The Happiest Millionaire Movie Review (1967)

This is one of those movies where I could recognize the music (from listening to different Disney and Sherman Brothers albums) but had never seen the actual movie. For this project, I’m focusing on the story itself, including dialogue, character development, any subplots, how a story presents itself, the speed at which it moves, if it slows down unnecessarily, etc.

A Brief Summary

(Taken from D23)

 In words and music, this is the story of “the happiest millionaire, ” nonconformist Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, and his unusual Philadephia family, seen through the eyes of their new to the U.S. Irish butler. The year is 1916, and in the busy household on Rittenhouse Square each of the family members has hopes and dreams. For Mr. Biddle it is strengthening the “Biddle Bible Class, ” campaigning for military preparedness, and caring for his prized alligators. For daughter Cordelia Biddle, it is first love with the wealthy Angie Duke, who is infatuated with the automobile. For Mrs. Biddle it is keeping order in the family despite frozen alligators, a wedding, confrontations with the Duke family, World War I, and comforting her husband when the children have left home.

What works

• I appreciated the time stamp when the movie started: Philadelphia 1916. Not that I wouldn’t have been able to figure it out, since World War I becomes a great topic of discussion, but still. It helps.
• I freaking love Tommy Steele in this. He does break the fourth wall a couple of times, similar to Bert in Mary Poppins, but it works with his character and I love him for it.
  • Also his songs are the best. Without a doubt. “I’ll always be Irish” and “Let’s have a drink of it now” (I think) are my two favorite songs of his. Fortuosity is good, but I like the other two more.
  • I get such a kick out of the fact that John Lawless (Steele) arrives at the Biddles’ home about 10 minutes into the movie, and he doesn’t officially get hired/decide to stay in the job until 46 minutes into the movie. Not that he’s in every scene within that time, but it’s clear that he keeps trying to leave, but people keep asking him to do things and he keeps working even though he hasn’t even been hired. Bless, he tried to leave so many times. Hahaha seriously he was flawless in his performance.
  • Call it plot armor or call it “fortuosity” but during “Let’s Have a Drink On It”, a fight breaks out, and Lawless is just living his best life through that fight without getting hit or in trouble (in fact, he’s the one who gets all the rest of the fighters, Angie included, in trouble once the police arrived…which was also very funny)
• Geraldine Page is terrific as Angie’s mother, a snobbish high society woman who is against the marriage (the type of mother who wouldn’t be happy with any marriage for her son, in my opinion). She does such a great job, and even though she does have a slight change of heart at the end, it works with her character.

What may or may not work

• The overture/opening credits is about 5 minutes long. Not that the music is terribly bad, I especially enjoy the instrumentals for Tommy Steele’s songs, but it does feel longer than necessary (granted, that’s the feeling for the movie as a whole). And then just as you think one overture portion is done, no, then it fades out and back in to the opening credits. It goes on for FOREVER!
  • Seriously, the 5 minutes is no joke. It’s not like I haven’t seen other movies with lengthy specific overtures (I think Thoroughly Modern Millie did something similar), but this one, while the images were very pretty (early 20th century type art. It was lovely), it just felt longer than necessary.
  • There’s also an intermission which is about 2 minutes long, so not bad, but still not good.
• The Sherman Brothers (who also did the music for Mary Poppins) did the songs for this movie, and Fred MacMurray’s character sings a song (What’s Wrong with That) that reminds me heavily of George Banks’ “The Life I Lead”
  • as a follow up, but the song that John Davidson (Angier Duke) and Lesley Ann Warren (Cordy) sing reminds me of “Ten Minutes Ago” from Cinderella (which Warren had been Cinderella in during the TV production in 1965). It wasn’t that the songs themselves are super similar, just the placement in the show and the type of song.
  • Never knew before this project that there was a song for Detroit, specifically about and titled “Detroit”. Yet here we are. It also serves as a time lapse song, as it shows Angie and Cordy falling in love through the seasons.
• I enjoy the casting, like Fred MacMurray, Greer Garson, Lesley Ann Warren*, John Davidson* and Geraldine Page, but without Tommy Steele’s charm and personality in this movie, it would have been another bland movie, just another Disney family-focused movie. While he couldn’t save it completely (it’s still too long, but that’s not his fault of course), it does have some great moments.
• Cordy’s two brothers have a fun little song, but the fact that they’re only in the movie for a little bit of time (they go away to school, or back to school, and are never seen again in the movie), so it kind of feels odd having them there at all. The movie is based on a play which was written by the real life Cordy about her father, so I understand her including her brothers, but
• I like both Lesley Ann Warren and John Davidson as Cordy and Angie (they’ll later pair up again in The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band), but they totally could have trimmed down a lot of their scenes and it would have been fine. They’re very much a cookie-cutter couple with cookie-cutter scenes, so there’s nothing that really stands out with their characters/scenes. I would have preferred more focus on the parents and the servants.
  • I will say that a win for me was the fact that Angie was not the first guy that Cordy had met. Granted, I don’t think she had much experience in dating anyway (thanks to her brothers/dad), but it helps me like her more since she didn’t just fall for the first guy she met while away at school.
• I haven’t decided which is worse as both Femininity (from Summer Magic) and Bye Yum Pum Pum in this movie are two of my most disliked Disney songs, but I think Bye Yum Pum Pum edges it out. They’re basically the same song, just different fonts.
• After Cordy and Angie elope, Mr. and Mrs. Biddle come back to the house, and Mr. Biddle starts noticing how quiet everything is. While I can understand that, to an extent, since the boys are off at school and Cordy has just left to go to Detroit, what doesn’t make sense to me is that they had all of the months when Cordy was in school, so why are they acting like everything is so quiet now? No, no, I get it. There’s a little bit of a difference between when a child is away for a few months vs moving out/away. But still,
• The World War I/Marine Corps subplot is a bit thin, I don’t mind it, but it’s not that great. His joining the Marine Corps did occur in 1917, but it, as a subplot, could have been better written into the movie.

