You Pay Your Money

Plot

On a visit to Belgium, married couple Bob (Hugh McDermott ) and Susie Westlake (Honor Blackman) become involved with wealthy financier, Steve Mordaunt (Ivan Samson), in the sale and transfer of a collection of rare books. In an attempted burglary at Mordaunt's home, his love interest, Mrs. Rosemary Delgado (Jane Hylton), is suspected. She was once romantically linked to a gangster and she leads the Westlakes in a search for Achemd's writings, a middle eastern 14th Century seer which has inspired an extreme political group, and thought to be in the collection of rare books that Mourdaunt now owns.

The Westlakes become embroiled in a struggle over the valuable Arabic manuscripts, and when Susie is kidnapped by extremists, Bob works as an assistant to Tom Cookson, a manuscript smuggler (Hugh Moxey) who is importing the rare texts the gang are seeking. The extremists demand Mourdaunt turn over his collection of rare books, and plot to incite a revolution across the Middle East but can the Westlakes prevent a serious international situation?

Production

Principal photography on You Pay Your Money took place in the Nettlefold Studios, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England.

Critical reception

In a review of You Pay Your Money, the Radio Times wrote, "The much maligned Butcher's Film Service holds an unenviable place in the history of British cinema. By sponsoring dozens of low-budget programmers, it enabled young talent on both sides of the camera to gain an industry foothold. Yet it mostly churned out dismal offerings such as this tale of kidnap and rare book smuggling, which is given only the merest modicum of respectability by the presence of Hugh McDermott and Honor Blackman."

A review of You Pay Your Money in TV Guide, noted, "... the execution is top notch, but the witlessness of the story rankles."