Something Money Can't Buy

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Something Money Can't Buy
British Quad poster by Dougie Post
Directed byPat Jackson
Written byPat Jackson
J.L. Hodson
Produced byJoseph Janni
StarringAnthony Steel
Patricia Roc
Moira Lister
CinematographyC. M. Pennington-Richards
Edited bySidney Hayers
Music byNino Rota
Production
companies
British Film-Makers
Vic Films
Distributed byGeneral Film Distributors
Release date
  • 9 July 1952 (1952-07-09)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office£121,000[1]

Something Money Can't Buy is a 1952 British comedy drama film directed by Pat Jackson and starring Patricia Roc, Anthony Steel and Moira Lister.[2][3] It was written by Jackson and J.L. Hodson, and distributed by Rank's General Film Distributors. In America it was released by Universal Pictures in 1953.

Plot

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Harry and Anne Wilding return to civilian life after service in the army. They have trouble readjusting, and Harry eventually resigns from his council job and goes into business, selling food from a mobile canteen. Anne becomes jealous of the daughter of Harry's backer. Anne gives up her job to concentrate on her marriage.[4]

Cast

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Production

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The film was made through British Film-Makers, a short lived production scheme that operated in Britain in the early 1950s as a co operative venture between the Rank Organisation and the National Film Finance Corporation (NFFC), whereby Rank would provide 70% of finance and the rest came from the NFFC. [5][6]

Patrick Macnee wrote in his memoirs that he auditioned for the male lead, and Pat Jackson wanted him rather than Anthony Steel, but Macnee had a few alcoholic drinks to calm his nerves and did a poor audition.[7]

The film was shot at Pinewood Studios near London. The film's sets were designed by the art director Alex Vetchinsky. The film was a rare comedy role for Steel, who made it immediately prior to shooting The Planter's Wife (1952). It involved Roc returning to London after two years in Paris, where she lived with her French husband. She and Steel had an affair during the making of the movie which resulted in Roc having Steel's baby.[8][9]

It was the only comedy Steel made while a star.[10]

Pat Jackson later said "It ought to have been a good film, it had a certain charm, the story had a certain charm. I think I just did it badly, I directed badly, I don't know what it was, it just didn't work. It was my fault and that was it; it was as simple as that...It needed great lightness of touch, which I didn't get... It was all in the script, the script was charming. I think James and I wrote a nice script and he was a great help and a wonderful man, James. But no. I botched it."[11]

Reception

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Box office

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According to internal Rank documentation, the film's box office performance was "average" with billings of £121,000.[1]

Critical

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Variety wrote, "the plot is slender enough, but the script resorts to anunnecessary degree of padding to keep the story moving. It’s mainly played, however, in a light key, with a few chuckles and odd moments of pathos. Film has been smoothly directed, and Patricia Roc and Anthony Steel play husband and wife roles in frothy style."[12]

The Monthly Film Bulletin described it as "a double disappointment from the director of White Corridors; the poverty-stricken material apart, its staging is uncharacteristically flabby, with none of the polish and professionalism of its predecessor."[13]

Filmink thought the film "starts out interestingly... but spins off into weird, dull subplots about work.[14]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "mediocre", writing: "Occasionally funny comedy hasn't sufficient comic situations or invention in script."[15]

Radio adaptation

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The film was adapted for Australian radio in 1954.[16]

References

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  1. ^ a b BFI Collections: Michael Balcon Papers H3 reprinted in British Cinema of the 1950s: The Decline of Deference By Sue Harper, Vincent Porter p 41
  2. ^ "Something Money Can't Buy". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 8 June 2025.
  3. ^ "New British Comedy". The Australian Women's Weekly. National Library of Australia. 3 June 1953. p. 40. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
  4. ^ Something Money Can't Buy Picture Show; London Vol. 59, Issue 1533, (August 16, 1952): 5-6, 10
  5. ^ Falk, Quentin (1987). The golden gong: fifty years of the Rank Organisation, its films and its stars. p. 87.
  6. ^ Harper & Porter p.41
  7. ^ Macnee, Patrick; Cameron, Marie (1989). Blind in one ear : the avenger returns. p. 162-163.
  8. ^ "Talking of Films". The Australian Women's Weekly. National Library of Australia. 13 February 1952. p. 31. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
  9. ^ Patricia Roc (31 December 2003). The Daily Telegraph. p. 25. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. ^ Vagg, Stephen (23 September 2020). "The Emasculation of Anthony Steel: A Cold Streak Saga". Filmink.
  11. ^ "Pat Jackson interview" (PDF). British Entertainment History Project. 22 March 1991.
  12. ^ "Something Money Can't Buy". Variety. 16 July 1952. p. 20.
  13. ^ Something Money Can't Buy. Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 19, Issue 216, (January 1, 1952): 124.
  14. ^ Vagg, Stephen (28 May 2025). "Forgotten British Studios: British Film-Makers". Filmink. Retrieved 28 May 2025.
  15. ^ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 377. ISBN 0-7134-1874-5.
  16. ^ Australian Broadcasting Commission. (2 October 1954), "Commercial", ABC Weekly, 16 (40), Sydney: ABC, nla.obj-1695519957, retrieved 9 May 2025 – via Trove

Bibliography

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  • Harper, Sue & Porter, Vincent. British Cinema of the 1950s: The Decline of Deference. Oxford University Press, 2007.
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