I’D RATHER BE RICH (1964)

Producer Ross Hunter had Sandra Dee and three singers — Andy Williams in his only credited film role, Robert Goulet in his second on-screen appearance and veteran Maurice Chevalier — vying for attention in this gender-flipped remake of Deanna Durbin’s 1941 hit It Started with Eve. Ailing tycoon Chevalier wants to meet his granddaughter’s fiancé (Williams) before he dies. With her groom-to-be unavailable, Dee hires a chemical engineer (Goulet) to pretend to be him. But when Chevalier stages a miracle recovery it complicates the young woman’s plot. Hermine Gingold, who co-starred with Chevalier in Gigi (1958), is on hand as the nurse who keeps trying to get him to focus on his health. This was the first film directed by TV veteran Jack Smight, who would go on to specialize in thrillers like Harper (1966), starring Paul Newman, and Airport 1975 (1974).

d. Jack Smight, 96m, 35mm

35mm print courtesy of Universal Pictures.