Value for Money *** (1955, John Gregson, Diana Dors, Susan Stephen ) – Classic Movie Review 7005

Director Ken Annakin’s enjoyable 1955 British Technicolor comedy Value for Money is based on a novel by Derrick Boothroyd and stars John Gregson as Chayley Broadbent, a blunt English Northerner who inherits rag-trade wealth and goes to London where he falls for a vivacious cockney gold-digger, Ruthine West (Diana Dors).

Chayley Broadbent tells Ruthine West that he is poor, but when she finds out that he is rich she intends to give him value for his money, in a mild but genial comedy that mixes farce and romance to generally amusing effect.

The players and the handling are value for money, particularly the performances by the stars and the loyal character actors Frank Pettingell as the mayor and Ernest Thesiger as Lord Drewsbury, but there is a plethora of vintage British names to look out for and relish.

Also in the cast are Susan Stephen, Derek Farr, Jill Adams, Charles Victor, Joan Hickson, Donald Pleasence, Hal Osmond, James Gregson, Sheila Raynor, Ronald Chesney, Leslie Phillips, Paddie Stone, Irving Davies, Sheila O’Neil, Ruth Shiel, Carol Day, Eleanor Fazan, Jane Doré, Oliver Reed, Mavis Greenaway, Julia Arnall, George Benson, Ferdy Mayne, John Glyn Jones, Ronnie Stevens, Cyril Smith, Gillian Lutyens and Vic Wise.

Value for Money is directed by Ken Annakin, runs 92 minutes, is produced by Group Film Productions and J Arthur Rank Organisation, is released by Rank, is written by R F Delderfield and William Fairchild, based on a novel by Derrick Boothroyd, is shot in Technicolor by Geoffrey Unsworth, is produced by Sergei Nolbandov, and is scored by Malcolm Arnold.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7005

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