Livestonth
I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible
Siflutter
It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.
A_Different_Drummer
TV was a brand new medium then and they experimented. Take this show. Each week an unctuous character named Michael Anthony, who looked and acted like he had applied for the lead in the Mr. Clean commercial -- and did not get it -- would show up at a stranger's door. Assuming he wasn't shot on sight for bothering people -- this was the 50s and people took their privacy more seriously then -- he would unctuously announce that his employer J. Beresford Tipton (you can win bar bets with that name, I promise) had decided to give the occupant one million dollars, with the taxes prepaid. (The tax part was important, you could tell the network had the IRS sign off on that). FYI, you could buy a car for less than two thousand dollars then, so, to appreciate how much that really was, do the math in your head. Half the time the recipient(s) did not believe him but in almost every case (lots and lots of plot twists, this series was never predictable) they took the cash and it changed their lives. No regular characters. No plot arcs beyond one week. Just human nature at its horrible best. God, I miss this show.
bkoganbing
When my grandparents broke down and got a television in the middle Fifties one of the first shows they liked was The Millionaire. I can still hear my grandmother, saying philosophically what a great thing it would be if Michael Anthony rang their doorbell and dropped a million tax free dollars in their laps. My grandparents were immigrants from the Ukraine and no one ever gave them anything. Still it was an entertaining fantasy.As it was for any number of homes back in the day when the fabulously wealthy John Beresford Tipton whom we never saw, but whose voice was supplied by Paul Frees would summon his secretary Michael Anthony in played by Marvin Miller. With the spacious Tipton estate of Silverstone in the background, Tipton explains to Anthony who will be this week's beneficiary.The next thing we see is Marvin Miller knocking on someone's door and giving them a check for a million dollars. What that individual did with it was the basis of the episode of that week. That in turn depended on the character of the individual. The variations on human character was the heart of each episode.Tipton found 205 characters to be generous with for six seasons. Presumably he died or ran out of money. He might have had to sell Silverstone, from what little we saw of it, it looked as grand as San Simeon. They were good episodes, The Millionaire crammed a lot of plot and character development into a thirty minute show. The players had to be good to convey it. I wish I could see some of those episodes on the TV Land Channel now.
MisterChandu
Counting up the episodes, I figure Mr. Tipton gave away 208 million dollars over 6 years. Who was this guy, J Paul Getty? Howard Hughes? There were multi millionaires at the time with Hughes becoming the first billionaire in the 60's but no way would that have happened had he done what the make believe Tipton did. Even with that bottomless Hollywood wallet of his, I bet the imaginary Tipton thanked God that the show was finally canceled. Heck, maybe he went bankrupt! Better yet, maybe it wasn't even his money and he was stealing it form an imaginary bank!I have fond memories of this show. I really liked the classy man servant Mr. Anthony who would deliver the check to some person simply going thru another day in their life. He had a nice smile and was very dignified but once he was gone, a crazy story would begin.(I wonder what the show would have been like in Rod Serling was the one handing out the money because that was this show was kind of like, a "Twilight Zone" where instead of entering another dimension the Serling way, the characters enter it in a financial way. The results could be similar I believe.) I do remember some episodes but I have not seen this since it was re run in the 60's.Episode 1: Their was this couple who had been named in the will of a relative. He left them money for their honeymoon. He receives the check and, as he was going to his lawyers to change his will, has a heart attack in the taxi on the way there. The couple, because the will leaves the unused money to someone else, then takes off on a honeymoon that costs a million dollars.Episode 2: Their were these two old friends since childhood both of whom had ended up in the same old folks home. One of them receives a million. He goes and buys a big house where he sets up a Christmas tree (in July) and says to his friend (whom he intends to share his good fortune with) "everyday will be Christmas around here from now on!" His friend then dies on the spot. Now remember that this is in the fifties and that these guys grew up during the worst years of the 20th century and you see the pathos involved.I do not know the names of these episodes and since the show is out of print I may never see them again but I think you get the idea. This is still a good concept for a show and it might be nice to have a reprise of the show as many of the actors/actresses (Vera Miles, Mary Tyler Moore) are still alive and some of the original audience is still around. We could see what they did with their million over the years.In this day of lottery game winners who blow it all, some of the story might get lost in translation but with todays multi billionaires it still could make for a good TV movie or mini series.Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Ross Perot; Where are you?
james_mcewan
I recently purchased a copy of one of 'The Millionaire' series.This 1955 episode features Carolyn Jones later to star as Morticia in the Addams Family TV series. Carolyn plays the part of Emily Short who receives a cheque for one million and decides to take a trip to Paris, until this she has never been outside of the US.It is good clean family entertainment.It would be great if one of the channels could run them. Maybe someone can drop a hint to TCM or Hallmark.
