Pot o' Gold (1941)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

George Marshall

Writers:

Haydn Roth Evans (idea) &
Robert Brilmayer (idea) ...
(more)

Release Date:

3 April 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

It's the prize romantic laugh of the year... more fun than winning the POT O' GOLD!

Plot:

Jimmy, the owner of a failed music shop, goes to work with his uncle, the owner of a food factory. Before he gets there...

Plot Keywords:

Music Shop | Harmonica | Big Band | Feud | Beautiful Woman

Cast

James Stewart	...	James Hamilton 'Jimmy' Haskell
Paulette Goddard	...	Molly McCorkle
Horace Heidt	...	Himself, Horace Heidt
Charles Winninger	...	Charles 'C.J.' Haskell
Mary Gordon	...	Mom McCorkle
Frank Melton	...	Jasper Backus
Jed Prouty	...	J.K. Louderman
Charles Arnt	...	Parks (butler) (as Charlie Arnt)
Dick Hogan	...	Willie McCorkle
James Burke	...	Police Lt. Grady
Donna Wood	...	Donna McCorkle
Larry Cotton	...	Larry Cotton, Vocalist
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Beverly Andre	...	Alice (uncredited)
Herbert Ashley	...	Doorman (uncredited)
Bobby Barber	...	Prisoner (uncredited)
Harry Bowen	...	Streetsweeper (uncredited)
Aldrich Bowker	...	Judge Mike Murray (uncredited)
Ed Brady	...	Fruit & Vegetable Vendor (uncredited)
Frankie Carle	...	Frankie, Pianist (uncredited)
Art Carney	...	Band Member / Radio Announcer (uncredited)
Virginia Carroll	...	Haskell's Secretary (uncredited)
Ken Christy	...	Sheriff (uncredited)
Edgar Dearing	...	Police Officer McGinty (uncredited)
Abe Dinovitch	...	Fish Peddler (uncredited)
Evelyn Dockson	...	Mrs. Sweeney (uncredited)
Fern Emmett	...	Boy's mother (uncredited)
Carlos Fernando	...	Orchestra Leader (uncredited)
James Flavin	...	Sheriff Bud Connolly (uncredited)
John Frank	...	Drunken Cellmate (uncredited)
Jody Gilbert	...	Helga Svenson (uncredited)
William Gould	...	Chalmers (attorney) (uncredited)
Eddie Gribbon	...	Expressman (uncredited)
Paul Gustine	...	Minitor Man (uncredited)
Chuck Hamilton	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Ray Hanson	...	Office in Courtroom (uncredited)
John Holland	...	Sponsor (uncredited)
Bud Jamison	...	Drunken Cellmate (uncredited)
Roy Lester	...	Jitterbug (uncredited)
Charles McAvoy	...	Turnkey (uncredited)
Jewel McGowan	...	Jitterbug (uncredited)
Howard M. Mitchell	...	Jailer (uncredited)
Nellie V. Nichols	...	Mrs. Poppadolis (uncredited)
William H. O'Brien	...	Country Club Waiter (uncredited)
David Oliver	...	Drunken Cellmate (uncredited)
Max Ong	...	Wong Lung - Chinese laundry worker (uncredited)
Nestor Paiva	...	Canadian Guide (uncredited)
Victor Potel	...	Olaf Svenson (uncredited)
Purnell Pratt	...	Thompson (uncredited)
Tom Quinn	...	Announcer (uncredited)
Alvino Rey	...	Pedal Steel Guitar Player (uncredited)
Claire Rochelle	...	Mrs. Stevens - Mary's Mother (uncredited)
Buddy Roosevelt	...	Office in Anteroom (uncredited)
Henry Roquemore	...	Mr. Samson - Federal Inspector (uncredited)
Mel Ruick	...	Announcer (uncredited)
Mary Ruth	...	Mary Stevens - Gifted Little Piano Player (uncredited)
Tim Ryan	...	'Snooky' - Spieler (uncredited)
Adele Smith	...	Flashy Girl (uncredited)
Harland Tucker	...	Sponsor (uncredited)
Fred Walburn	...	Boy in Doorway (uncredited)
Jay Ward	...	Boyfriend (uncredited)
Pat West	...	Trading Post Manager (uncredited)
George Whalley	...	Haskell's Chauffeur (uncredited)
Paul White	...	Bootblack (uncredited)
Stan Worth	...	Tommy - Young Trombonist (uncredited)

Directed by
George Marshall

Writing credits
Haydn Roth Evans		(idea) &
Robert Brilmayer		(idea)
Andrew Bennison		(story) &
Monte Brice		(story) &
Harry Tugend		(story)
Walter DeLeon		(screenplay)

