The Smallest Show on Earth (1957)

Thanks for the memories!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Is the UK title of this very cute and old-fashioned 1957 comedy about a young couple who inherit a broken-down "Kinema" movie house that was owned by a distant eccentric relative. It stars the real-life couple from "Born Free" Also staring Peter Sellers and Margaret Rutherford with a great Marilyn Monroe wannabe as the new "refreshment Girl". There seems to be an element of sad truth to the fictional story about a post-war "Bijou" straining to compete with the shiny new Grand Theater across the street. A lot of fun with numerous sight-gags about film projection mishaps: Soundtrack backwards, film upside down or backwards, film spilling on the floor, sped up, etc. Some are technically not possible anymore, since conventional film switched from double to single sided sprockets when sound film came into use. (Nowadays it's all on a disc for the most part. ) A switch-in-fortunes when the fabulous Grand Theater mysteriously "catches afire". Who done it? Watch the movie and find out! Enjoy this on TCM during a Peter Sellers film festival.

Some films can be summed up in a single word. The one that best describes this is 'delightful'. There I've said it. Anything else is superfluous.Written by William Rose ( author of 'Genevieve' and 'The Ladykillers' amongst other classics ) and directed by Basil Dearden, it begins with a young couple - the Spensers ( Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna ) - who learn they have inherited a cinema in Sloughborough in the north of England. They assume they must be getting 'The Grand' ( it is the only cinema in the town ), but no, theirs is the 'Bijou', known by locals as the 'fleapit'. It is situated near a railway station so whenever trains fly past the building shakes as though an earthquake has hit it.The Grand's owner - tycoon Albert Hardcastle ( Francis De Wolff ) - wants the Bijou so he can knock it down and build a car park, but when he offers a paltry sum of money, the Spensers - acting on the advice of solicitor Robin Carter ( Leslie Phillips ) - re-open the place, re-hiring the original staff. A decrepit bunch they are too - Mrs.Fazackalee the cashier ( Margaret Rutherford ) Quill the alcoholic projectionist ( Peter Sellers ) and Old Tom the janitor/doorman ( Bernard Miles ).The cinema re-opens and, after a few difficulties, proves a great success. Hardcastle is unhappy about there being a rival on his doorstep so sets about clipping the Spensers' wings...'Smallest' is in the grand tradition of those lovely old British comedies in which people set about renovating something old and long forgotten and against all the odds succeed. In the Will Hay classic 'Oh Mr.Porter!' it was a railway station, here its a cinema. As 'Quill', Sellers is sublime, effectively re-using his 'William 'Mate' Cobblers' voice ( "You can't get the wood, you know!" ) from 'The Goon Show. Real life husband-and-wife Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna are good as the 'Spensers', and did a number of films together, most notably 'Born Free'. Margaret Rutherford's delightfully dotty 'Mrs.Fazackalee' anticipated her later - and more famous - role as 'Miss Marple'.Where the film also works is as a tribute to the golden age of cinema, in particular the Bijou's staff tearfully watching an old silent film ( while Mrs.Fazackalee plays the organ ).Sid James is fleetingly seen as the father of the ice cream girl Marlene. She has got herself pregnant and he is not happy about the situation.Funniest moment? When the Bijou shows a searing drama set in the desert, Old Tom adds to the viewing experience by turning up the heat. Hence the audience is just as parched as the poor guy in the movie. As soon as the interval arrives, there is a mad dash for refreshments!

The film begins with a young couple learning that they are the sole beneficiaries in a will for a relative they didn't know existed. Visions of great wealth and success dance in their minds, though it runs out all they really inherited was a broken down and debt-riddled old movie theater--along with three old people who work there. All is not lost, though, as they discover that a large and successful movie house nearby wants to buy their property. The problem is, since they know nothing about the business, the other theater is offering next to nothing to buy them out. So, to increase the value of their business, they decide to re-open the old place and thus force a better offer.While this movie DOES feature Peter Sellers as a supporting player, you should not rush out to see it because it's a "Peter Sellers Picture". That's because although he is in the film, you'd have a hard time noticing that this is the same Peter Sellers you're used to seeing, as his role is decidedly non-comedic. He is made up to look like a rumpled 60-something year-old man and he's fine in the role--but he is given nothing funny to say or do and Sellers plays the role very straight. Now this does not mean that this isn't an enjoyable film, though it's a very, very mild comedy with none of the silliness or quirkiness you might expect from a Sellers film.Don't expect the magic of an Ealing picture or a Sellers farce. This is just a cute little film about the foibles that develop as they try to make a go of it, though I must say the ending was pretty strange and didn't fit in well with the rest of the film. Decent acting and a likable but slight plot make it a nice little time-passer, but not a whole lot more.

I vote this movie 9/10 and I love it. I won't say anything about the plot or characters as it's all been said by now....but. If I had written this movie now, I think I would have had the 'Grand' burn down under other circumstances. Maybe a lightning strike starting a fire during a thunderstorm, or an electrical fire - anything except old Tom going out with a drum of fuel oil. A more dramatic ending could have been achieved under these circumstances, and it would also have spared the young couple agonizing with their conscience in their exit from the scene,which was hollow. The ending was definitely a bit tatty, but apart from that - excellent.