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The Millionairess

The Millionairess

  • Status: Released
  • 18-10-1960
  • Runtime: 89 min
  • Score: 5.4
  • Vote count: 35

When her father dies, Epifania Parerga, an Italian in London, becomes the world's richest woman. She feels incomplete without a husband and falls in love with a humble, Indian physician, Ahmed el Kabir, much loved by his indigent English patients.

Sophia Loren

Epifania Parerga

Peter Sellers

Dr. Kabir

Vittorio De Sica

Joe

Alastair Sim

Sagamore

Dennis Price

Adrian

Gary Raymond

Alastair

Miriam Karlin

Mrs. Joe

Noel Purcell

Professor Merton

Virginia Vernon

Polly Smith

Eleanor Summerfield

Mrs. Willoughby

Pauline Jameson

Muriel Pilkington

Alfie Bass

Fish Curer

Graham Stark

Butler

Diana Coupland

Nurse

Willoughby Goddard

President

Basil Hoskins

First Secretary

Gordon Sterne

Second Secretary

Tempe Adam

Gloria

Wally Patch

Whelk Seller

Charles Hill

Corelli

Derek Nimmo

3rd Secretary (uncredited)

Peter Sallis

Minor Role (uncredited)

CinemaSerf

I always struggled with Peter Sellers' brand of humour and combined with an over-the-top effort from Sophia Loren here, I will admit to squirming just a bit too often for comfort. She is the eponymous millionairess who can only marry if she meets very strict conditions set by her late father - else she loses everything. She is, however, attracted to Sellers' Delhi-born, scholarly and frankly unlikely "Dr. Kabir" whom it's safe to say, doesn't quite meet the criteria. He promised his mother that he would only marry a woman of modest means who can live, without complaint, on a mere 35 shillings for three months and she must marry a man who can turn the sum of £500 into £15,000 in the same time period. Impossible? Give up? Yes please, but no - we must persevere as the increasingly contrived humour struggles along for another hour that is as devoid of charm as it is of sophistication. Sellers has no charisma here and though Loren tries hard and looks the part, there isn't really any chemistry on display as the story sort of lurches from one unlikely scenario to another. The supporting cast - Alastair Sim and Dennis Price amongst them, are rarely on screen long enough to elevate this from a rather colourful and quickly paced farce that I couldn't really engage with. Time hasn't been especially kind to it - but I am not sure it was really any good in the first place.