The Millionairess (1960)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Anthony Asquith

Writers:

George Bernard Shaw (play)
Riccardo Aragno (adaptation)

Release Date:

22 December 1960 (West Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

The Racy Revelations of the Richest Girl in the World...And Her Wild, Wonderful Ways!

Plot:

When her father dies, Epifania Parerga, an Italian in London, becomes the world's richest woman. She...

Plot Keywords:

Love | Italian | Thames | Surgery | Poison

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Sophia Loren	...	Epifania Parerga
Peter Sellers	...	Dr. Ahmed el Kabir
Alastair Sim	...	Julius Sagamore
Vittorio De Sica	...	Joe
Dennis Price	...	Dr. Adrian Bland
Gary Raymond	...	Alastair
Alfie Bass	...	Fish Curer
Miriam Karlin	...	Mrs. Maria Joe
Noel Purcell	...	Professor Merton
Virginia Vernon	...	Polly Smith
Graham Stark	...	Butler
Diana Coupland	...	Nurse
Pauline Jameson	...	Muriel Pilkington
Eleanor Summerfield	...	Mrs. Willoughby
Willoughby Goddard	...	President

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:U | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Finland:S

Company:

Dimitri De Grunwald Production

Trivia:

Peter Sallis was booked to appear in this film but his role was not filmed.

Quotes:

Epifania Parerga: You're not a man, you're an Englishman!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004)

A Rather Dull Affair

The Millionairess reminds me of why people will sit through generally stale movies sometimes instead of just packing it in, the odd glitter or chemistry between two major movie stars who one does not often get to see together. This is a flat uncompelling piece of work about a newly minted heiress (Sophia Loren) who can't find the right man to marry and a devoted Indian physician (Peter Sellers) who has no interest in money- or women.

Sellers performance is about the only thing that takes this picture above banality; he has so much integrity as an actor that he raises the level of the mostly shoddy material. He has some truly wonderful, charming moments as the doctor who resists the stunning Loren at every turn (the same could not be said off-camera; Sellers wrecked his first marriage over the obsession). Loren, is a good, but not great actress; her appeal lies heavily in her charm and good humor. Here, those qualities are muted by the character she plays: a self-obsessed bombshell who has no real love to give- only money- and doesn't understand why a man of true integrity won't respond to that. But what's wrong with the screenplay is fairly obvious. In the typical Hate At First Sight movie romance, the characters learn and grow to see the virtue of the each other's worth, then fall in love. Here, they don't. Sellers character gives no indication of wearing down, Loren's never stops being exasperating (in one scene, she fakes an illness at 4:30 AM so Sellers will come over to examine her). When they hook up at the end, it's totally implausible and not very satisfying (she fakes committing suicide to draw him to her).

That said, the movie is not quite boring, the audience may be drawn to the radiance of the stars in spite of itself, but it has no real spark and no drive. The look of it is quite nice, it's expensive without being gaudy. But it doesn't serve the actors very well; even the great Alastair Sim isn't well-used. I suspect watching The Millionairess is something like being super-rich, one gets the feeling of having too much time to kill. 2** out of 4