Honorable Mentions

• Choreography is done by the same choreographers (Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood) as Mary Poppins and it shows.
• Favorite quotes from the movie:
  • John Lawless (Steele) is adding sugar to his coffee when he notices Mrs. Worth pulling out chocolate cake from the oven.
    • “There’s a gorgeous sight! Are you getting ready for a party, Mrs. Worth?”
    • “No, Mr. Biddle’s on a chocolate-cake diet.”
    • “I beg your pardon?”
    • (Mr. Biddle off in the distance: Cordelia!)
    • “He says it’s the perfect food, containing every essential element.” It cracks me up so much.
  • Mr. Biddle, who had gotten his finger bit by a pet alligator, asked Mrs. Worth to phone for the doctor.
    • “Dr. Dunleavey must’ve stoped to make a house call.”
    • “I could be dying.”
    • “Indeed you could.” (Hermione Baddeley aka Mrs. Worth, who was also in Mary Poppins and The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin. I just love her.)
  • When Mr. Biddle, his wife, Mrs. Duke, and Cordy all go to the prison to get Angie, Mrs. Biddle and Mrs. Duke are walking side by side.
    • “I may faint.” (Mrs. Duke)
    • “On this floor? Don’t even think of it.” (Mrs. Biddle)
  • Shortly after (after Angie is reunited with the group, but still in the prison):
    • “Cordy, you and I are going to elope.” (Angie)
    • “Over my dead body!” (Mrs. Duke)
    • “Only if absolutely necessary, Mother.” (Angie, seriously it took him all this movie to get the gumption to stand up to his mother)
  • 2 women who happen to meet while passing by the Biddles’ home:
    • “What on Earth’s happening here now?”
    • “I understand Mr. Biddle is going off to war.”
    • “I’m glad to hear it. Maybe we’ll finally have some peace around here.”
  • There’s a scene earlier in the movie where Lawless is talking to the camera, and Mr. Biddle comes up to the camera as well because he notices what Lawless is doing:
    • “There’s an old Irish proverb to have your alligators thawed out and your daughter forgive you all on the same bright day..that’s fortuosity” (Lawless)
      • (Mr. Biddle approaches and they’re both looking at the camera)
      • “John?” (Mr. Biddle)
      • “Sir?” (Lawless)
      • “Who were you talking to?” (Mr. Biddle)
      • “no one, sir” (Lawless)
      • well you know what they say about people who talk to themselves.” (Mr. Biddle, who starts to walk away before looking back at the camera again. I love it, it’s one of my favorite scenes.)

Side Questions

• Do the Biddles not tell any potential staff that they have alligators? The 1st maid that we see (who runs out the door after the gators wake up after being frozen) acted as if she hadn’t seen any of the gators before. Now granted, they seem to be usually in the conservatory, so I can understand her getting freaked out with them being outside of the conservatory, but still. How much information do the Biddles share prior to someone being hired?

Would I watch this movie again?

• Maybe once and a while? I would definitely rewatch my favorite songs again, because I love watching the dancing. But besides that, it would probably be rare for me to choose to watch it unless I had a reason (or people who wanted to watch it with me).

If you’ve seen The Happiest Millionaire, what are some of your thoughts? Share in the comments below!

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