Talk of a Million

Plot

Shakespeare loving Bartley Murnahan (Jack Warner) is a likeable, but work-shy fraudster who convinces creditors that he is due a half million pound inheritance, and goes ahead purchasing a number of expensive properties. How long will it take before the creditors see through his blarney?

Cast

Critical reception

The New York Times noted "a pleasantly garrulous little item that turned up at the Park Avenue yesterday...The plot, it might be noted, is closer to contrivance than ingenuity but the performances are uniformly fine. Jack Warner is excellent as the cultured but lazy father, who is anxious to help his brood and just as ready to quote the Bard at a moment's notice. Barbara Mullen does equally well in the role of his persevering wife. Acting honors, however, go to Michael Dolan, an Abbey Theatre veteran, as the designing village grocer, whose schemes to bilk our hero backfire. Only Barry Fitzgerald could approximate his characterization and it would take a poteen-filled denizen of a Dublin shebeen to equal his brogue and delivery. Add too, the explosive performance of Noel Purcell as an irascible farmer." while TV Guide gave the film two out of five stars, calling it "Pleasantly whimsical, as expected from the title (You Can't Beat the Irish)."