A charming and ambitious young man finds many ways to raise himself through the ranks in business and social standing - some honest, some not quite so. If he can just manage to avoid a certain very predatory woman.

Alec Guinness
as Edward Henry 'Denry' Machin

Glynis Johns
as Ruth Earp

Valerie Hobson
as Countess of Chell

Petula Clark
as Nellie Cotterill

Edward Chapman
as Mr. Duncalf

Veronica Turleigh
as Mrs. Machin

George Devine
as Mr. Calvert

Joan Hickson
as Mrs. Codleyn

Frank Pettingell
as Police Superintendent

Gibb McLaughlin
as Emery
CinemaSerf
Ronald Name has done quite a good job turning Arnold Bennett's amiable rags-to-riches tale into a throughly watchable film. Alec Guinness ("Denry" - an amalgam of Edward and Henry) is the aspiring son of a lowly washerwoman (Veronica Turleigh). Determined to better his lot, he happens upon the walle...