Money From Home (1953)
Blu-ray 3D + 2D Blu-ray · Kino Lorber
Stream First
In Brief
Martin and Lewis’s only 3-D feature finally reaches home video the way it was shot, restored from the original Technicolor camera negatives. Kino Lorber includes native 3-D, 2D and anaglyph presentations, making the restoration the real attraction even if the comedy itself sits somewhere in the middle of the team’s run.
The Facts
Synopsis: To square a debt with the mob, a smooth-talking gambler has to fix a big horse race, and he drags his animal-loving, accident-prone cousin into the scheme.
Starring: Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Marjie Millar, Pat Crowley
Directed by: George Marshall
Rated: Not Rated
Running Length: 100 minutes
The Package
Label: Kino Lorber
Format: Blu-ray 3D + 2D Blu-ray
Release Date: August 11, 2026
Video: 1080p, 1.37:1, Technicolor. Native 3-D (MVC), anaglyph 3-D and 2D presentations. New 4K restoration by Paramount Pictures and 3-D Film Archive from the 35mm Technicolor 3-D camera negatives
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
Subtitles: English SDH (all three versions)
Discs: 1 Blu-ray (BD-50), Region A, holding the 3-D, anaglyph and 2D versions. O-card slipcover on initial pressings. No anaglyph glasses included
The Film
Technicolor had a problem heading into New Year’s Eve 1953: it couldn’t deliver paired 3-D prints of Money From Home in time. Paramount ended up previewing the movie flat, and New York wouldn’t see it projected in 3-D until Film Forum revived it in 1993. More than seventy years after production, Kino’s new disc finally gives the movie its home-video debut in the format it was designed for. That makes Money From Home an interesting piece of Martin and Lewis history before anyone even gets to the jokes.
Producer Hal B. Wallis built the story from Damon Runyon, and the setup certainly sounds like it. Gambler Honey Talk Nelson (Dean Martin, Rio Bravo) owes money to exactly the sort of people you don’t want keeping tabs on you, so he agrees to fix a horse race to wipe out the debt. Along for the ride is his cousin Virgil (Jerry Lewis, The Nutty Professor), an animal lover with a remarkable ability to turn any simple task into chaos.
George Marshall directs from Hal Kanter’s screenplay, while Lewis received a rare credit for staging special material used in the musical numbers. Cinematographer Daniel L. Fapp shot the film using Technicolor’s massive six-strip 3-D process, making this only the second and final feature photographed that way.
It was also Martin and Lewis’s first color movie, and Technicolor is a pretty natural fit for a duo never exactly interested in understatement. The movie itself sticks to the formula that had already made them stars. Dean croons, schemes, and looks amused by everything. Jerry mugs, panics, and somehow finds three extra gears of physical comedy whenever you think he’s reached the limit.
That familiarity is both the appeal and the problem. Money From Home doesn’t reinvent Martin and Lewis, and there are stretches where you can almost feel the machinery of the act clicking into place. What distinguishes this outing is everything happening around the comedy: the Runyonesque gamblers, racetrack setting, big-color production, and, of course, a format designed to put some of Jerry Lewis directly into your living room.
Audiences were happy enough with the arrangement, spending roughly $3.5 million domestically against a $2 million budget. By the time it opened, though, the 3-D craze that helped make House of Wax a sensation earlier that year was already cooling.
If Martin/Lewis is your thing, this is a must-grab. The act gets old pretty quickly for me, so those 100 minutes start to feel very long.
The Transfer
Video
Paramount and the 3-D Film Archive spent more than two years restoring Money From Home from 4K scans of the original Technicolor 3-D camera negatives. Kino presents the film at 1.37:1 in three configurations: native MVC 3-D, standard 2D and an anaglyph 3-D version for viewers without stereoscopic equipment.
The original photography generally uses depth as part of the composition rather than constantly throwing objects toward the audience, although a handful of shots were clearly designed to take advantage of the format. The restoration also returns the film to its original Technicolor source materials rather than the later elements used for previous home-video editions.
The anaglyph version can be viewed on standard equipment using red-and-blue glasses, although glasses are not included with the release.
Audio
The film’s original three-track stereo elements are no longer known to survive, so Kino supplies the surviving soundtrack as English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono. English SDH subtitles are available across all three viewing options. That means the musical numbers, dialogue and comedy effects are preserved in mono rather than reconstructed into a modern stereo or surround mix.
Transfer Notes
Money From Home had a spotty home-video history before this release. Paramount omitted it from its 2006 and 2007 Martin and Lewis DVD collections before finally issuing the movie on DVD in 2008. Olive Films followed with a bare-bones Blu-ray in 2017 sourced from an Eastmancolor element.
Kino’s release marks a substantial change in source material, returning to the original Technicolor camera negatives and restoring the film’s native 3-D presentation for home viewing for the first time. All three versions are housed on a single BD-50, with first pressings packaged in an O-card slipcover.
Special Features
Audio Commentary with Film Historians James L. Neibaur and Mike Ballew (NEW): A more scholarly track, with Ballew providing background on the film’s unusual 3-D photography.
Audio Commentary with Film Historians Nathaniel Thompson and Howard S. Berger (NEW): A second look at the movie and its place within Martin and Lewis’s career.
Coming Back Home (NEW) (11:36): Members of the 3-D Film Archive discuss locating and restoring the film. As ever, these restoration pieces are fascinating to watch.
Dean’s Disc (3:50): A private and slightly risqué recording Martin made for Lewis’s 27th birthday.
On the Set: A short collection of behind-the-scenes photographs.
Martin and Lewis Fox Theatre Promo (0:54): The duo promotes their live act.
Teaser (1:26) and Theatrical Trailer (2:00): Vintage promotional material, with recreated text elements where necessary.
Compared with Olive’s bare-bones disc, Kino has assembled a surprisingly substantial package. Dean’s birthday record for Jerry may be the extra nobody was expecting and it’s cheeky fun.
Shelf Worthy?
Stream First
The restoration is the event here, but the movie itself remains middle-of-the-road Martin and Lewis. Vintage 3-D collectors and fans of the team have an easy reason to buy, especially with the film finally available in its intended format and from much better source materials. Everyone else should sample it first. If Lewis operating at full mugging capacity has never been your thing, another dimension probably won’t change that. Stream First. Happy 100th, Jerry. Somebody finally threw you a party in three dimensions.
Shelf Worthy: Buy it. This one earns a spot on the shelf.
Stream First: Watch it before you buy.
Completionists Only: For collectors who need every edition.
Kino Lorber provided a copy for review. My opinions are my own.
Reviewed by Joe Botten
Joe Botten is The MN Movie Man, a Twin Cities film critic writing spoiler-free reviews since 2012. He also writes for Loud and Clear Reviews, a Rotten Tomatoes approved site. Find him on Instagram and Letterboxd.
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