''Sudden Money'' is a 1939 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Nick Grinde Nick Grinde (January 12, 1893 – June 19, 1979) was an American film director and screenwriter. He directed 57 films between 1928 and 1945. Biography Born Harry A. Grinde in Madison, Wisconsin but nicknamed "Nick," Grinde graduated from th ...

, written by

Lewis R. Foster Lewis Ransom Foster (August 5, 1898 – June 10, 1974) was an American screenwriter, film/television director, and film/television producer. He directed and wrote over one hundred films and television series between 1926 and 1960. Selected film ...

, and starring

Charlie Ruggles Charles Sherman Ruggles (February 8, 1886 – December 23, 1970) was an American comic character actor. In a career spanning six decades, Ruggles appeared in close to 100 feature films, often in mild-mannered and comic roles. He was also the e ...

Marjorie Rambeau Marjorie Burnet Rambeau (July 15, 1889 – July 6, 1970) was an American film and stage actress. She began her stage career at age 12, and appeared in several silent films before debuting in her first sound film, '' Her Man'' (1930). She was t ...

Charley Grapewin Charles Ellsworth Grapewin (December 20, 1869 – February 2, 1956) was an American vaudeville and circus performer, a writer, and a stage and film actor. He worked in over 100 motion pictures during the silent and sound eras, most notably port ...

, Broderick Crawford,

Billy Lee Billy Lee is a former Gaelic footballer and former manager of the Limerick county football team. He is from Newcastle West. Player Lee played for Limerick. He became a selector when Liam Kearns managed the team between 1999 and 2005, and t ...

and

Evelyn Keyes Evelyn Louise Keyes (November 20, 1916 – July 4, 2008) was an American film actress. She is best known for her role as Suellen O'Hara in the 1939 film ''Gone with the Wind''. Early life Evelyn Keyes was born in Port Arthur, Texas, to Omar Do ...

. It was released on March 31, 1939, by Paramount Pictures.

Plot

Winning a $150,000 prize in a sweepstakes gives the Patterson family grand plans. Particularly head of the family Sweeney, a frustrated drummer who decides to reassemble his old college ragtime band. Everybody begins spending money. Sweeney's wife Elsie enrolls in an art school, eager to become a painter. Her brother Doc begins gambling on horse races. Off to an expensive finishing school goes the Pattersons' daughter, Mary, while son Junior is enrolled in a military academy. Grandpa Casey looks on with disapproval, believing the family should be more careful with its new windfall. Sure enough, things go wrong. Sweeney takes a shine to a young woman called Yolo, who joins the band and immediately creates problems, her jealous ex-convict boyfriend even punching Sweeney in the nose. Elsie's art teacher disappears with her tuition fee. Mary's new beau Johnny Jordan and his father are appalled by the family's behavior, and she ends up expelled from school. Bit by bit, the family goes broke. Grandpa gives them an "I told you so." But after he wins a small cash prize himself, the family begins once again thinking big.

Cast

References

External links

* 1936 films American black-and-white films 1930s English-language films Films directed by Nick Grinde Paramount Pictures films American comedy films 1936 comedy films 1939 comedy films 1939 films 1930s American films {{1930s-comedy-film-stub