Kid Millions (DVD)

Who's that dodging his murderous mama, an equally murderous sheik, and the temptations of a harem full of beauties? It's Brooklyn's own Eddie Wilson, who comes to Egypt to claim an inheritance and finds that lots of other folks want a slice of his $77,000,000 pie. In one of his famed Samuel Goldwyn movie extravaganzas, Eddie Cantor sings, clowns and wows 'em as Eddie. Kid Millions also boasts dynamo Ethel Merman as Eddie's supposed mother (let's see, Eddie's twenty-five, she's nineteen hmmm), George Murphy and Ann Sothern as young lovers, and a standout Technicolor finale. The fun is irresistible, thanks largely to Cantor's screen charisma. "Those big rolling banjo eyes, that good-natured exuberance, that combination of the naive and the risque, gave him an endearing appeal that carried him through a career of almost fifty years and is still effective today" (David Thomson, The New Biographical Dictionary of Film).

• comedy
• mystery