A Run for Your Money (1949)

Brothers from a Welsh village take their first trip to London to collect a prize, and meet a con artist and sundry other urban distractions.

Director:

Charles Frend

Writers:

Clifford Evans (story), Richard Hughes,

Stars:

Donald Houston, Meredith Edwards, Moira Lister

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Donald Houston	...	David 'Dai Number 9' Jones
Meredith Edwards	...	Thomas 'Twm' Jones
Moira Lister	...	Jo
Alec Guinness	...	Whimple
Hugh Griffith	...	Huw Price
Clive Morton	...	Editor
Julie Milton	...	Bronwen
Peter Edwards	...	Davies Manager
Joyce Grenfell	...	Mrs Pargiter
Leslie Perrins	...	Barney
Dorothy Bramhall	...	Jane Benson
Andrew Leigh	...	The Pawnbroker
Edward Rigby	...	Beefeater
Desmond Walter-Ellis	...	Station Announcer
Mackenzie Ward	...	Stebbins (Photographer)

Storyline

Two Welsh coal-mining brothers win a trip to London to claim a monetary prize. They are supposed to meet a newspaper reporter who will be their escort. Instead, the brothers are launched into an adventure with some London riff-raff. It is up to the reporter to look out for the brothers, and what a job it turns out to be!

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Plot Keywords:

reporter | miner | rugby | pub | wales | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 April 1950 (USA)

Also Known As:

De la coupe aux lèvres

Filming Locations:

Ealing Studios, Ealing, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ealing Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Meredith Edwards receives an "introducing" credit.

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Quotes

David 'Dai Number 9' Jones: Is it far to St. Paul's? I've never been to a Cathedral before.
Jo: Neither have I.
David 'Dai Number 9' Jones: Oh, you Chapel too?

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Connections

Featured in Best of British: Ealing Comedies (1993)

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Soundtracks

"All Through the Night (Ar Hyd Y Nos)"
(uncredited)
Traditional Welsh folk tune
Lyrics by John Ceiriog Hughes
Arranged by Ernest Irving
Sung at the Amateur Night and heard as a theme on the train trip home

User Reviews

Funny, Skillfully Made Comedy

Two brothers, country-boy Welsh miners, come to London for a day to collect a prize won and to see a football match. They are separated when they arrive and spend the rest of the film trying to find each other. One, a handsome, naive lad (of the sort Bill Travers played in WEE GEORDIE) is alternately taken in tow by Alec Guinness, an effeminate garden-column writer, and by Moira Lister, a larcenous blonde. The other meets up with old-friend, street-singer Hugh Griffith, and they get wildly drunk. The pacing is superb, and the style is realistic. There is a large variety of amusing characters, the most memorable of which is Joyce Grenfell in a fancy dress shop. It's all extremely cleverly done, and filled with well-timed laughs. You don't see the laughs coming; in that sense they're never predictable. Nor are they easy, lazy laughs; they're very deftly worked out. Yet it doesn't go beyond that consummate skill. Halliwell, as usual, puts it very well; "with characterizations as excellent as they are expected." Somehow, the film isn't quite as pleasing as should be. This is largely because of the naive lad's relationship to the con-girl; one has to wonder about the worth of a man who'd completely forget his fiancé in a day, and Lister's weak performance doesn't give the conceit any help. Also, the level of farce is occasionally pushed beyond its limits. It's OK that the brothers keep missing each other like people slipping in and out of doors in a stage farce, but for Griffith and the brother he's with to literally pop in and out of the doors of the underground train, and stretch the routine to the limit, seems a bit much. But one feels a bit bad complaining about the weaknesses of the film, because it is very entertaining, and a skillfully made comedy.