The Millionairess (1960)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Anthony Asquith

Writers:

George Bernard Shaw (play)
Riccardo Aragno (adaptation)

Release Date:

22 December 1960 (West Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

The Racy Revelations of the Richest Girl in the World...And Her Wild, Wonderful Ways!

Plot:

When her father dies, Epifania Parerga, an Italian in London, becomes the world's richest woman. She...

Plot Keywords:

Love | Italian | Thames | Surgery | Poison

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Sophia Loren	...	Epifania Parerga
Peter Sellers	...	Dr. Ahmed el Kabir
Alastair Sim	...	Julius Sagamore
Vittorio De Sica	...	Joe
Dennis Price	...	Dr. Adrian Bland
Gary Raymond	...	Alastair
Alfie Bass	...	Fish Curer
Miriam Karlin	...	Mrs. Maria Joe
Noel Purcell	...	Professor Merton
Virginia Vernon	...	Polly Smith
Graham Stark	...	Butler
Diana Coupland	...	Nurse
Pauline Jameson	...	Muriel Pilkington
Eleanor Summerfield	...	Mrs. Willoughby
Willoughby Goddard	...	President

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:U | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Finland:S

Company:

Dimitri De Grunwald Production

Trivia:

Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren recorded the novelty song "Goodness Gracious Me!" in order to promote the movie. The song became a big worldwide hit.

Quotes:

Epifania Parerga: Our marriage was just a succession of boxing matches.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004)

It just doesn't work.

Chemistry can be a funny thing. This movie stars two charismatic legends of the cinema, Sophia Loren and Peter Sellers. Its script, on the surface, is intelligent and well-written, full of snappy dialog. (It's based on a play by G.B. Shaw.) They combine to make a relentlessly dull movie. Loren is a rich heiress who for some reason has to marry again to satisfy conditions of her father's will and Sellers plays an altruistic Indian doctor in London, where the movie is set, with whom she has an uninteresting love/hate relationship. I found it all but impossible to keep my attention focused on the screen as the film worked its way toward its conclusion. It made for one of the longest 90-minute movies I've ever seen.

Part of the problem I think is that characters here are not developed, they just burst out in full force the moment you see them, making a viewer feel like he or she has started watching in the middle of the film. Also, as a romance, the movie is completely flat, with zero chemistry between the leads. It's no wonder you don't hear much about this film from fans of Loren or Sellers, or Shaw for that matter.