The Million Pound Note

A rare foray into British films for Gregory Peck, and the journey seems to have done him good as this film shows him in one of his better performances (alongside Roman Holiday and To Kill a Mockingbird).

Henry Adams is given the million-pound note of the title and is challenged to keep it, intact, for a month. And that's the whole premise of the film - but along the way there is a chase along a windswept street, a dumb strongman, a rich girl, a gold mine, Joyce Grenfell, a bet, and a rather snooty tailor.

The film manages to poke fun both at the Americans and the British, as well as highlighting the class differences still prevalent in this country even today. Henry Adams' plight could be the one of any lottery winner in 2007, although this being movieland, all works out for the best in the end.

Interesting to compare with Mr Deeds Goes To Town, another film about a dotty philanthropist who comes into sudden wealth.