Dangerous Millions (1946)

Directed by James Tinling; produced by Paul Wurtzel (associate producer)

Invited to Shanghai, a group of people, disparate but distantly related, are told that they are the last living relatives of a multi-millionaire (Robert Barrat), who made his fortune in shipping on the China coast. They are sent into the interior of the country, where they will be tested, to see who is most worthy of receiving the inheritance. But a former associate (Victor Sen Young) of the tycoon, who felt he was cheated of his half of the business’s profits, kidnaps the group, and forces them to help collect his share - or be killed.

Despite the intriguing premise of the story, Dangerous Millions never excites or intrigues. Much of the problem is the cheapness of the production. I am not one who believes that more is better; I have seen many low-budget movies that have proved superior to their more expensive siblings. This result is usually achieved through shrewd use of limited resources, or a genuinely talented cast or crew. Dangerous Millions doesn't have enough of either.

That’s not to write that the film is incompetently made. The acting is adequate. The male lead, Kent Taylor, was prolific in B-movies and provides a suitably tough but easy-going hero. Dona Drake, as his female counterpart, is less talented. The supporting cast is watchable. However, as you can likely tell from this paragraph, the they are not up to the task of compensating for other short-comings.

The story wouldn’t appeal to a discriminating adult, and is too sedentary for less mature tastes. There is some shooting, and a couple of fist-fights, but they are rather dull affairs. There are secret tunnels, rooms bugged with microphones, a gentlemanly Chinese villain who speaks in bad - and undoubtedly unChinese aphorisms. These are elements of a Boys’ Own Paper adventure from the 1920s, but the readership of that periodical would have demanded more excitement and a faster pace. The script drops names and locations in quick and cheap attempts to create exoticism and provide background, yet neglects explanations, such as who a certain character is, and why he is murdered.

As stated, the production values are low, without much attempt to utilize what is available. The opening scene is set in Shanghai; instead of stock film of a city which, between the two world wars, was both famous and important (and thus surely the subject of much footage), there is a slightly blurry still photograph of a street-scene. A sequence set in a cave-like tunnel is simulated by darkness relieved by a candle (which doesn’t show the tunnel’s sides) and unconvincing echo-effects.

The story, the direction and the talky nature of the script might lead one to suspect a stage origin for the movie. The 1920s and ‘30s featured dozens of plays every week in the West End of London alone, and many of them were escapist fun in the detective, mystery or caper genre. Dangerous Millions might have been an adaptation of a lesser example of these works. Alas, the static quality of the action comes not from being bound by the limits of a stage but the limits of an imagination.

Despite a premise of which much might have been made, Dangerous Millions is a film that probably barely made back its obviously modest budget in 1946, and is not undeservedly forgotten now.