Too Many Millions (1918 film)
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Too Many Millions
| image = Too Many Millions poster.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = James Cruze
| producer = Jesse L. Lasky
| screenplay = Gardner Hunting
| based_on = {{based on|Someone and Somebody|Porter Emerson Browne}}
| starring = Wallace Reid
Ora Carew
Tully Marshall
Charles Ogle
James Neill
Winifred Greenwood
| music =
| cinematography = Charles Rosher
| editing =
| studio = Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company
| distributor = Paramount Pictures
| released = {{Film date|1918|12|8}}
| runtime = 50 minutes
| country = United States
| language = Silent (English intertitles)
| budget =
| gross =
}}
Too Many Millions is a lost[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.9930/default.html The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: Too Many Millions] 1918 American silent comedy film directed by James Cruze and written by Gardner Hunting based upon the novel by Porter Emerson Browne.[http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/T/TooManyMillions1918.html Progressive Silent Film List: Too Many Millions] at silentera.com The film stars Wallace Reid, Ora Carew, Tully Marshall, Charles Ogle, James Neill, and Winifred Greenwood. The film was released on December 8, 1918, by Paramount Pictures.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/114093/Too-Many-Millions/overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150111081139/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/114093/Too-Many-Millions/overview|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 January 2015|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|publisher=Baseline & All Movie Guide|author=Janiss Garza|date=2015|title=Too-Many-Millions - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes - NYTimes.com|accessdate=11 January 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=17281|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711204550/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=17281|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 July 2017|title=Too Many Millions|publisher=AFI|accessdate=11 January 2015}}
Plot
As described in a film magazine,{{cite journal |title=Reviews: Too Many Millions |journal=Exhibitors Herald |volume=7 |issue=25 |page=30 |publisher=Exhibitors Herald Company |location=New York City |date=December 14, 1918 |url=https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald07exhi_0}} the Bass brothers (Beery and Williams) are unscrupulous misers while Artemus Wilkins (Marshall) is their confidential bookkeeper. The brothers are afraid that young Walsingham Van Doren (Reid), their nephew, will squander their ill-gotten gains, and on the day they propose to execute a will that will cut him off without a cent, they are both killed in an accident. Van Doren, who previously sold books door-to-door for a living, proceeds to have a good time with the $40 million left by his uncles. At an expensive New York hotel he takes a suite of rooms where he wines and dines to his hearts content, the only annoyance being having to sign for the foreclosing of mortgages that the faithful Wilkins brings. Finally Van Doren gives Wilkins a power of attorney to sign everything and the next thing he knows is that Wilkins has turned everything into cash and skipped town. He learns of his plight as Desiree Lane (Carew), whose home he has acquired as a result of foreclosing a mortgage, is demanding the return of securities belonging to her father. The two start in search of Wilkins. They are driven from a New England cottage one night by a fire and then decide to get married. They settle in the little town and are happy when Wilkins bursts in on them to return the stolen money. The film ends with an intertitle asking "Mr. Audience, what would you do?"
Cast
- Wallace Reid as Walsingham Van Doren
- Ora Carew as Desiree Lane
- Tully Marshall as Artemus Wilkins
- Charles Ogle as Garage Keeper
- James Neill as Mr. Lane
- Winifred Greenwood as Waitress
- Noah Beery, Sr. as R.A. Bass
- Percy G. Williams as B.A. Bass
- Ernest Pasque as Beverwyck
- Richard Wayne as Second Friend
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commons category|Too Many Millions (1918 film)}}
- {{IMDb title|0009713|Too Many Millions}}
- Browne, Porter Emerson (1917), [https://archive.org/details/someoneandsomeb00browgoog Someone and Somebody], Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill and Company, on the Internet Archive
{{James Cruze}}
Category:1910s English-language films
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:American silent feature films
Category:English-language comedy films
Category:Films directed by James Cruze
Category:Lost American comedy films
Category:Paramount Pictures films
Category:Silent American comedy films
{{1910s-comedy-film-stub}}