Search - If I Were Rich on DVD

Korda brothers Depression Era comedy

Annie Van Auken | Planet Earth | 09/16/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"ALPHA VIDEO is a provider of vintage programming that's often unavailable elsewhere. Alpha's prices are fair, but so is transfer quality of some of their offerings. None have undergone restoration, yet this product's rareness and reasonable cost make it a worthwhile purchase.





The original name of British drawing room comedy IF I WERE RICH is "Cash." Produced by Alexander Korda and directed by his brother Zoltan, it was also known in the U.S. as "For Love or Money."



In this quickly paced programmer, Paul Martin (Donat), an electric company man has come to shut off the power at the home of the formerly rich Edmund Gilbert (Gwenn). While in the basement, Paul discovers a fortune in cash stashed in his toolbox, which he believes was placed there by an escaped convict while the two men rode the subway. Paul calls the police.



Meanwhile, the old gent, who's trying to convince a group of investors to go into business with him, introduces Paul as his partner and shows the money as proof, which makes the visitors anxious to close the deal. In a bit of bad timing, the police arrive so Paul hides the money in an old newspaper that gets mistakenly tossed into the incinerator!





Also from ALPHA:

THE ROYAL BED (1931) is an adaptation of Robert Sherwood's comedy that stars the film's director, Lowell Sherman as king of a small country and Mary Astor as his troublesome daughter.





Parenthetical number precedng title is a 1 to 10 imdb viewer poll rating.



(6.0) If I Were Rich ("Cash") (UK-1934) - Edmund Gwenn/Wendy Barrie/Robert Donat/Morris Harvey/Lawrence Grossmith/Clifford Heatherley/Hugh E. Wright/Anthony Holles"