The Millionairess
Encyclopedia
The Millionairess is a 1960
British romantic comedy film
set in London
, directed by Anthony Asquith
and starring Sophia Loren
and Peter Sellers
. It is a loose adaptation of George Bernard Shaw
's 1936 play of the same name.
Sellers plays Ahmed el Kabir, a socialist India
n doctor, who meets Epifania Parerga (Loren), a willful and arrogant heiress who has married to satisfy the conditions of her father's will but whose marriage has not produced the hoped-for happiness. Rather memorable performances are given by Alastair Sim
, playing Julius Sagamore, the head of the millionairess’s business empire, Vittorio de Sica
as Joe, the proprietor of a pasta production sweatshop
, and Alfie Bass
as a self-employed Cockney fish curer.
The film was a huge hit in Britain at the time of its release, but received mixed reviews. However it was an international success.
George Martin
, who was the producer at that time of Peter Sellers' comedy recordings, conceived and instigated the writing and recording of a comedy duet "Goodness Gracious Me
", sung by Sellers and Loren in their film characters. Martin commissioned David Lee and Herbert Kretzmer to write the song. Martin himself produced the recording. Martin envisioned the song as a recording to be incorporated in the soundtrack of the film. The film's producers did not agree to this, but the studio was happy to see the song released as a stand-alone single to promote the film. The song became a UK chart hit in 1960 and succeeded in publicizing the film.
Contemplating suicide, Epifania melodramatically plunges into the Thames, and when Dr. Ahmed el Kabir, a self-effacing, selfless Indian physician who runs an inadequately equipped clinic for the poor, ignores her plight and paddles past in his rowboat, she swims to shore and accuses him of being an assassin. Julius Sagamore, the shrewd family solicitor, then suggests that Epifania undergo therapy with noted society psychiatrist Adrian Bond. The opportunist Bond makes a bid for her hand, but after he criticizes her father, Epifania throws him into the Thames, and when Kabir rows out to help Bond, Epifania jumps in the river after him. To ensnare Kabir, Epifania feigns injury, but the dedicated doctor remains impervious to her charms and indifferent to her wealth.
Determined to win the doctor, Epifania buys the property surrounding his clinic and then erects a new, modern facility. After Kabir rejects Epifania's offer to run the facility, she suggests that they marry instead. Intimidated by the headstrong heiress, Kabir manufactures a deathbed promise that he made to his mother, pledging that he would not marry unless his prospective bride can take 35 shillings and earn her own living for three months. Undaunted, Epifania accepts his challenge and then discloses the details of her father's will and hands him £500. When Kabir protests that he has no head for money, Epifania plops down the wad of bills and leaves.
Setting out to prove her worth, Epifania takes 35 shillings and heads for a sweatshop pasta factory. There, she threatens to expose the labor violations unless Joe, the proprietor, allows her to manage the plant. Three months later, Epifania has installed labor-saving machines, thus boosting productivity and making the plant a big success. Kabir, meanwhile, has tried in vain to give away his £500. After Kabir becomes drunk at a scientific dinner hosted by a wealthy doctor, he finds a sympathetic ear in his former professor and mentor, who generously offers to accept his money. At the clinic, Kabir eagerly turns over the cash to the professor. Soon after the professor leaves, Epifania appears and informs Kabir that she has met his mother's challenge. When he replies that he has failed and given all the money away, Epifania is deeply offended. Deciding to turn her back on the world of men, she announces that she plans to fire her board of directors, disband her empire and retire to a Tibetan monastery once she has evicted all the monks.
Desperate to keep his job, Sagamore realizes that Kabir is responsible for Epifania's erratic behavior and goes to see the doctor. At the clinic, Sagamore tells Kabir that Epifania has vowed to withdraw from the world at the stroke of midnight. Concerned, Kabir hurries to the reception where Epifania is to bid farewell to her previous existence. Certain that their marriage is now imminent, Sagamore meets the terms of the will by purchasing Kabir's medical papers for £15,000. After Kabir rushes to Epifania, they kiss and he finally expresses his love.
1960 in film
The year 1960 in film involved some significant events, with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho the top-grossing release in the U.S.-Events:* April 20 - for the first time since coming home from military service in Germany, Elvis Presley returns to Hollywood, California to film G.I...
British romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy films are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. One dictionary definition is "a funny movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily"...
set in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, directed by Anthony Asquith
Anthony Asquith
Anthony Asquith was a leading English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on The Winslow Boy and The Browning Version , among other adaptations...
and starring Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
and Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
. It is a loose adaptation of George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
's 1936 play of the same name.
Sellers plays Ahmed el Kabir, a socialist India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n doctor, who meets Epifania Parerga (Loren), a willful and arrogant heiress who has married to satisfy the conditions of her father's will but whose marriage has not produced the hoped-for happiness. Rather memorable performances are given by Alastair Sim
Alastair Sim
Alastair George Bell Sim, CBE was a Scottish character actor who appeared in a string of classic British films. He is best remembered in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1951 film Scrooge, and for his portrayal of Miss Fritton, the headmistress in two St. Trinian's films...
, playing Julius Sagamore, the head of the millionairess’s business empire, Vittorio de Sica
Vittorio de Sica
Vittorio De Sica was an Italian director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement....
as Joe, the proprietor of a pasta production sweatshop
Sweatshop
Sweatshop is a negatively connoted term for any working environment considered to be unacceptably difficult or dangerous. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for very low pay, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labour laws may be violated. Sweatshops may have...
, and Alfie Bass
Alfie Bass
Alfred Bass was an English actor. He was born in Bethnal Green, London, the youngest in a Jewish family with ten children; their parents had fled persecution in Russia...
as a self-employed Cockney fish curer.
The film was a huge hit in Britain at the time of its release, but received mixed reviews. However it was an international success.
George Martin
George Martin
Sir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...
, who was the producer at that time of Peter Sellers' comedy recordings, conceived and instigated the writing and recording of a comedy duet "Goodness Gracious Me
Goodness Gracious Me (song)
"Goodness Gracious Me" is a comedy song recorded by Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren, and was a top 5 UK single in 1960. It features Sellers acting the role of an Indian doctor, and Loren of his wealthy Italian patient – who fall in love....
", sung by Sellers and Loren in their film characters. Martin commissioned David Lee and Herbert Kretzmer to write the song. Martin himself produced the recording. Martin envisioned the song as a recording to be incorporated in the soundtrack of the film. The film's producers did not agree to this, but the studio was happy to see the song released as a stand-alone single to promote the film. The song became a UK chart hit in 1960 and succeeded in publicizing the film.
Cast
- Sophia LorenSophia LorenSophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
as Epifania - Peter SellersPeter SellersRichard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
as Doctor Kabir - Alastair SimAlastair SimAlastair George Bell Sim, CBE was a Scottish character actor who appeared in a string of classic British films. He is best remembered in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1951 film Scrooge, and for his portrayal of Miss Fritton, the headmistress in two St. Trinian's films...
as Sagamore - Vittorio deSica as Joe
- Dennis PriceDennis PriceDennis Price was an English actor, remembered for his suave screen roles, particularly Louis Mazzini in Kind Hearts and Coronets, and for his portrayal of the omniscient valet Jeeves in 1960s television adaptations of P. G...
as Adrian - Gary RaymondGary RaymondGary Raymond is an English actor.He made his film debut as Cliff Lewis in Tony Richardson's film adaptation of John Osborne's Look Back in Anger , opposite Richard Burton and Claire Bloom...
as Alastair - Alfie BassAlfie BassAlfred Bass was an English actor. He was born in Bethnal Green, London, the youngest in a Jewish family with ten children; their parents had fled persecution in Russia...
as Fish Curer - Miriam KarlinMiriam KarlinMiriam Karlin, OBE was a British actress who worked on screen for over 60 years. She was best known for her role as Paddy in The Rag Trade, a 1960s BBC and 1970s LWT sitcom , especially for her catchphrase "Everybody out!"...
as Mrs. Joe - Noel PurcellNoel PurcellNoel Purcell may refer to:*Noel Purcell , Irish sportsman*Noel Purcell , Irish film and television actor...
as Professor - Virginia Vernon as Polly
- Graham StarkGraham StarkGraham Stark is an English comedian, actor, writer and director.Stark was born in Wallasey on the Wirral in Cheshire, England. He first came to prominence on BBC Radio, making his debut in Happy Go Lucky and going on to Ray's A Laugh, Educating Archie and substitute on The Goon Show...
as Butler - Diana CouplandDiana CouplandBetty Diana Coupland was an English actress best remembered for her role as Jean Abbott on Bless This House, which she played from 1971 to 1976.-Early life:...
