This largely fails for one main reason...the miscasting of Ian Carmichael as the main character. He never for a second persuades us that he is a thief, inept or not, belonging to a criminal family. His forte was middle-class, hapless twit and really nothing beyond that. The film has some great character actors and wastes them, the plot might have involved the family more, for example, and the gang from which Carmichael unwittingly steals forged money could have been used more and the hunt for Carmichael started more quickly. The fake reverend, played by Robert Helpmann (the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) is also under-used and too many scenes are solely based on Carmichael and Belinda Lee, neither of whom are that interesting, for all Lee's looks. There is also a totally unpersuasive element to the end, with Lee's conversion from the gold-digger she plays throughout.
Review of The Big Money
