Make a Million

Produced during the Great Depression, this film begins with a college professor by the name of "Reginald Q. Jones" (Charles Starrett) lecturing his class on what is wrong with the American financial system. Specifically, he believes that the problem revolves around the wealthy having too much money while everyone else has too little. He further states that this fault lies primarily with the big banks who are making hefty profits while the common person suffers. Not particularly impressed by his economic philosophy, a female student named "Irene Corning" (Pauline Brooks) dares to disagree--which eventually results in her failing that class and not graduating. Needless to say, being quite upset with this decision, Irene complains directly to her father, who happens to be a wealthy banker (played by Guy Usher) and he uses his influences on the college to have Irene's one failing grade to be reversed which allows her to graduate. Not only that, but he also insists that Professor Jones be dismissed from the college as well with the one stipulation being that, if the professor can raise a million dollars on his own, he can be reinstated. Penniless and without a place to live, Professor Jones then goes about trying to raise then goes about while Irene's father does everything he can to thwart his efforts. What Irene's father doesn't realize, however, is that her daughter has fallen in love with Professor Jones--and this causes problems for all concerned. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that in order to appreciate this film one would probably need to know a little bit about the economy at the time it was made and the state of the film industry during that time as well. The financial situation was difficult for just about everyone-other than those already established--and that directly impacted films made in Hollywood. That being said, I don't think this low-budget production was all that bad overall. Admittedly, the acting wasn't top-notch, and the script could have also used a bit of improvement as well. Even so, it seemed to pass the time well enough, and I have rated it accordingly. Average.