This is a zippy, energetic little movie with a great comic set-up--a returned soldier must liquidate $1 Million dollars in two months in order to inherit $7 million more. Moreover, he can't tell anyone why he's spending money so recklessly. The story has great potential for the kind of manic, ludicrous, keenly insightful social satire that Preston Sturges made into high-art. In Sturges' films, charismatically anxious characters with clashing motives careen wildly from one travail to the next. In Brewster's Millions, characters dully wring their hands over the odd behavior of the protagonist. While Brewster's Millions is well-paced and jovial, it's missing all the marvelous characterization that make a screwball comedy sing (and give it artistic staying power). It reminds us why Hawks, Capra and Sturges are revered. In their ensemble comedies, every character adds texture and depth to the proceedings. Here supporting characters are little more than painted backdrops. An exception is African-American actor Eddie Anderson in an unfortunate, but era standard, man-servant role. Despite being cast as subservient, Anderson's charisma and comic timing add sorely needed vitality to the film. Anderson's performance suggests what the film might have been with more proficient actors in all the roles. I kept imagining what James Stewart could have done as titular hero Brewster, adding layers of mischief, desire and resentment to a character that, as played by Dennis O'Keefe, is merely affable and nervous.
Review of Brewster's Millions
