Director: Ronald Neame
Year Released: 1952
Rating: 3.0
Clever, somewhat conniving Denry (Alec Guinness) figures out early on that you need to be a bit sneaky to succeed in life (especially when raised in virtual poverty), starting with forging his grades in primary school - as he gets older, he takes an apprentice job for a local solicitor and eventually starts his own business. Familiar Something-To-Nothing narrative is done with charm by Neame and an unflappable Guinness, who has such a good heart almost nothing can seem to keep him down for too long - even when he's around prissy gold-digging princess Ruth Earp (Glynis Johns), he's able to resist unleashing hell upon her when she spends all his money frivolously (one word from him - "Rockefeller!" - causes her extreme distress). Literally everything works out for him - setbacks are quickly navigated around and problems are immediately solved: even when the local football team lacks support he manages to sign the best player in the country, even when the bank refuses him a loan he gets the 'down-to-Earth' Countess of Chell (Valerie Hobson) to back him, even when he grows disillusioned with the idea of marrying Ruth, there's always the demure Nellie (Petula Clark) to steal away from her parents who are leaving the country for Canada. When you got it goin' on, you got it goin' on.
