MILLION POUND NOTE

Original British 27 inch x 40 inch 1-Sheet Poster for the 1954 Ronald Neame Romantic Comedy THE MILLION POUND NOTE, based on the story by Mark Twain and starring Gregory Peck, Jane Griffiths, Ronald Squire, Joyce Grenfell, A.E. Matthews, Maurice Denham, Reginald Beckwith, Brian Oulton, John Slater, Hartley Power, Bryan Forbes, Gudrun Ure, Hugh Wakefield, Wilfrid Hyde-White and Ronald Adam.

Gregory Peck plays Henry Adams, an impecunious American living by his wits in London. Henry becomes the object of a wager between millionaire brothers Oliver and Roderick Montpelier (Ronald Squire and Wilfred Hyde-White), who want to find out if a man with a million pound note in his bank account could live comfortably for one month on the strength of that note–without ever spending a penny of it. When Henry is given the note and lets it be known that he has it, every courtesy imaginable is extended to him by hoteliers, restauranteurs, etc. Trouble brews when Henry uses the note’s reputation to speculate on the stock market. When his creditors demand that he produce the note as an act of faith, Henry is unable to do so, whereupon pandemonium reigns.

Poster art by Eric Pulford (1915 – 2005). Having taken life classes at Leeds College of Art for 5 years Pulford was apprenticed as a commercial artist in 1931 to Gilchrist Bros a process house of 24 staff. Leslie Whitchurch, a partner in a Leicester based agency and also a part-time publicity manager for Rank, became aware of Pulford’s work and asked him to do some freelance work for him. Then in 1943 Rank invited Pulford to start a publicity department for them in London resulting in posters for “Henry V”, “Odd Man Out” and “Oliver Twist”. When the head of Downtons advertising agency, Charles Collins, died, Pulford was asked to take over. He became chairman and managing director but still spent most of his time designing posters. He retired in 1986. Pulford is responsible, either through his own artwork or design, for several hundred posters, some for classic films such as the ones already mentioned plus “Edge of the World”, “The Importance of Being Earnest”, “Genevieve”, “Reach for the Sky” and “A Night to Remember”. He is, without doubt, the most important force in British film poster design from the mid-1940s to the early 1980s.

Printed by W.E. Berry, Ltd., Bradford

The poster is in very good folded condition.