The Happiest Millionaire
by Norman Tokar
List Price:
Our Price: $4.98
You Save: $10.01 (67%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.53 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Fred MacMurray, Geraldine Page, Gladys Cooper, Greer Garson, Tommy SteeleDirector: Norman Tokar
Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
Cinematographer: Edward Colman
Editor: Cotton Warburton
Producer: Bill Anderson
Producer: Walt Disney
Writer: AJ Carothers
Writer: Cordelia Drexel Biddle
Writer: Kyle Crichton
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 173 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-06-01
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Product features:
- This is the story of "the happiest millionaire," nonconformist Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, and his unusual Philadelphia family as seen through the eyes of their new immigrant-Irish butler. The year is 1916, and in the busy household on Rittenhouse Square each of the family members has hopes and dreams. For Mr. Biddle, it's strengthening the Biddle Bible Class, campaigning for military preparedne
Movie Reviews of The Happiest Millionaire
Movie Review: What's Wrong with That?
Summary: 5 Stars
You could rate this four stars for the edition; I gave it five for the show. The edition would be helped by remastering the film; the color is washed out, the sound could be remixed. That would happen were this a "Disney Classic" and not a Vault Disney style budget release. But that would also price it out of its market. What of the show? This film is hurt by the comparisons with Mary Poppins, a film in which many viewers feel Walt got everything right. On it's own, however, it stands up quite well.
It's a film from a musical from a book, and hearkens back to a nearly forgotten time when kids could buy books in school for 50 cents from little newspapers by Scholastic Book Services circulated on Weekly Reader day. One of these was a skinny b&w photo story from this movie. Live action Disney films were just as anticipated as the animated features. How happy they are again being released in affordable versions. The flyer in this DVD case lists three more Fred Mac Murray films: Son of Flubber, Follow Me, Boys, and the even less seen Bon Voyage.
This film was poised at the cusp, as it were, of what may be seen as the end of classic Disney or the rise of a shift in entertainment, as its release coincided with the Summer of Love and the Beatles' Sgt Pepper album. Everything before that time was effectively buried and is only now being unearthed.
This film was directed by Norman Tokar, with Pat Paulsen from The Donna Reed Show in a minor role. It marked the film debut of John Davidson, who would become a household name and have his own variety TV show. The film's tone is hundreds of times more optimistic than anything now. If it won't win Best Musical, the songs are nevertheless quite stick-in-your head memorable. If the acting seems damped and restrained, it's somewhat due to the subdued "millionaire" setting, amid which MacMurray and the Biddles stand out as non-conformists or rugged individualists. But there are plenty of action scenes: boxing, bar fights, live alligators, and Tommy Steele as the indefatigable Irish butler. Films like this were made for the big screen, for the Saturday afternoon matinee. That's their true home, where they play best.
The "Restored Roadshow Edition" is, frankly, odd. Having not seen the shorter version, I have no idea how much this 172 minute cut exceeds it in length, but there are title cards reading "Overture" at the beginning, "Intermission" in the middle, and "Exit" at the end, clearly meant for theater-going crowds. These add a bit of time on their own. In sum, I think any fan of early Disney would like this film. It would qualify for the way overused term "Disney Classic" not by being splashy and lavish, but because it likely fulfill's Walt's vision for his films. It's odd and unique, and may leave you wondering, as it did me, why can't they make films like this today?
Summary of The Happiest Millionaire
HAPPIEST MILLIONAIRE - DVD MovieReportedly the last feature to be personally shepherded by Walt Disney himself, The Happiest Millionaire is a stubbornly old-fashioned musical intended to build on the success of Mary Poppins, relying on songs and score from Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman, the studio's resident songwriting team responsible for the hits of Poppins. Despite that pedigree, and a cast headlined by Fred MacMurray, Greer Garson, Tommy Steele, Geraldine Page, and, in their screen debuts, Lesley Anne Warren and John Davidson, the would-be successor wound up a white elephant.
Released in 1967, a watershed year for youth culture and social upheaval, The Happiest Millionaire romanticizes Philadelphia's upper crust circa 1916. Its title character, Anthony J. Drexel Biddle (MacMurray), is a militant industrialist urging America's mobilization against Germany, and noteworthy for an eccentric lifestyle that includes his own bible study classes, martial arts training, and (in a lone nod toward any remotely modern social values) a readiness to empower his lovely, headstrong daughter, Cordelia (Warren).
Under Norman Tokar's busy but routine direction, the project does muster moments of charm, and packs its story line with enough twists to partly explain its excessive 144-minute length. But the unintended irony of paeans to capitalism and conservative politics in an era of Sgt. Pepper isn't masked by the Shermans' music, which is eminently forgettable, despite the game mugging of Tommy Steele as an immigrant Irish butler. Equally game is MacMurray, but as a singer, he's no Rex Harrison. --Sam Sutherland
Similar DVD Movies
Hot Lead & Cold FeetBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2004-07-06; DVD
Best price: $3.63
Price in other shops:
Blackbeard's GhostWalt Disney Video; Release date: 2002-06-04; DVD
Best price: $5.93
Price in other shops:
Bon Voyage!Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2004-02-03; DVD
Best price: $5.78
Price in other shops:
Darby O'Gill and the Little PeopleBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2004-08-03; DVD
Best price: $4.78
Price in other shops:
Toby TylerBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2005-08-02; DVD
Best price: $3.74
Price in other shops:
The Gnome-MobileBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2004-03-02; DVD
Best price: $5.83
Price in other shops:
Summer MagicWalt Disney Home Entertainment; Release date: 2005-05-03; DVD
Best price: $4.96
Price in other shops:
Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N.Walt Disney Home Entertainment; Release date: 2005-04-12; DVD
Best price: $5.79
Price in other shops:
The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family BandBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2004-07-06; DVD
Best price: $5.82
Price in other shops:
Follow Me, Boys!Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2004-02-03; DVD
Best price: $4.04
Price in other shops: