The Million Pound Note (1954) starring Gregory Peck, Ronald Squire, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Jane Griffiths, Joyce Grenfell, A. E. Matthews
The movie is based on the Mark Twain short story "The Million Pound Bank Note."
In 1903, American seaman Henry Adams (Gregory Peck) is stranded penniless in Britain and gets caught up in an unusual wager between two wealthy, eccentric brothers. They persuade the Bank of England to issue a one million pound banknote, which they present to Adams in an envelope, only telling him that it contains some money.
Without knowing it, Adams is the subject of this bet: Brother B believes that the mere possession of this £1,000,000 - in the form of a single banknote -, without any other means of support, will enable someone to survive for the month. Brother A, on the other hand, feels that the prohibition against exchanging the note for cash will render it useless.
Once Adams gets over the shock of discovering how much the note is worth, he tries to return it to the brothers, but is told that they have left for a month. He then finds a letter in the envelope, explaining the wager and promising him a job if he can avoid spending the note for the month.
Trouble brews when Henry uses the note's reputation to speculate on the stock market. When his creditors demand that he produce the note as an act of faith, Henry is unable to do so, whereupon pandemonium reigns--and the audience's laughter cascades.
If the 1983 film, Trading Places, starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd sounds vaguely similar, that's because any similarities are vague: two eccentric aristocrats and a wager.
Directed by Ronald Neame. Jill Craigie wrote the screenplay. Run time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Public domain; available on youtub
