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The Happiest Millionaire
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by Starz / Anchor Bay
Sales Rank: 7697
Price: $14.98
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Reportedly the last feature to be personally shepherded by Walt Disney himself, <I>The Happiest Millionaire</I> is a stubbornly old-fashioned musical intended to build on the success of <I>Mary Poppins</I>, relying on songs and score from Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman, the studio's resident songwriting team responsible for the hits of <I>Poppins</I>. 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.<p> Released in 1967, a watershed year for youth culture and social upheaval, <I>The Happiest Millionaire</I> 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). <p> 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 <I>Sgt. Pepper</I> 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. <I>--Sam Sutherland</I>
Viewer Reviews
I don't know how anyone could help but love this movie! Fred MacMurray plays the character of Anthony Drexel Biddle (based on a real person by the same name) who is not only a loving father and husband, but an un-pretentious millionaire and patriot who doesn't care what others think of quirky ways. He teaches Bible-Boxing classes (learning to box while reciting scripture to song), has pet alligators, is a major influence to the military in time of war, and has a family and staff as quirky as he is. The music is a ton of fun by itself, and the rest of the cast is superb!
If you give this movie a chance as a lighthearted, comical Disney musical, I'm pretty sure you will come away singing all the songs and wanting to watch it all over again!
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The Happiest Millionaire
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