''You Can't Buy Everything'' is a 1934 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...

romantic drama Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

film directed by

Charles Reisner Charles Francis Reisner (March 14, 1887 – September 24, 1962) was an American film director and actor of the 1920s and 1930s. The German-American directed over 60 films between 1920 and 1950 and acted in over 20 films between 1916 and 1 ...

and Sandy Roth and starring

May Robson Mary Jeanette Robison (19 April 1858 – 20 October 1942), known professionally as May Robson, was an Australian-born American-based actress whose career spanned 58 years, starting in 1883 when she was 25. A major stage actress of the late 19t ...

Jean Parker Jean Parker (born Lois May Green; August 11, 1915 – November 30, 2005) was an American film and stage actress. A native of Montana, indigent during the Great Depression, she was adopted by a family in Pasadena, California at age ten. She init ...

and

Lewis Stone Lewis Shepard Stone (November 15, 1879 – September 12, 1953) was an American film actor. He spent 29 years as a contract player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was best known for his portrayal of Judge James Hardy in the studio's popular '' Andy ...

. It was released by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

. Working titles of the film were ''Rich Widow'' and ''Old Hannibal''. According to ''

Motion Picture Herald The ''Motion Picture Herald'' was an American film industry trade paper published from 1931 to December 1972.Anthony Slide, ed. (1985)''International Film, Radio, and Television Journals'' Greenwood Press. p. 242. It was replaced by the ''QP Herald ...

'', the principal character of Hannah Bell (played by May Robson) was modeled after

Hetty Green Hetty Green (November 21, 1834 – July 3, 1916), nicknamed the Witch of Wall Street, was an American businesswoman and financier known as "the richest woman in America" during the Gilded Age. She was named by the ''Guinness Book of World Recor ...

, famous as the miserly "Witch of Wall Street."

Plot

In 1893 New York, Mrs. Hannah Bell (

) takes her son Donny to a charitable medical clinic, where she gives a false name and information in order to avoid paying (Hetty Green notoriously tried to do the same thing for her son

Edward Edward is an English language, English given name. It is derived from the Old English, Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements ''wikt:ead#Old English, ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and ''wikt:weard#Old English, weard'' "gua ...

). However, her friend Kate Farley (

Mary Forbes Mary Forbes (born Ethel Louise Young; 1 January 1883 – 22 July 1974) was a British-American film actress, based in the United States in her latter years, where she died. She appeared in more than 130 films between 1919 and 1958.

) visits the clinic (which she generously supports) and recognizes Donny. She makes Hannah pay for the boy's treatment. Later, Hannah reads in the newspaper that John Burton (

) has been named vice president of the Knickerbocker Bank. Furious, she goes to see her longtime friend and banker Asa Cabot to withdraw all of her money immediately. He is unable to find out why she hates Burton, but refuses to accept his offered resignation. It is later revealed that Burton abandoned Hannah without explanation just before their wedding. She later married a man she did not love who she knew was only after her wealth, just to salvage her pride. Her husband squandered her money, leaving her in desperate financial straits. She painstakingly made herself rich, all for her son's sake, and became a miser just like her father. In 1904, Donny is the

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA) ...

of his graduating class at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

. He wants to become a writer, but Hannah insists he work at the bank where she has entrusted her now immense wealth. In 1907, Kate learns something about Hannah's relationship to John Burton, and tries to secretly arrange a meeting between them. It does not work, but does unintentionally bring together Donny (played by

William Bakewell William Bakewell (May 2, 1908 – April 15, 1993) was an American actor who achieved his greatest fame as one of the leading juvenile performers of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Early years Bakewell was a native of Los Angeles, where he at ...

as a man) and Burton's daughter Elizabeth (Jean Parker). They fall in love. However, Elizabeth at first refuses to marry Donny because she feels that he cannot stand up to his domineering mother. When Hannah finds out about the relationship, she storms into Burton's office and accuses him of trying to get her money through his daughter. He denies plotting against her, but refuses to interfere with the couple. Donny and Elizabeth get married without her approval. She does not even attend the wedding (though she watches from in hiding as the happy newlyweds leave the church). When the

Panic of 1907 The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic or Knickerbocker Crisis, was a financial crisis that took place in the United States over a three-week period starting in mid-October, when the New York Stock Exchange fell almost 50% from ...

threatens the banking system of the United States, a committee appeals to Hannah for a desperately needed loan. She is uninterested, until they show her a list of gilt-edged stocks they are offering as security; she spots Burton's own railroad shares and provides the money as a demand loan (on which she can demand repayment at any time). Just after Burton receives his share of the loan to satisfy his bank clients, Hannah notifies him that she wants the loan paid back. Instead of returning the money, he decides to forfeit his stock rather than abandon his depositors. Hannah is delighted to finally avenge herself on her former fiance, having wrested control of the railroad away from him. Donny, just returned from his honeymoon in Europe, gets Burton's side of the story. Then he denounces his mother, accusing her of never loving him, but rather treating him as just another of her possessions. He informs her that Burton left her at the altar because her father tried to get him to sign an agreement never to touch her money. Burton assumed she knew and approved of the stipulation, whereas she never did until now. Stunned by the revelation, she goes outside to the park to think. She catches pneumonia, but recovers. Donny comes to see her, and they are reconciled. She also embraces her daughter-in-law. When Burton shows up (having received the railroad stocks back), that vendetta is also ended.

Cast

as Mrs. Hannah Bell *

as Elizabeth "Beth" Burton Bell *

as John Burton *

as Kate Farley *Reginald Mason as Dr. Lorimer *

as Donny "Don" Bell as a Man *Tad Alexander as Donny Bell as a Boy * Walter Walker as Josiah Flagg *

Reginald Barlow Reginald Harry Barlow (June 17, 1866 – July 6, 1943) was an American stage and screen character actor, author, and film director. He was a busy performer in Hollywood films of the 1930s. Early life A native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, ...

as Tom Sparks *

Claude Gillingwater Claude Benton Gillingwater (August 2, 1870 – November 1, 1939) was an American stage and screen actor. He first appeared on the stage then in more than 90 films between 1918 and 1939, including the Academy Award-nominated ''A Tale of Two ...

as Asa Cabot *

Walter Brennan Walter Andrew Brennan (July 25, 1894 – September 21, 1974) was an American actor and singer. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in '' Come and Get It'' (1936), ''Kentucky'' (1938), and '' The Westerner ...

as Train Vendor (uncredited) *Fred Lee as President Wilson at Princeton (uncredited)

Crew

* Lucien Hubbard – Producer * David Townsend – Art Director * Edwin B. Willis – Set Designer *

Douglas Shearer Douglas Graham Shearer (November 17, 1899 – January 5, 1971) was a Canadian American pioneering sound designer and recording director who played a key role in the advancement of sound technology for motion pictures. The elder brother of a ...

– Recording Director

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:You Can't Buy Everything 1934 films American romantic drama films American black-and-white films Films about businesspeople Films directed by Charles Reisner Films set in New York City Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films with screenplays by Dudley Nichols Films with screenplays by Lamar Trotti 1934 romantic drama films 1930s American films