Sophia Loren starred as the titular millionairess, Epifania Ognisanti di Parerga, whose husband-hunting is spoiled by a condition in her father’s will that any prospective husband must be able to turn £500 into £15,000 in three months.
Peter Sellers co-starred as Dr Kabir, a penniless but saintly Indian GP who runs a humble East End clinic for the poor and whose mother insists that his future wife must be able to support herself for three months, starting with 35 shillings and the clothes she is wearing.
Epifania succeeds, turning the sweatshop basement bakery owned by Joe (Vittorio De Sica) into a profit-making concern. Bewildered by money, Kabir fails without trying, offering the money to suspicious passers-by.
She tries to buy him (with a lavishly-equipped welfare hospital built cheek-by-jowl alongside his surgery), seduce him and coerce him, but he resists organisation.
Alastair Sim played Sagamore, the unscrupulous lawyer who appreciates the importance of keeping wealthy people happy, while Dennis Price played philandering psychiatrist Dr Adrian Bland.
The film was based on the stage play by George Bernard Shaw with a screenplay by Wolf Mankowitz. Shaw meant it as an attack on capitalism and corrupting riches, but it works superbly here as a romantic comedy.
Ten days after arriving in England to begin work on the film, burglars broke into the house Sophia Loren was renting in the grounds of the Edgwarebury Country Club near Elstree Studio and stole £180,000 of her jewellery. It was reported that some of the jewels later turned up in Cyprus.
Epifania Ognisanti di Parerga
Sophia Loren Doctor Kabir
Peter Sellers Sagamore
Alastair Sim Joe
Vittorio De Sica Doctor Adrian Bland
Dennis Price Alastair
Gary Raymond Fish Curer
Alfie Bass Mrs Joe
Miriam Karlin Professor
Noel Purcell Polly
Virginia Vernon Butler
Graham Stark Nurse
Diana Coupland Muriel
Pauline Jameson Mrs Willoughby
Eleanor Summerfield President
Willoughby Goddard 1st Secretary
Basil Hoskins 2nd Secretary
Gordon Sterne Gloria
Tempe Adam Whelk Seller
Wally Patch Corelli
Charles Hill
Director
Anthony Asquith
Video
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Epifania succeeds, turning the sweatshop basement bakery owned by Joe (Vittorio De Sica) into a profit-making concern. Bewildered by money, Kabir fails without trying, offering the money to suspicious passers-by.
