ALFRED ZEISLER
Bil’s rating (out of 5): B.
Alternate title: The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss, Romance And Riches
United Kingdom, 1936. Garrett-Klement Pictures. Screenplay by John L. Balderston, based on the novel The Amazing Quest Of Mr. Ernest Bliss by E. Phillips Oppenheim. Cinematography by Otto Heller. Produced by Alfred Zeisler. Music by Werner Bochmann. Production Design by David Rawnsley. Film Editing by Merrill G. White.
Millionaire Cary Grant goes to his doctor complaining of stress-related illness and is told that he has too much inherited money. He is challenged to try and live a year without relying on his fortune, making his own living like the common man, which in this movie’s universe means a slightly upper-middle class common man, so Grant does exactly this as an oven salesman without much luck. Hard work and determination get him some self-esteem and even a little romance in this tacky, boring melodrama that plays down to a presumably working-class audience as reinforcing the idea of economic struggle being the key to a good soul. It’s a giant bore and gets no benefit from Grant’s truly sparkling personality, a simplistic story even for what we mistakenly presume as a more innocent time in film storytelling.
