Recommendations
Senior Film Conservator

The Comedy sensibilities displayed in Let's Make a Million are unparalleled, the emotional payoff of the 1936 classic is what fans crave in similar titles. Our criteria for this list were simple: only the most artistic bravery and relevant titles.
The cultural footprint of Let's Make a Million in United States to define the very concept of artistic bravery in modern film.
After the U.S. Senate allocates two billion dollars for veteran bonuses, Harrison Gentry, owner of Gentry Machinery and Supply Co. in Gentry, Oklahoma, plans to use his $1,100 bonus to marry his secretary and fiance of five years, Caroline Williams. Harrison's maiden aunts, with whom he lives, however, hope to use his bonus to erect a granite shaft in honor of their father on twenty acres they purchased eleven years before as "Ezra Gentry Park." Harrison's aunts inveigle him into traveling to Kansas City to buy the slab, but the granite salesman has gone out of business. Upon returning home, Harrison, acting on a tip from his drunken sales manager, Sam Smith, buys stock from crooked oilmen Spencer and Gilbert. Harrison hopes Spencer and Gilbert will purchase equipment from his shop for a Gentry oil well, but is unaware they are being investigated for tax evasion. News of Harrison's stock purchase travels quickly around town, and soon most of Gentry's veterans have spent their bonuses on "S&G" stock. The well goes up, but after digging 6,000 feet and not hitting oil, Spencer and Gilbert dissolve their company and leave town. The stockholders, including Caroline's father, blame Harrison for their losses, and vote him out of the American Legion and boycott his store. Determined to help his friends, Harrison hires Sam's friend, geologist Cliff Spaulding of Texas, to investigate the dry well. Spaulding discovers "S&G" actually drilled only to 950 feet and suspects the property adjacent to the well, Gentry Park, is oil-filled. Harrison then contacts an old army friend who is now a detective, and he and his friends help Harrison blow up "S&G"'s safe, forcing Spencer and Gilbert to release the Gentry oil lands to him. With S and G's money, Harrison builds a new well and, after his aunts sell him Gentry Park, strikes oil. The townsmen buy stock in Harrison's new oil company and dedicate the new well by making him president of the American Legion. Harrison then once again proposes to Caroline and they kiss.
The influence of Ray McCarey in Let's Make a Million can be felt in the way modern Comedy films handle artistic bravery. From the specific lighting choices to the pacing, this 1936 release set a high bar for atmospheric immersion.
Based on the unique artistic bravery of Let's Make a Million, our vault has identified these titles as the most compelling follow-up experiences for fans of Comedy cinema:
Dir: Alfred J. Goulding
Two tramps wrest a pistol from a hold up man, then try to pull a stick up of their own, unfortunately for them, a cop appears and takes the money back and then chases them through a park with a lake. One steals canoe and the chase continues when a mob of cops go after him in more boats.
View Details
Dir: Mason N. Litson
Edgar and his chum try to amass a fortune in one day by cornering the fan market on a hot afternoon when the circus comes to the small town where they are spending their vacation.
View Details
Dir: Maurice Campbell
Carver Endicott, a young sophisticate, is rejected by his fiancée for being too foppish and dull. When she feigns an interest in his father, Carver attempts to disgrace his family name by working as a farmhand and later as a busboy in a hotel. However, the newspapers only praise him for his self-sacrificing principles; and finding that he cannot bring shame to the family through menial labor, he takes up with a notorious actress. But when this maneuver also fails, he returns to his former fiancée, who has no further complaint about his being an inexperienced dullard.
View Details
Dir: Sidney Franklin
A chorus girl hopes to rise to stardom and thus accepts the advances of a wealthy man. But she becomes fearful of her reputation and safety. In an attempt to escape the rake's attentions, she hides out with a disparate group of men who room in a house called "The Barn." There she learns that there is more to life than that found on the stage.
View Details
Dir: Charley Chase
A young married couple volunteer to take charge of several orphans after the asylum has burned down. Of course they find their hands full with their troublesome charges.
View Details
Dir: Henry Edwards
A millionaire bets £25,000 that he can earn his own living for six months.
View Details
Dir: Joseph Franz
John Whalen is ordained into the priesthood and assumes the leadership of a small-town New Jersey parish. His dying mother's last wish is for young doctor Edward Welsh and his sweetheart to be married. Rev. Whalen devotes much time and effort to overcoming the obstacles to the union, managing along the way to solve the problems of other townspeople.
View Details
Dir: Jerome Storm
Ne'er-do-well Homer Cavender ventures to the city from Mainsville in an effort to find fame and fortune. Both elude him, and after clerking for two years, Homer returns home for a vacation. Impressed by his flashy clothes, the townspeople assume that Homer has achieved success. Attempting to win Rachel Prouty from his rival, Arthur Machim, Homer continues the deception by announcing that his employer, Kort and Bailly, has dispatched him to enroll stockholders for a proposed new plant to be built in Mainsville. Machim discovers the sham and denounces Homer as a crook. Meanwhile, Homer returns to New York, convinces his employers of the merits of his plan and comes home triumphant, with a proposal for both the new plant and for Rachel's hand in marriage.
View Details
Dir: Malcolm St. Clair
A dancing instructor gets involved with a newly rich family.
View Details
Dir: Vernon Stallings
Krazy Kat is held in jail and Ignatz finally bails him out after encountering "guilt".
View DetailsAnalysis relative to Let's Make a Million
| Film Title | Atmosphere | Complexity | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run 'Em Ragged | Gothic | Abstract | 93% Match |
| Get-Rich-Quick Edgar | Tense | Abstract | 95% Match |
| An Amateur Devil | Tense | Linear | 98% Match |
| Two Weeks | Surreal | Linear | 94% Match |
| Kids Is Kids | Tense | Layered | 94% Match |
This guide was algorithmically generated using the cinematic metadata of Ray McCarey's archive. Last updated: 6/25/2026.
Back to Let's Make a Million Details →