The Million Pound Note (aka Man With A Million) (1954)

In 1903 England, an American seaman (Gregory Peck) is stranded in Great Britain without any funds when two brothers (Wilfrid Hyde White, Ronald Squire) make a bet. They present the American with a genuine million pound note with the stipulation that he must hold on to it for an entire month without cashing it. Based on the short story by Mark Twain and directed by Ronald Neame (THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE). I'm not normally a fan of those 1950s British comedies (usually from Ealing) but this satire has a bit of bite as well as charm to it. It doesn't show mankind at its best but that's the movie's point. How impressed we are with wealth and often make fools of ourselves with the very idea of it. Of course, Peck's character isn't entirely without blemish either. What kind of man takes advantage of what he knows to be a lie? But to be fair, people are so eager to believe the lie that he's almost overwhelmed by it. As the "man with a million", Peck is at his most appealing but the supporting cast of Brits are pretty wonderful too. Among them Joyce Grenfell, Maurice Denham, Bryan Forbes (before he turned director), Reginald Beckwith, Hugh Griffith, May Hallatt and Jane Griffiths.