Modern Screen (Dec 1948 - Oct 1949)

e by Christopher Kane John Lund is persuaded by Barry Fitzgerald to double for the feebleminded Schuyler Tatlock at the reading of his grandfather's will. Barry, paid to take care of Schuyler, fears to reveal his charge may be dead. Through a fluke, the bogus Schuyler Tatlock becomes sole heir to the An aunt (Ilka Chase) discovers that Lund is phony, forces him to go famous Tatlock millions and the family begins to fawn on him. One away so that her son, Robert Stack (being clouted by Lund) can marry ; especially is his "sister," Wanda Hendrix, whom Lund starts to adore. Wanda and recover a few millions. Then the real Schuyler returns! MISS TATLOCK'S MILLIONS Barry Fitzgerald starts off by hiring John Lund to impersonate a young man named Schuyler Tatlock, and here's why. Schuyler's the half-wit grandson of the tremendously rich California Tatlocks, and Fitzgerald's had a soft job for years being Schuyler's keeper (the Tatlocks call it "social secretary") in Hawaii, $500 a month rolling in, and the white sand, and the broad Pacific. Trouble is, Schuyler-boy's a firebug. Leave a match around the house, and goodbye, house. One day Fitzgerald leaves Schuyler alone to go into town and pick up the monthly check. He stays away too long. Two cases too long, to be precise. When he returns, there's only a pile of ashes. No Schuyler. Barry hates to give up the easy money, so he, well, he doesn't exactly notify Schuyler's family of Schuyler's demise. Five hundred a month is $500 a month. Two years later he's in trouble. The old Tatlocks J5 die within an hour of one another, and all the heirs have to be present to hear the will read, and Fitzgerald receives a wire from California to bring Schuyler home at once. The way he looks at it, in Schuyler's present shape, he'd be too much of a shock to his folks. (The folks are Schuyler's uncles, Monty Woolley and Dan Tobin, and his aunts, Dorothy Stickney and Ilka Chase, and his sister, Wanda Hendrix.) In addition to this, Fitzgerald figures if anyone finds he's been taking money for no services rendered (larceny) and has failed to inform the authorities of the death of a citizen (federal offense) he'll be shipped to San Quentin. Which is why he hires Lund. Lund doesn't like the idea much, but he's a movie stunt man (Fitzgerald found him through Central Casting) and not a terribly conventional soul himself. He says he'll go through with it for a couple of days. After the will is read, Fitzgerald will get sent back to Hawaii with the supposed Schuyler, and the salary will continue, and Lund will get a thousand dollars. Through a legal fluke, however. Schuyler is named the sole heir, and his acid-tongued aunts and uncles all want to be his guardians, and Lund has a field day spitting fruit pits, letting his. tongue loll out of his head, and bringing them worms for presents. He's as convincing a moron as you'd care to see, and he rollicks through the part of Schuyler with zest, but he also plays his real life stunt man with nice, quiet efficiency. He's a good actor, and, incidentally, very handsome with brown hair (it's dyed to match Schuyler's). Lots more happens. Lund falls in love with Wanda (she's overly affectionate because she thinks he's her brother) and saves her from marrying Ilka's worthless son, Robert Stack, and, of course, the real Schuyler shows up at the end with a Hawaiian wife and two native babies and there's heck to pay. It's a swell movie, one of the funniest. Charlie Brackett (producer and co-writer of the script) and Richard Haydn (who directed and played a bit part) have come up with a comedy that's got everything. — Para.