The Million Pound Bank Note
Encyclopedia
"The Million Pound Bank Note" is a short story by the American author Mark Twain
.
The story takes place in Edwardian London, where two very rich, eccentric brothers, Oliver and Roderick Montpelier, give the penniless story protagonist, Henry Adams, one million pound money in form of a single peerless bank note. Henry would not be easily able to exchange that note in the bank without being questioned about how he had come to it, charged with theft and arrested. He would also not be able to spend it since no ordinary person would be able to change it. Without knowing, Henry is the subject of a bet: Oliver believes that the mere possession of this symbol of wealth will enable anyone to have anything he wants, without actually cashing the note. Roderick, on the other hand, feels that the prohibition against exchanging the note for cash will render it totally useless.
The 1954 film The Million Pound Note
was based on this short story with Gregory Peck
starring as Henry Adams.
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
.
The story takes place in Edwardian London, where two very rich, eccentric brothers, Oliver and Roderick Montpelier, give the penniless story protagonist, Henry Adams, one million pound money in form of a single peerless bank note. Henry would not be easily able to exchange that note in the bank without being questioned about how he had come to it, charged with theft and arrested. He would also not be able to spend it since no ordinary person would be able to change it. Without knowing, Henry is the subject of a bet: Oliver believes that the mere possession of this symbol of wealth will enable anyone to have anything he wants, without actually cashing the note. Roderick, on the other hand, feels that the prohibition against exchanging the note for cash will render it totally useless.
The 1954 film The Million Pound Note
The Million Pound Note
The Million Pound Note is a 1954 British comedy, directed by Ronald Neame and starring Gregory Peck...
was based on this short story with Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
starring as Henry Adams.
See also
- The £1,000,000 Bank Note and Other New StoriesThe £1,000,000 Bank Note and Other New StoriesThe £1,000,000 Bank Note and Other New Stories is a 1893 collection of short stories by American writer Mark Twain.-Background:The collection was published in 1893, in a disastrous decade for the United States, a time marked by doubt and waning optimism, rapid immigration, labor problems, and the...
- Mark Twain bibliographyMark Twain bibliographySamuel Langhorn Clemens , well known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. Twain is noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , which has been called "the Great American Novel," and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer...