilty as hell, and Reynolds gleefully tells his newshounds to pull all the stops out on them.
Walburn and Hall give enjoyable performances, but the characters they're playing aren't very credible. It's difficult to believe that these two dimwits could ever have been successful financiers. They're in a fairly conventional prison (not a Club Fed), doing hard time, yet they seem to think they're in some sort of country club.
There's a nice complement of veteran film faces here, with Lee Tracy and Morgan Conway at their cynical best, and a welcome turn by Shemp Howard. Even the annoying Chester Clute, one of my most un-favourite actors, manages to be less annoying than usual here. I kept hoping there'd be a cellblock riot and Clute would get taken hostage. (Or maybe a scene in the prison showers where Clute drops the soap...)
'Millionaires in Prison' is very ably directed by Ray McCarey, who was much less talented than his brother Leo McCarey but who was nonetheless a reliable director in his own right. Ray McCarey's work is long overdue for reappraisal, and 'Millionaires in Prison' is a good place to start. I'll rate this film 8 points out of 10.
The movie opens with a brisk but heavy-handed expository scene, featuring a newspaper editor named R.J. Reynolds. (Could this be a plug for the tobacco company?) Reynolds is giving his reporters an assignment to do a story on four millionaire financiers who have recently been sent to prison for financial shenanigans. Interestingly, the editor tells his reporters in advance precisely how they're supposed to slant their reportage. (This sort of thing happens all the time in the real world, but I've never seen it depicted in any other movie: in Movieland, reporters are always objective truth-seekers.)
Two of the millionaires, well-played by veteran actors Raymond Walburn and Thurston Hall, are befuddled fall guys who somehow took the rap for someone else's embezzlement. Reynolds tells his reporters (and us) that these lads are innocent, and he adds: 'Go easy on them, boys.' On the other hand, the other two millionaires are outright crooks who are guilty as hell, and Reynolds gleefully tells his newshounds to pull all the stops out on them.
Walburn and Hall give enjoyable performances, but the characters they're playing aren't very credible. It's difficult to believe that these two dimwits could ever have been successful financiers. They're in a fairly conventional prison (not a Club Fed), doing hard time, yet they seem to think they're in some sort of country club.
There's a nice complement of veteran film faces here, with Lee Tracy and Morgan Conway at their cynical best, and a welcome turn by Shemp Howard. Even the annoying Chester Clute, one of my most un-favourite actors, manages to be less annoying than usual here. I kept hoping there'd be a cellblock riot and Clute would get taken hostage. (Or maybe a scene in the prison showers where Clute drops the soap...)
'Millionaires in Prison' is very ably directed by Ray McCarey, who was much less talented than his brother Leo McCarey but who was nonetheless a reliable director in his own right. Ray McCarey's work is long overdue for reappraisal, and 'Millionaires in Prison' is a good place to start. I'll rate this film 8 points out of 10.
Nick is a saint amongst the sinners.
planktonrules8 March 2021
I really enjoyed watching "Millionaires in Prison", though I will also be quick to admit that the story has many ridiculous story elements. Still, it IS enjoyable and a lot of fun...and is nothing like any other prison film I've ever seen.
When the story begins, five millionaires are inexplicably sent to prison at the same exact time. One is a doctor who was drunk driving and he hurt someone in the process. Two are just plain crooks...and have apparently learned NOTHING from their convictions. Two are just plain stupid...pampered men who think they will be given preferential treatment, such as maid service, because of their wealth. These two are not so much bad as clueless. And, each of these men end up having their time in prison strongly influenced by fellow inmate, Nick (Lee Tracy). I'd like to say HOW...but this would ruin the film.
If you are looking for realism, do NOT watch "Millionaires in Prison". Instead, it's a comedic drama...and a most enjoyable B-picture. My advice is just turn off your brain and enjoy the film....and it's made easier by some nice performances, especially Tracy who is in a very different sort of role than his usual faire. Well made and fun...and worth your time. My only reservation is that the idiot millionaires are a bit ridiculous...but again, enjoyable if you just turn off that pesky brain!
When the story begins, five millionaires are inexplicably sent to prison at the same exact time. One is a doctor who was drunk driving and he hurt someone in the process. Two are just plain crooks...and have apparently learned NOTHING from their convictions. Two are just plain stupid...pampered men who think they will be given preferential treatment, such as maid service, because of their wealth. These two are not so much bad as clueless. And, each of these men end up having their time in prison strongly influenced by fellow inmate, Nick (Lee Tracy). I'd like to say HOW...but this would ruin the film.
If you are looking for realism, do NOT watch "Millionaires in Prison". Instead, it's a comedic drama...and a most enjoyable B-picture. My advice is just turn off your brain and enjoy the film....and it's made easier by some nice performances, especially Tracy who is in a very different sort of role than his usual faire. Well made and fun...and worth your time. My only reservation is that the idiot millionaires are a bit ridiculous...but again, enjoyable if you just turn off that pesky brain!
This flick merits a rating of 8/10 just on the basis of its title alone . . .
oscaralbert26 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
. . . according to the L. O. L. P. (or League of Little People). Certainly ALL millionaires, billionaires and trillion-airs belong in either the penitentiary or Down Below. Therefore, the phrase MILLIONAIRES IN PRISON is always a happy thought for we Normal Average Union Label Working Stiff 99 Per Centers. Unless We Little People make use of our inalienable rite of Citizen's Arrest Power to employ America's RICO and Civil Forfeiture Laws ASAP to rid our land of this resource-hoarding scourge who currently laugh and cackle at us as they Lord it over us atop their mountains of ill-gotten wealth, and then fairly redistribute these piles of loot (after paying off the national debt these cash-crazed monopolists have run up with their corporate welfare programs), our nation is sure to plunge into chaotic civil war. As the Sunday Edition editor observes here, the facts on the ground demand an immediate social revolution!
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