The Million Pound Note (1954)

Director:

Ronald Neame

Writers:

Mark Twain (story)
Jill Craigie (writer)

Release Date:

18 June 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Great fun... you can bank on it!

Plot:

Two rich British men offer a penniless American a loan, without telling him that the amount is £1,000,000, and this in the form of a single banknote.

Plot Keywords:

American | Money | Bank Of England | 1900s | Charity

Cast

Gregory Peck	...	Henry Adams
Ronald Squire	...	Oliver Montpelier
Joyce Grenfell	...	Duchess of Cromarty
A.E. Matthews	...	Duke of Frognell
Maurice Denham	...	Mr. Reid
Reginald Beckwith	...	Rock
Brian Oulton	...	Lloyd
John Slater	...	Parsons
Wilbur Evans	...	American Ambassador
Hartley Power	...	Hastings
George Devine	...	Lloyd Hastings
Bryan Forbes	...	Todd
Gudrun Ure	...	Renie (as Ann Gudrun)
Hugh Wakefield	...	Duke of Cromarty
Wilfrid Hyde-White	...	Roderick Montpelier (as Wilfrid Hyde White)

Also Known As:

Man with a Million (USA)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (nf) | Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Group Film Productions Limited

Trivia:

The prop £1,000,000 note was larger in both size (about 7 x 9 inches) and value than any real note produced by the Bank of England up to that time, even notes for internal use. However, the bank still imposed strict regulations, which were violated when posters advertising the movie showed a reproduction of the note. This had to be covered over before the posters were allowed to be used.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When Henry Adams is chasing the bank note you can clearly see modern telephone manhole covers on the pavement and television aerials on the rooftops.

Quotes:

Mr. Reid: Now what about a cycling suit, Mr. Adams ? Cycling is all the rage nowadays. And then of course there is Ascot.
Henry Adams: I'm not gonna do any cycling and I'm not gonna do any Ascotting. Sailing is my hobby.
Mr. Reid: Ah ! The sport of kings. Very right and proper for a personage such as yourself.
Henry Adams: I thought racing was the sport of kings ?
Mr. Reid: [unperturbed] Then it ought to be sailing !
[to his assistant]
Mr. Reid: Nip in the waist a bit.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Trading Places (1983)

Soundtrack:

The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo

A Million Pound Guinea Pig

The Million Pound Note finds its way into the hands of a penniless American sailor who hasn't a pence to his name as he arrives in the United Kingdom at the turn of the last century. Gregory Peck who plays the sailor by chance runs into two elderly English brothers, Ronald Squires and Wilfrid Hyde-White, both filthy rich and are having an academic discussion around money.

They give Peck a million pound note from the Bank of England and the idea is to present himself as an eccentric American millionaire and for one month live off the reputation of that note. Peck's not to pay one shilling or break the note in any way. He's to live strictly on credit for that month, live I might add in a posh London hotel, typically posh for the 1900 or so.

Before I watched The Million Pound Note tonight I saw a variation on the same theme in Pretty Woman. Julia Roberts goes to a chic Rodeo Drive store in Beverly Hills and the first time arriving in her hooker working clothes, she's shown the door, but quick. But as Richard Gere said to her, they don't respect people, but credit cards yes, the higher the spending limit, the better.

The Million Pound Note was Gregory Peck's first venture into comedy and if you're looking for a lot of gags and belly laughs, skip this film. What you will find is a nice piece of whimsical humor where Peck's essential decency is kind of turned on itself for laughs. He's perfectly willing to be an guinea pig as the two old gents will give him enough money to get back to America.

But in this as in so many films, Peck doesn't count on falling in love with young aristocrat Jane Griffiths. She doesn't mind him being penniless or so she tells him, but snooty aunt Joyce Grenfell sure does when word comes out Peck's a fake.

The Million Pound Note is a good film with Peck in a perfectly suited character for himself. And it proves the old adage that millionaires are eccentric and paupers are just crazy.