Talk of a Million

Talk of a Million
	U.S. poster
Directed by	John Paddy Carstairs
Produced by	Alex Boyd
Written by	Frederick Gotfurt
Based on	the play They Got What They Wanted by Louis D'Alton[1]
Starring	Jack Warner; Barbara Mullen
Music by	Leighton Lucas
Cinematography	Jack Hildyard
Edited by	Edward B. Jarvis
Production; company	Associated British Picture Corporation
Distributed by	Associated British-Pathé (U.K.)
Release date	March 1951; (U.K.)
Running time	77 minutes[2]
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	£96,963 (UK)[3]

Talk of a Million (also known as You Can't Beat the Irish) is a 1951 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs, starring Jack Warner, with an early appearance from Sid James.[4][5]

Premise

Shakespeare loving Bartley Murnahan (Jack Warner) is a likeable, but work-shy fraudster who convinces creditors that he is due a half million pound inheritance, and goes ahead purchasing a number of expensive properties. How long will it take before the creditors see through his blarney?

Cast

Jack Warner as Bartley Murnahan
Barbara Mullen as Bessie Murnahan
Joan Kenny as Sally Murnahan
Elizabeth Erskine as Norah Murnahan
Ronan O'Casey as Derry Murnahan
Vincent Ball as Jack Murnahan
Noel Purcell as Matty McGrath
Paul Connell as Joe McGrath
Michael Dolan as Tubridy
Niall MacGinnis as Tom Cassidy
Alfie Bass as Lorcan
Sid James as John C. Moody
Anita Sharp-Bolster as Miss Rafferty
Tony Quinn as Sacristan
John McDarby as Porter
Milo O'Shea as Signwriter

Critical reception

The New York Times noted "a pleasantly garrulous little item that turned up at the Park Avenue yesterday...The plot, it might be noted, is closer to contrivance than ingenuity but the performances are uniformly fine. Jack Warner is excellent as the cultured but lazy father, who is anxious to help his brood and just as ready to quote the Bard at a moment's notice. Barbara Mullen does equally well in the role of his persevering wife. Acting honors, however, go to Michael Dolan, an Abbey Theatre veteran, as the designing village grocer, whose schemes to bilk our hero backfire. Only Barry Fitzgerald could approximate his characterization and it would take a poteen-filled denizen of a Dublin shebeen to equal his brogue and delivery. Add too, the explosive performance of Noel Purcell as an irascible farmer."[6] TV Guide gave the film two out of five stars, calling it "Pleasantly whimsical, as expected from the title (You Can't Beat the Irish)."[7]

gollark: Ah, y

gollark: ... but you went to it...

gollark: You can at least get the *stronghold* easily enough.

gollark: Something like that.

gollark: Not if you use the debug UI to get stupidly precise directions!

References

Goble, Alan (1 January 1999). "The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film". Walter de Gruyter – via Google Books.
"TALK OF A MILLION - British Board of Film Classification".
Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p496
"Talk of a Million". 30 April 1952 – via IMDb.
"Talk of a Million (1951)".
https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E05E5DB133BE23BBC4953DFB3668389649EDE
"You Can't Beat The Irish".

External links

Talk of a Million on IMDb

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[1] Goble, Alan (1 January 1999). "The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film". Walter de Gruyter – via Google Books.

[2] "TALK OF A MILLION - British Board of Film Classification".

[3] Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p496

[4] "Talk of a Million". 30 April 1952 – via IMDb.

[5] "Talk of a Million (1951)".

[6] ttps://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E05E5DB133BE23BBC4953DFB3668389649EDE

[7] "You Can't Beat The Irish".