The Amazing Adventure

               Even though I watch TCM on a semi-regular basis, I realized there are a lot of classic films I have never seen.  So, I decided to do two things.  First, create a list of films I know I should watch.  And two, wander the DVD section of the library and see what I can find.

                Wandering the library is how I found The Amazing Adventure.  It is a film I had never even heard of until I saw it on the shelf.  Once I found it, I was curious to see what this early Cary Grant film would be like.  Well, I can tell you this is a short film, but a good one.

                Millionaire Ernest Bliss (Cary Grant) isn’t feeling well.  He visits a doctor, Sir James Alroyd (Peter Gawthorne), who tells Ernest his only problem is he doesn’t have enough to do.  So, he issues a bet.  For one year, Ernest must live like an ordinary man.  He cannot use any of his money to sustain his living.  Ernest must earn it himself or pay Sir James £50,000.

                Ernest takes the best.  He leaves home and immediately finds out life is not as easy as it used to be.  It is difficult to find a job, and he is unable to pay for the room he rents.  Thanks to a very forgiving landlady, Mrs. Heath (Marie Wright), Ernest is able to keep a roof over his head until he is able to find a job as a stove salesman.

                Selling stoves is not something Ernest is good at.  He is pretty much ready to give up when the secretary of the stove company, Frances Clayton (Mary Brian), tells Ernest the company is going under.  Determined to help the man who gave him a chance, Mr. Masters (John Turnbull), Ernest finds a loophole in the bet.  He can use his own money as long as it’s not for his own benefit.

                With this trick, Ernest is able to take money out of his bank account and create a marketing scheme.  It is a successful scheme.  One so successful, Ernest feels he must leave the company and start over again to keep going with the bet.

           This time around Ernest is a chauffeur.  While driving others around, Ernest encounters old friends who believe he has fallen on hard times.  They try to help him, but he refuses the offers.  He is determined to see the bet through.

                During this time, Ernest is also falling in love with Frances.  She does not know about Ernest’s real life, and falls for Ernest the person, not the millionaire.  It is a situation that causes a problem between them later as an ill relative makes money a necessity for Frances.  She feels her only option is to marry someone far wealthier than she believes Ernest to be.  Ernest must figure out how to stop the marriage before he loses Frances forever.

                The Amazing Adventure was a sweet story about a man learning how to care about not only things, but people.  It was a choppy film, which I wonder was because the film is so old.  It was made in 1936.  Numerous things could have happened to the actual film since that time.

                Still, if pieces are missing, I am glad we have what we have.  It was a fun movie to watch, and it makes me wonder what other early Cary Grant films I may be able to get my hands on.