1941 film by Curtis Bernhardt
Million Dollar Baby is a 1941 American romantic comedy film directed by Curtis Bernhardt and starring Priscilla Lane, Jeffrey Lynn, Ronald Reagan, May Robson and Lee Patrick.[1] [2] The film was based on a short story by Leonard Spigelgass. It was produced and distributed by Warner Bros.
Plot
When wealthy American expatriate Cornelia Wheelwright is informed by her longtime lawyers that her late father swindled his partner, Fortune McCallister, out of $700,000, she acts decisively. First, because James Amory is the only lawyer in the firm to be outraged by the injustice, she hires him and fires the rest of the firm. His first task is to locate all of McCallister's heirs. It turns out there is only one: granddaughter Pam McCallister.
Pam works in Lacey's Department Store and lives in a boardinghouse in New York City. To find out what kind of person she is, Cornelia becomes a fellow tenant. Cornelia also meets Pam's boyfriend, composer and piano player Pete Rowan (Reagan).
Cornelia then has Jim give Pam a million dollars. Pam is excited at first, buying gifts for her boardinghouse friends, and her boyfriend, who lives across the hall from her. Much to her surprise, her friends and boyfriend seem to change overnight. They are not as overjoyed at her good fortune as she imagines they would be, and rather resent her. As the last straw, her boyfriend tells her she's an Elsie Dinsmore and breaks it off with her. Pam finally decides on a course of action that makes her happy, as well as those around her.
Cast
References
- ^ Fetrow p.310
- ^ Vaughan p.28
Bibliography
- Fetrow, Alan G. Feature Films, 1940-1949: a United States Filmography. McFarland, 1994.
- Vaughn, Stephen. Ronald Reagan in Hollywood: Movies and Politics. Cambridge University Press, 1994.
External links
