Ten Movies I Want to See: The Wrong Box

The Wrong Box is one of those movies I've seen bits and pieces of over the years. It's the kind of thing that would run on the daytime, not at night, because it was British and not American. I'd turn on the TV, see a few minutes, and then get distracted, making a note to myself to watch the thing properly some day. And then it stopped showing up on TV.

The plot, based on a Robert Louis Stevenson story, is about a very real thing that could create very surreal situations: the Tontine.

A Tontine is like a combination insurance policy, investment scheme, and Russian Roulette. A group of people chip in their money, and the last one alive takes everything.

In this case, it's Victorian England (Tontines are now illegal, for obvious reasons), and the Tontine is down to its last two elderly members. Now their respective heirs have to make sure their own Tontine member lives the longest. Or make it look like they do.

The potential for farce is limitless, the cast is amazing (Peter Sellers' brief appearance alone is said to be worth the price of admission), and the DVD is not out there yet.

I hope they get around to it. No one lives forever.