Produced by
James Roosevelt	....	producer

Original Music by
Louis Forbes		(uncredited)
Hy Heath		(uncredited)
Fred Rose		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Hal Mohr		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Lloyd Nosler

Art Direction by
Hans Peters

Set Decoration by
Howard Bristol

Costume Design by
Helen Taylor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
William Tummel	....	assistant director (as William F. Tummel)

Sound Department
Pete Decker	....	sound
Percy Townsend	....	sound (as P.J. Townsend)

Camera and Electrical Department
Harry Jackson	....	cinematographer: dance
Ned Scott	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Music Department
Nat Bergman	....	musician: harmonica dubbing for James Stewart
Louis Forbes	....	musical director (as Lou Forbes)
Larry Adler	....	musician: harmonica dubbing for James Stewart (uncredited)

Other crew
Larry Ceballos	....	dance director
Nouannipha Simon	....	subtitles: original version with French subtitles (uncredited)
Adolph Winninger	....	stand-in: Charles Winninger (uncredited)

Production Companies

• James Roosevelt Productions (as Globe)

Distributors

• United Artists (1941) (USA) (theatrical)
• Astor Pictures Corporation (194?) (USA) (theatrical) (retitled rerelease)
• Simitar Video (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• Laserlight Entertainment (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Take 2 Video (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Madacy Entertainment (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• Platinum Disc (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• Delta Expedition (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Allumination Filmworks (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2004) (worldwide) (VHS)
• CN Publishing (2008) (Finland) (DVD)
• Finnkino (2008) (Finland) (DVD)
• Hollywood Classics (200?) (France) (DVD)
• Mill Creek Entertainment (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Passport Video (2007) (Pakistan) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2007) (worldwide) (all media)
• Sony BMG (2003) (France) (DVD)
• Suevia Films (2006) (Spain) (DVD)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1996) (Finland) (TV)

Also Known As:

Jimmy Steps Out (USA) (alternative title)
The Golden Hour (UK)

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

UK:PG (re-rating) (2005) | UK:U (original rating) | Finland:K-18 | USA:Approved (TF1 certificate) | Spain:T | Sweden:Btl

Company:

James Roosevelt Productions

Trivia:

First movie for Art Carney.

Goofs:

Continuity: As Jimmy follows Molly to the house, the bag of apples is held waist-high by the bottom of the bag. In the closer shot, the bag has disappeared and his hand is down by his side. When he brings the bag back into view, he is holding it at the top whereas previously he held it by the bottom.

Quotes:

Inmates: [singing] You gotta get up, you gotta get up, you're in the army now!
Hames Hamilton 'Jimmy' Haskell: Johnny plays the bugle, he knows the calls from A to Z. But he's always at his best when blowing reveille.
Inmates: So Johnny blows and blows...
Hames Hamilton 'Jimmy' Haskell: He toot-a-lee-toots you into your clothes.
Inmates: And makes you rue the day that you were born. There's nothing any one can do. The captain has to make it too! So you gotta get up, you gotta get up!

Soundtrack:

Do You Believe in Fairy Tales?

Gifts

I admit that I selected this not because of the amazing Jimmy Stewart at his bumbling best. Nor for Paulette, presumably Hollywood's greatest charm of the period.

No, I was drawn by Horace Heidt, the real life bandleader who stars under his own name here and carries his band with him. For some reason unfathomable to me, his bands always seemed to come out on the second tier of music history while lesser groups are remembered fondly. Ah well, I guess that's the music business, and he did well enough before he left it to be a professional investor.

I met the man in 1964, a time closer to this movie than to now. He said a few things to me about music that I have never heard as intelligently since. From anyone. About any art.

The story here is a well built one: a food magnate with a cannon in his plant (to puff rice) has a feud going with the boarding house next door which houses Horace's band. The businessman's nephew comes to town and falls in love with the innkeeper's daughter.

The device of the show is a radio show that Steward takes over and which hosts the band.

Its a musical and true to the form at the time, has no consistency to how the music finds an excuse to appear. Sometimes it is a show within the show. (Even then, there's some strangeness. A big number is for a radio audience, but morphs into an elaborately costumed dance stage routine.)

Sometimes it is somewhat real, with the band-members just breaking into song and that developing into a number. And sometimes its strangely internal, where the thing stops being real and itself becomes a show. I think this was not deliberate but a simple affirmation of what they thought the audience would accept. Much of the music (except the big stage number) is more musically exciting than what you normally find in movie musicals. I'd recommend it on that basis.

And there are some nifty cinematic jokes, too, a few quite clever mixed in with the corny ones.

The radio show in the movie was based on a real radio show of the same name and gimmick featuring Horace Heidt, so there's yet another fold for the show within the show.

If you don't care about the movie and its story (and few folks seem to with musicals) and you think of musical numbers more in terms of musical than big dance numbers, you will like this. You will.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.