as Nurse - Pauline Jameson as Muriel
- Eleanor SummerfieldEleanor SummerfieldEleanor Summerfield was a British actress.Summerfield was born in London in 1921. She received her acting training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In the mid-1960s, she played P. G. Wodehouse' character Aunt Dahlia in the BBC One's World of Wooster. She was a team member on BBC Radio 4's...
as Mrs. Willoughby - Willoughby GoddardWilloughby GoddardWilloughby Wittenham Rees Goddard was a British actor whose trademark rotund figure was well known on television and in films for over 40 years.Goddard was born in Bicester, Oxfordshire. He played Mr...
as President - Basil HoskinsBasil Hoskins-Biography:Hoskins, a native of Edmonton, London was educated at the Edmonton County School. The popular British actor who also had a distinguished career on the London stage, Hoskins studied acting at RADA and later joined the Nottingham Playhouse company...
as 1st Secretary - Gordon Sterne as 2nd Secretary
- Tempe Adam as Gloria
- Wally PatchWally PatchWally Patch was a British character actor, who had supporting roles in many films. He was born Walter Sidney Vinnicombe in Willesden, London on 26 September 1888...
as Whelk Seller - Charles Hill as Corelli
Synopsis
By the terms of her late father's will, spoiled London heiress Epifania Parerga, the richest woman in the world, cannot marry unless her prospective husband is able to turn £500 into £15,000 within a three-month period. When Epifania becomes smitten with Alastair, a muscular tennis player, she rigs the contest by giving him £500 in stock and then buying it back for £15,000. Alastair is unable to live with the domineering Epifania, however, and leaves her for the more domestic Polly Smith.Contemplating suicide, Epifania melodramatically plunges into the Thames, and when Dr. Ahmed el Kabir, a self-effacing, selfless Indian physician who runs an inadequately equipped clinic for the poor, ignores her plight and paddles past in his rowboat, she swims to shore and accuses him of being an assassin. Julius Sagamore, the shrewd family solicitor, then suggests that Epifania undergo therapy with noted society psychiatrist Adrian Bond. The opportunist Bond makes a bid for her hand, but after he criticizes her father, Epifania throws him into the Thames, and when Kabir rows out to help Bond, Epifania jumps in the river after him. To ensnare Kabir, Epifania feigns injury, but the dedicated doctor remains impervious to her charms and indifferent to her wealth.
Determined to win the doctor, Epifania buys the property surrounding his clinic and then erects a new, modern facility. After Kabir rejects Epifania's offer to run the facility, she suggests that they marry instead. Intimidated by the headstrong heiress, Kabir manufactures a deathbed promise that he made to his mother, pledging that he would not marry unless his prospective bride can take 35 shillings and earn her own living for three months. Undaunted, Epifania accepts his challenge and then discloses the details of her father's will and hands him £500. When Kabir protests that he has no head for money, Epifania plops down the wad of bills and leaves.
Setting out to prove her worth, Epifania takes 35 shillings and heads for a sweatshop pasta factory. There, she threatens to expose the labor violations unless Joe, the proprietor, allows her to manage the plant. Three months later, Epifania has installed labor-saving machines, thus boosting productivity and making the plant a big success. Kabir, meanwhile, has tried in vain to give away his £500. After Kabir becomes drunk at a scientific dinner hosted by a wealthy doctor, he finds a sympathetic ear in his former professor and mentor, who generously offers to accept his money. At the clinic, Kabir eagerly turns over the cash to the professor. Soon after the professor leaves, Epifania appears and informs Kabir that she has met his mother's challenge. When he replies that he has failed and given all the money away, Epifania is deeply offended. Deciding to turn her back on the world of men, she announces that she plans to fire her board of directors, disband her empire and retire to a Tibetan monastery once she has evicted all the monks.
Desperate to keep his job, Sagamore realizes that Kabir is responsible for Epifania's erratic behavior and goes to see the doctor. At the clinic, Sagamore tells Kabir that Epifania has vowed to withdraw from the world at the stroke of midnight. Concerned, Kabir hurries to the reception where Epifania is to bid farewell to her previous existence. Certain that their marriage is now imminent, Sagamore meets the terms of the will by purchasing Kabir's medical papers for £15,000. After Kabir rushes to Epifania, they kiss and he finally expresses his love.