Treasure Hunt – 1952 | 79 mins | Comedy | B&W

Plot Synopsis

Minor farce written and produced by Anatole de Grunwald and adapted from the stage play by M J Farrell and John Perry. The story is set in an Irish mansion where paying guests are welcomed to help restore the family fortunes, but whilst the film manages to capture much of the plays eccentric charm the actual plot is threadbare and predictable.

When Sir Roderick Ryall passes away his family gather at the ancestral Irish mansion for the reading of the will. The eccentric family discover that once the outstanding debts are paid there’ll be nothing left, and family doctor, Walsh (Miles Malleson) suggests they take in paying guests to remain solvent.

The childlike and roguish Uncle Hercules (Jimmy Edwards) and Consuelo (Athene Seyler) fiercely oppose the idea, but Philip (Brian Worth) is intractable on the subject and employs Mary O’Leary (Susan Stephen) as housekeeper and places an advert is Horse and Hound. Hercules and Consuelo hatch a plan to sabotage’s the money making scheme by making the home a living hell for the English guests; Eustace Mills (Naunton Wayne), Mrs. Cleghorn-Thomas (June Clyde) and daughter Yvonne (Mara Lane). Throughout, the family’s kooky Aunt Anna Rose (Martita Hunt) maintains she has mislaid a fortune in jewels – but due to her eccentric behaviour the impoverish family dismiss her claims as the rantings of a madcap fantasist.