A Run for Your Money (1949)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Charles Frend

Writers:

Clifford Evans (story)
Richard Hughes (writer) ...
(more)

Release Date:

8 April 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Brothers from a Welsh village take their first trip to London to collect a prize, and meet a con artist and sundry other urban distractions.

Plot Keywords:

London | Reporter | Pub | Miner | Newspaper

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Donald Houston	...	David 'Dai Number 9' Jones
Meredith Edwards	...	Thomas 'Twm' Jones
Moira Lister	...	Jo
Alec Guinness	...	Whimple
Hugh Griffith	...	Huw
Clive Morton	...	Editor
Julie Milton	...	Bronwen
Peter Edwards	...	Davies Manager
Joyce Grenfell	...	Mrs Pargiter
Leslie Perrins	...	Barney
Dorothy Bramhall	...	Jane
Andrew Leigh	...	The Pawnbroker
Edward Rigby	...	Beefeater
Desmond Walter-Ellis	...	Station Announcer
Mackenzie Ward	...	Stebbins (Photographer)
Meadows White	...	Guv'nor
Gabrielle Brune	...	Crooner
Ronnie Harries	...	Dan
Diana Hope	...	A Customer
Dudley Jones	...	Bleddyn
David Davies	...	The Burly Stranger
Tom Jones	...	Elderly Miner
Richard Littledale	...	Cinema Mananger
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Charles Cullum	...	Powerful man (uncredited)
Richard Davies	...	Rugby Fan (uncredited)
Patric Doonan	...	Conductor (uncredited)
Anthony Oliver	...	Miner (uncredited)
Marianne Stone	...	Miss Carpenter (uncredited)
Henry Webb	...	Bit part (uncredited)

Directed by
Charles Frend

Writing credits
Clifford Evans		(story)
Richard Hughes		(writer) &
Leslie Norman		(writer) &
Charles Frend		(writer)
Diana Morgan		(additional dialogue)

Produced by
Michael Balcon	....	producer
Leslie Norman	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Ernest Irving

Cinematography by
Douglas Slocombe

Film Editing by
Michael Truman

Art Direction by
William Kellner

Costume Design by
Anthony Mendleson

Makeup Department
Barbara Barnard	....	hair stylist
Harry Frampton	....	makeup artist
Ernest Taylor	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Ralph D. Hogg	....	unit production manager
Hal Mason	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Norman Priggen	....	assistant director
Christopher Barry	....	third assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Arthur Bradburn	....	sound recordist
Stephen Dalby	....	sound supervisor
Eric Stockl	....	sound camera operator (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Jeff Seaholme	....	camera operator
Hugh Wilson	....	focus puller (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Ernie Farrer	....	wardrobe master (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Seth Holt	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Ernest Irving	....	conductor

Other crew
Phyllis Crocker	....	continuity

Production Companies

• Ealing Studios

Distributors

• General Film Distributors (GFD) (1949) (UK) (theatrical)
• Universal Pictures (1950) (USA) (theatrical)
• British Empire Films (1952) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1976) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Brenner Sports  Moira Lister's costumes
• Philharmonia Orchestra, The  music played by

Runtime:

85 min | USA:83 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

UK:Approved (British Film Censors) | USA:Approved (PCA #13675) | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Ealing Studios, Ealing, London, England, UK

Company:

Ealing Studios

Quotes:

Jane: I've checked the photograph of that floozy. She's a pro all right - a con woman!
Whimple: Pro and con?
Jane: A professional confidence trickster. She specializes in provincials up for a spree.

Movie Connections:

References Passport to Pimlico (1949)

Funny, Skillfully Made Comedy

Two brothers, country-boy Welsh miners, come to London for a day to collect a prize won and to see a football match. They are separated when they arrive and spend the rest of the film trying to find each other. One, a handsome, naive lad (of the sort Bill Travers played in WEE GEORDIE) is alternately taken in tow by Alec Guinness, an effeminate garden-column writer, and by Moira Lister, a larcenous blonde. The other meets up with old-friend, street-singer Hugh Griffith, and they get wildly drunk. The pacing is superb, and the style is realistic. There is a large variety of amusing characters, the most memorable of which is Joyce Grenfell in a fancy dress shop. It's all extremely cleverly done, and filled with well-timed laughs. You don't see the laughs coming; in that sense they're never predictable. Nor are they easy, lazy laughs; they're very deftly worked out. Yet it doesn't go beyond that consummate skill. Halliwell, as usual, puts it very well; "with characterizations as excellent as they are expected." Somehow, the film isn't quite as pleasing as should be. This is largely because of the naive lad's relationship to the con-girl; one has to wonder about the worth of a man who'd completely forget his fiancé in a day, and Lister's weak performance doesn't give the conceit any help. Also, the level of farce is occasionally pushed beyond its limits. It's OK that the brothers keep missing each other like people slipping in and out of doors in a stage farce, but for Griffith and the brother he's with to literally pop in and out of the doors of the underground train, and stretch the routine to the limit, seems a bit much. But one feels a bit bad complaining about the weaknesses of the film, because it is very entertaining, and a skillfully made comedy.