De la coupe aux lèvres

This is one of the harder reviews I've ever done. In the past, I have loved the Ealing Studios films I have seen. I also love the time I have spent in Wales--it's a charming and wonderful land. So I really expected to love A RUN FOR YOUR MONEY. Oddly, however, I liked it only mildly, though I wasn't totally sure why. So, instead of writing my review right away like I usually do, I decided to think about it for a while...mull it over in my head.

Now that some time has passed, I think the biggest reason I didn't love the film was that my expectations are just too high. Having seen films like PASSPORT TO PIMLICO and THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT (among many others), I expected the same magic. This really isn't 100% fair--as the Ealing people can't be expected to reprise the same level of success in every film. Another reason, and this one I think they could help, was that in many ways you never really get to know the characters that well. Too often, they are running about or having adventures and I felt that I wanted more. Finally, the whole idea of a country person going to the big city and having problems with the fast-paced city dwellers has been done many times before and the idea wasn't 100% original.

Still, there is a lot to like. Just from a historical standpoint, this is a glimpse at Welsh life that simply doesn't exist any more, now that their economy is no longer based on coal and slate mining. Also, while not necessarily a great film, it is very pleasant and worth watching. So, provided you don't set your expectations too high, then it's a very good film.

A Run For Your Money concerns a trip to London after coal mining brothers win a prize from a newspaper. Donald Houston and Meredith Edwards play the brothers from some long unpronounceable Welsh village and Alec Guinness plays the gardening columnist who is assigned to cover their visit. Guinness who resents being taken away from his beloved flowers manages to botch the assignment as the brothers get separated and never quite get to the rugby match that they wanted to see.

Edwards meets up with an old pal from Wales in the person of Hugh Griffith who gets money from Edwards to get his beloved harp out of a pawnbroker's shop. The funniest gag in this Ealing comedy is Griffith carrying that harp around all over Londong as they search for Houston, while all the time stopping at every pub on the way.

Houston gets himself involved with a known con woman played by Moira Lister and Guinness is frantic to see she doesn't steal the prize money that the newspaper gave the brothers Jones. Houston is one naive country kid, a bit of a spin off from the character he played opposite Jean Simmons in the first Blue Lagoon movie. A certain providence watches over him.

This film would mark the last time Alec Guinness was a supporting player at Ealing. Henceforth he would be starring in these films. Honorable mention should also go to Hugh Griffith one of my favorite British players. Griffith may well have not been acting as his character is called to be soused the entire film and his appetite for the grape was legendary.

A Run For Your Money still holds up well after over 60 years and is still a very funny film. You will be talking about those Jones boys from Wales.

This is a wonderful early post-war example of what would become staple 1950s comedies - one of the first from Ealing Studios - it has an innocence and freshness, as well as genuine laughs and charm, that hold up well nearly 70 years later.

Two Welsh miners win the Daily Echo's prize for the most productive miners in Britain and head up to London to collect the enormous sum of £200 - as innocents in London they get separated and the one meets a gorgeous girl on the make, and the other a broken-down Welsh harpist. They are all chased by a bemused Alec Guinness as the gardening correspondent out of his métier.

All in all this foreshadows the great comedies of the 1950 - but it is a very lovely example of the genre - full of joy, energy, even some farce, and lots of very beautiful music - this is one to enjoy with a nice cup of tea and a roaring fire!

A lesser-known, lightweight Ealing Comedy which follows the exploits of two Welsh mining brothers Donald Houston and Meredith Edwards who win a newspaper lottery prize of a trip to London, tickets for the big England v Wales rugby international at Twickenham and £100 prize money each. Sent out by the paper to chaperone them on their big day and write up their story is their reluctant, horticultural columnist Alec Guinness but almost immediately they arrive in the big city, the siblings are separated and fall into a separate series of misadventures before they have to make a madcap race for the return train home with a motley entourage in their wake, who've all played a part in their story.

A tale of innocents abroad, the film one suspects is mildly patronising of the Welsh as rather wide-eyed, boozy, over-trusting simpletons who sing their way through life's ups and downs. Houston's Dai and his solo adventure is more interesting than his brother's as he falls under the influence of what Guinness's character neatly calls a pro-con, pretty professional confidence trickster Moira Lister, out to separate Houston both from his money and his girl back in the valleys. I however found other brother Tom's escapade, where he picks up his old hometown harpist accompanist begging on the streets of London, rather tiresome.

The film has some funny moments like when a tannoy announcement is made for a Mr Jones from Wales at Paddington Station when the announcer can't pronounce their Welsh town name to a train full of Welshmen arriving for the match, with predictably chaotic results and a young Joyce Grenfell's turn as a fawning dress shop salesperson but the film suffers from too much slapstick and sentimentality. Houston and Edwards hardly seem like brothers and Hugh Griffiths as the hanger-on harp player soon irritates but Guinness already shows the skills that would make him a mainstay of the studio in years to come.

Lacking the sharp satire and social commentary of other Ealing Comedies, nonetheless I can see how this unassuming film might have cheered the average post-War cinema-goer. Me today, a bit less so.

I Purchased the Film about eight years ago from America, unable to obtain a copy in Britain at that time.

A lovely down to earth story about two welsh miners going at that time to the big city (London) after winning a mining competition.

Some great welsh hymns were sung during the film (four part harmony) long gone by today's rugby supporters.

The story was written by Clifford Evans (Actor) who lived in my home town of Llanelli for a number of years.(Llanelli is mentioned by actor Meredith Edwards on the train taking them to London)

The valleys are back green again.(Happy memories of past times))