Based on Mark Twain's novel, 'The Millionaire Pound Note' takes an interesting satirical look at the hypocrisy stemming from class distinction in the 50s England. England is a country where class and wealth are given extreme significance, especially among the rich.
This is another one of those films, like The Man in The White Suit that I was convinced I had seen and certainly knew the basic premise but when I came to watch it I realised I hadn't seen it. It's message is simple: if people think you have money irrespective of whether you have or not they will treat you as if you had.
This film is mainly Gregory Peck just being Gregory Peck, and that is good enough for most of us. The setting is England around 1890 - what Mark Twain called the Gilded Age (specifically not the Golden Age), and it is from one of his stories that the film was adapted.
This is how the world moves. Money makes the mare go - little different here.
I came across this film because the mother was flicking through the channels and we decided to give it a watch. I have to admit, it was alright like.
I do so love films that take a poke at British subservience, arrogance, and pomposity. None so better that this film.
This movie is a humorous take on the concept of monetary status, and how the idea of perceived wealth is more important than the actual possession of said wealth. While the movie does not compare to the genius of To Kill A Mockingbird and isn't half as charming as Roman Holiday, it is a feel-good movie in and of itself.
Although it stars Gregory Peck, one of America's most popular and charismatic film stars of the period, "The Million Pound Note" is surprisingly little known today; mine is only the 17th review it has received on this site. Part of the reason is that, unlike most of Peck's output, it was not made in Hollywood but in Britain.
This movie was made in the fifties and takes place in the early 1900s, yet it portrays the hypocrisy and falsehood of the people that exist to this day.
