Soho Bites 53: A Taste of Money (1960)

That national treasure was Noel Cronin, the man behind everybody's favourite TV channel, Talking Pictures TV, and that film was one that had been unavailable to see anywhere until Noel recently rescued it from obscurity and showed it on Talking Pictures, a taste of money from 1960.

The film was produced by the renowned Danzigers, a pair of enterprising brothers from New York who came to the UK in the 1950s and made a lot of films and TV series.

TV series.

TV serieses.

Whatever.

They were known, perhaps even notorious, for working with very tight budgets but managed to produce a wealth of decent, if not exactly awe-inspiring films and telly.

A Taste of Money was directed by Max Varnell and stars 75-year-old Jean Caddell, a well-known stage actress of her day and grandmother of Simon and Selina, as Miss Brill, a dear, sweet little old lady with some hidden criminal tendencies.

After some drunken shenanigans in a disreputable Soho dive bar, is there any other type? Miss Brill teams up with a fiendish crook known as Frank Fingernails Morrissey, played by Dick Emery, to carry out a daring robbery.

After the screening of A Taste of Money at Southend's Palace Hotel, there was a special event, an audience with Noel Cronin, at which he took questions from the audience and spoke about his life and career.

After that, I bundled him off to a side room to talk about the film, The Danziger Brothers and Talking Pictures TV.

I had hoped to make the conversation with Noel a three-way and invited Dick Emery's son, Nick Emery, to join us down the line.

Alas, Nick was tied up doing some voice work so I was unable to attend, but I did manage to get together with him online a week or so later to talk about his father and his legacy.

That conversation with Nick is in the second half of the show, but...

Before that, come with me on a train to the English

seaside.

That's where we're going.

Southend Central.

Let's go.

The Southend-on-Sea Film Festival is an annual event which has been running in that seaside town since 2009.

It's the brainchild of Paul Cockgrove who runs The White Bus, a Southend-based film production company.

The programme each year is a real mixed bag.

New independent films, world cinema, documentaries, classic movies and a strong emphasis on local filmmaking.

We were there, of course, for the newly restored A Taste of Money, and it was, I believe, the first big screen showing of the film.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Welcome to the 18th South End of

That national treasure was Noel Cronin, the man behind everybody's favourite TV channel, Talking Pictures TV, and that film was one that had been unavailable to see anywhere until Noel recently rescued it from obscurity and showed it on Talking Pictures, a taste of money from 1960.

The film was produced by the renowned Danzigers, a pair of enterprising brothers from New York who came to the UK in the 1950s and made a lot of films and TV series.

TV series.

TV serieses.

Whatever.

They were known, perhaps even notorious, for working with very tight budgets but managed to produce a wealth of decent, if not exactly awe-inspiring films and telly.

A Taste of Money was directed by Max Varnell and stars 75-year-old Jean Caddell, a well-known stage actress of her day and grandmother of Simon and Selina, as Miss Brill, a dear, sweet little old lady with some hidden criminal tendencies.

After some drunken shenanigans in a disreputable Soho dive bar, is there any other type? Miss Brill teams up with a fiendish crook known as Frank Fingernails Morrissey, played by Dick Emery, to carry out a daring robbery.

After the screening of A Taste of Money at Southend's Palace Hotel, there was a special event, an audience with Noel Cronin, at which he took questions from the audience and spoke about his life and career.

After that, I bundled him off to a side room to talk about the film, The Danziger Brothers and Talking Pictures TV.

I had hoped to make the conversation with Noel a three-way and invited Dick Emery's son, Nick Emery, to join us down the line.

Alas, Nick was tied up doing some voice work so I was unable to attend, but I did manage to get together with him online a week or so later to talk about his father and his legacy.

That conversation with Nick is in the second half of the show, but...

Before that, come with me on a train to the English

seaside.

That's where we're going.

Southend Central.

Let's go.

The Southend-on-Sea Film Festival is an annual event which has been running in that seaside town since 2009.

It's the brainchild of Paul Cockgrove who runs The White Bus, a Southend-based film production company.

The programme each year is a real mixed bag.

New independent films, world cinema, documentaries, classic movies and a strong emphasis on local filmmaking.

We were there, of course, for the newly restored A Taste of Money, and it was, I believe, the first big screen showing of the film.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Welcome to the 18th South End of