A Run for Your Money

1949

Action / Comedy

5
IMDb Rating 6.4/10 10 763 763

Plot summary

Two Welsh coal-mining brothers win a trip to London to claim a monetary prize. They are supposed to meet a newspaper reporter who will be their escort. Instead, the brothers are launched into an adventure with some London riff-raff. It is up to the reporter to look out for the brothers, and what a job it turns out to be!

Director

Charles Frend Photo
Charles Frend

Top cast

Meredith Edwards Photo
Meredith Edwards as Twm
Alec Guinness Photo
Alec Guinness as Whimple
Marianne Stone Photo
Marianne Stone as Miss Carpenter
Fred Griffiths Photo
Fred Griffiths as Man in pub
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
768.11 MB
956*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
1 hr 23 min
Seeds 1
1.39 GB
1424*1072
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
1 hr 23 min
Seeds ...

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Lejink 5 / 10

Taffs in town

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.
Reviewed by bkoganbing 6 / 10

The Whole Town's Talking About The Jones Boys

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.
Read more IMDb reviews

No comments yet

Be the first to leave a comment