Thanks a Million
theatrical poster
Directed byRoy Del Ruth
Written byNunnally Johnson
Story:
Darryl F. Zanuck
Melville Crossman
Uncredited:
Fred Allen
James Gow
Edmund Gross
Harry Tugend
Produced byDarryl F. Zanuck
StarringDick Powell
Ann Dvorak
Fred Allen
CinematographyJ. Peverell Marley
Edited byAllen McNeil
Music byArthur Lange
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • October 25, 1935 (1935-10-25)
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Thanks a Million is a 1935 musical film produced and released by 20th Century Fox and directed by Roy Del Ruth. It stars Dick Powell, Ann Dvorak and Fred Allen, and features Patsy Kelly, David Rubinoff and Paul Whiteman and his band with singer/pianist Ramona. The script by Nunnally Johnson was based on a story by producer Darryl F. Zanuck (writing as Melville Crossman) and contained uncredited additional dialogue by Fred Allen, James Gow, Edmund Gross and Harry Tugend.

Thanks a Million was nominated for the Academy Award for Sound (E. H. Hansen) in 1935.[1] It was remade in 1946 as If I'm Lucky, with Perry Como and Phil Silvers in the Powell and Allen roles.[2]

Plot

Stranded in a small town in a downpour, the manager of a traveling musical show (Fred Allen) convinces the handlers of a boring long-winded local judge running for governor (Raymond Walburn) to hire his group to attract people to the politician's rallies. When the show's crooner, Eric Land (Dick Powell), upstages the judge, he's fired, but on a return visit he saves the day by standing in for the judge, who is too drunk to speak.

Impressed by his poise, the party's bosses ask Eric to take over as candidate. The singer, knowing he has no chance to win, agrees for the exposure and the radio airtime in which he can showcase his singing. Soon, though, his girlfriend Sally (Ann Dvorak) becomes annoyed at the amount of time Eric is spending with the wife of one of the bosses, and she leaves when she thinks he has lied to her.

When the bosses ask Eric to agree to patronage appointments that will lead to easy graft for all of them, he exposes them on the radio, telling the voters that voting for him would be a huge mistake and urging them to vote for his opponent. At the end Eric is, of course, elected governor, then reunited with Sally.

Cast

Songs

All music by Arthur Johnston, all lyrics by Gus Kahn.

  • Sittin' On A Hill Top
  • Thanks A Million
  • New Orleans
  • Sugar Plum
  • Pocketful O' Sunshine
  • The Square Deal Party

References

  1. ↑ "The 8th Academy Awards (1936) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  2. ↑ Thanks a Million at AllMovie
  • Green, Stanley (1999) Hollywood Musicals Year by Year (2nd ed.), pub. Hal Leonard Corporation ISBN 0-634-00765-3 page 49
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