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The Million Pound NoteAmong Mark Twain's less well-known stories was 1893's 'The ??1,000,000 Bank-Note' which, much altered, provides the source for this 1953 film. Penniless and stuck in Edwardian London (the film is set in 1903), American seaman Henry Adams (Peck) encounters two eccentric, wealthy brothers: Oliver (Squire) and Roderick Montpelier (Hyde-White). The pair's arguing over wealth, and more specifically how people respond to it. They set Henry up as a guinea pig for a wager involving a million pound note, which they have the Bank of England issue to them. They hand Henry an envelope, only telling him it contains some money.
Understandably shocked when he discovers the note and learns that is it genuine, Henry tries to give it back but the brothers have disappeared for a month, leaving only an explanation of their wager and the offer of a job if he can survive the period without actually spending it.
Oliver had argued that by simply having the note, a poor man could live like a lord, whereas Roderick insisted it would be useless unless actually spent. Initially, Oliver proves right, with vast credit extended to Henry as a result of him simply showing the note, with people assuming he's an oddball American millionaire. Henry has no problem with food, hotels and tailors, and even finds himself mixing with wealthy aristocrats, such as Portia Lansdowne (Griffiths), the niece of a duchess (Grenfell), and businessmen such as American Lloyd Hastings (Power), who is able to raise funds for an endeavour simply through his association with Henry. Not everyone is keen to be chums though. The Yank-hating Duke of Frognell (Matthews) who was dislodged from his hotel suite to make room for Henry, gets his own back by simply hiding the note. What can Henry say to the debt collectors when he can't produce the currency?
Well, this being a good-natured 1950s comedy, it's hardly going to end in tears, as our hero is a virtuous fellow, incarnate in the noble form of Gregory Peck. This may be a long way from Peck's best known, or even best acted, role, but it's novel to see him in British comedy territory, and although such fare isn't exactly his strong point, his charm wins through. (Cary Grant or James Stewart who played a not dissimilar role in Capra's Mr Deeds Goes To Town would probably have been a lot more at home).
The supporting work from such venerable Brits as Wilfrid Hyde-White and the inimitable Joyce Grenfell give the film further entertaining robustness. It's all handled with professional aplomb by Ronald Neame, the former cinematographer, writer and producing partner of David Lean. He is probably best known today for The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie but would, bizarrely, help shape the 1970s disaster movie genre directing such films as The Poseidon Adventure and Meteor. As for the crisply photography, it comes 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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