I Stole a Million
| I Stole a Million | |
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| Directed by | Frank Tuttle |
| Produced by | Burt Kelly |
| Written by | Lester Cole Nathanael West |
| Starring | George Raft Claire Trevor Dick Foran Victor Jory |
| Music by | Ralph Freed Charles Previn Frank Skinner |
| Cinematography | Milton R. Krasner |
| Editing by | Edward Curtiss |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 1 August 1939 |
| Running time | 80 mins |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
I Stole a Million (1939) is a crime drama film starring George Raft as a cab driver and small-time crook who makes a big score and lives to regret it. The supporting cast includes Claire Trevor, Dick Foran, and Victor Jory. The movie was written by Nathanael West from Lester Cole's story, directed by Frank Tuttle, and released by Universal Pictures.
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[edit] Development
Lester Cole wrote the original screen story based on the non-fiction article "Roy Gardner's Own Story," by Roy Gardner. J. Campbell Bruce, and James G. Chestnutt, which was published in the San Francisco Call Bulletin in 1938.[1] On January 1939 Nathanael West was assigned to do a script based on Cole's story. West came up with a treatment which prompted Joseph Breen, then Director of the Production Code Administration, to declare that while his office had handled roughly 3,600 texts over the year, "it is our unanimous judgment, here in this office, that this new treatment by Mr. West is, by far, the best piece of craftsmanship in screen adaptation that we have seen - certainly, in a year."[2]
[edit] Plot
The plot was summarized by a reviewer thus:
Raft's ambitions innocently enmesh him with the law. From that minor infraction, he becomes involved in a bank holdup but tries to go straight when he falls in love with Claire Trevor. Finding the law on his trail and needing a stake for a small town hideaway, he knocks over a post office. With the money, he buys a village garage and settles down happily... With a baby in the offing the law picks up his trail again... His warped mind sends him through a series of holdups... to gain enough plunder to provide for his wife and baby. But even that, he finds, is a mirage, and he prefers death from the guns of pursuing officers than face a prison term.[3]
[edit] Cast
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- George Raft as Joe Lourik
- Claire Trevor as Laura Benson
- Dick Foran as Paul Carver
- Victor Jory as Patton
- Joe Sawyer as Billings
- Robert Elliott as Peterson
- Tom Fadden as Verne
[edit] Reception
The film was a clear box office success and garnered favorable reviews, particularly for its script which Variety called "strongly motivated". A reviewer for the Hollywood Reporter wrote, "it is a story which will exert pulse-quickening effect on audiences of both sexes... plot structure and pithy dialogue are all to the play's advantage."[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Martin, Jay. Nathanael West: The Art of His Life. New York: Hayden Book Company, 1970. p. 405.
- ^ Martin, Jay. Nathanael West: The Art of His Life. New York: Hayden Book Company, 1970. p. 361-362.
- ^ Martin, Jay. Nathanael West: The Art of His Life. New York: Hayden Book Company, 1970. p. 405.
- ^ Martin, Jay. Nathanael West: The Art of His Life. New York: Hayden Book Company, 1970. p. 363.
