Robert Louis Stevenson

The Wrong Box Robert Louis Stevenson

In the early 19th century, a lawyer explains to a group of young boys that a tontine has been organised in which £1,000 has been invested in the name of each child (£20,000 in total) and that the last survivor will win the accrued total of all invested sums. We then see a series of accidental deaths, explaining the demise of various members of the group. 63 years later, in Victorian London, elderly brothers Masterman (John Mills) and Joseph Finsbury (Ralph Richardson), who live next to each other, are the last surviving members of the tontine. Masterman is attended by his unpromising medical student grandson, Michael Finsbury (Michael Caine), who is sent next door to summon Joseph where he is greeted by his cousin Julia (Nanette Newman). They have seen each other often on the street and admired each other. She explains Joseph is in Bournemouth with her cousins. They talk in a room containing a large collection of eggs of different species.