This warm and witty comedy tells the story of lovable rogue Denry Machin (Alec Guinness) – the poor son of a washerwoman who sees opportunity around every corner – as he progresses from a student at Hambridge College to a humble solicitor’s clerk to wealth and a position of real power, giving providence “a helping hand” along the way.
Set in Edwardian England, Machin sets up a ‘Thrift Club’ (a sort of credit union) to entice the residents of the (fictitious) industrial town of Bursley into giving him money so he can purchase goods at a huge discount, rescues the local football club from extinction by purchasing a star centre-forward, and ends up as the youngest mayor of the “Five Towns” (somewhere in the potteries area of Staffordshire).
There are four women in Denry’s life – his dour and obstinate washerwoman mother (Veronica Turleigh), who has no truck with her son’s dreams of success or the wealth it brings him; vivacious dance teacher and scheming gold-digger Ruth Earp (Glynis Johns); his patron and sponsor, the Countess of Chell (Valerie Hobson), a local aristocrat, and his wistful sweetheart Nellie (a young Petula Clark before embarking on her successful singing career).
Released in the US as The Promoter. Location shooting took place in Burslem and Middleport, Stoke on Trent, and Llandudno in Wales.
Edward Henry ‘Denry’ Machin
Alec Guinness Ruth Earp
Glynis Johns Countess of Chell
Valerie Hobson Nellie Cotterill
Petula Clark Herbert Duncalf
Edward Chapman Mrs Machin
Veronica Turleigh Mr H. Calvert
George Devine Mrs Codleyn
Joan Hickson Police Superintendent
Frank Pettingell Emery
Gibb McLaughlin Denry as a Boy
Matthew Guinness Bank Manager
Michael Hordern Lord at Liverpool Boat Harbour
Wilfrid Hyde-White Mr Bostock
Frank Tickle
Director
Ronald Neame
Video
Related Posts
Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951) Guns blaze, masts and rigging crash to the deck, railings disappear in showers of splinters and acrid black smoke sweeps…
Mother Riley Meets the Vampire (1952) A mad scientist known as 'the Vampire' (Bela Lugosi) comes to England to complete experiments in his mad plan for…
Crow, The (1993) The Crow is a dark-avenger fantasy from a comic which - despite a cartoonish script - presents a sombre, exciting and…
Candyman (1992) Chicago student Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) is researching a paper on urban myths, including that of the Candyman, a spirit…
Son Of Paleface (1952) A mild-mannered Harvard graduate goes out to the Wild West seeking the fortune left him by his late father, only…
Carpetbaggers, The (1964) George Peppard plays hard-driven playboy industrialist Jonas Cord in Paramount's highest-grossing film of 1964. When Jonas inherits his father's industrial…
Singin' In The Rain (1952) Before 1952, Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen, and Arthur Freed had made some great films. Kelly made his mark with his…
Home at Seven (1952) David Preston (Ralph Richardson), a meek City of London bank clerk and a man of regular habits, returns to his…
Set in Edwardian England, Machin sets up a ‘Thrift Club’ (a sort of credit union) to entice the residents of the (fictitious) industrial town of Bursley into giving him money so he can purchase goods at a huge discount, rescues the local football club from extinction by purchasing a star centre-forward, and ends up as the youngest mayor of the “Five Towns” (somewhere in the potteries area of Staffordshire).
