Die kleinste Schau der Welt (1957) Online

I am happy to read all the kudos from other film buffs for this little gemstone of a movie. It will seem corny and boring to those brought up on Hollywood in the past 30 years but if they would open up their minds to dry humor and sweetness there is much to enjoy in 'The Smallest Show on Earth.' First off the cast are top-drawer English comedians that are now extinct, sadly. Margaret Rutherford, Bernard Miles and Peter Sellars crown the story with their three highly eccentric and touching portrayals of the old hands at The Bijou, better known as The Flea Pit, an old opera house turned "Kinema". Bernard Miles, especially, gives a highly subtle and often moving portrayal of an aging janitor who lives on for a new uniform. Nowadays he'd be tossed in a home to rot, suffering from "dementia" or some such thing the medical profession has created to niche people for more convenient disposal. But in the days of the making of this movie people like old Tom (Miles) were allowed to continue with their lives, dotty as could be, but happy and earning a living, happy with his cats and his new uniform.

The "straight" couple, the new owners of the Flea Pit, are wonderfully done by the very handsome and under-rated Bill Travers and his real-life wife Virginia McKenna. Travers had the timing sense of Cary Grant, and was much better looking into the bargain. At 6'6" tall he had an engagingly masculine yet vulnerable way about him. He and McKenna have some of the cornier lines and the jokiness can be a bit "eye-rolling" but aside from that period humor this movie is filled with a dry wit that has always been beyond the abilities of Hollywood screen-writers to pen.

There is one scene in particular that sticks in the mind. The three old hands are alone at night in the old theatre. A silent film is playing, Mrs Fazackalee (Rutherford) is at the tinny old piano in the orchestra pit, Old Tom (Miles) is sitting with his cat in the front row. Mr Quill (Sellars) is in the control booth. Only Sellars speaks briefly to the new owners as they arrive upon the scene, lost in the "old days" of the kinema. Just the sight of Rutherford at the piano improvising music to the old love story on the screen, and Miles and his cat in the front row is enough to evoke tears. Longing for lost innocence I suppose.

This movie is loaded with a high humor, no vulgarity, sex or profanity comes into it. A very memorable little film that is long overdue for release on DVD. I was lucky enough to find a good quality VHS copy at Facets in Chicago in case anyone's had trouble rounding up a copy. An excellent miniature masterpiece portraying a more innocent and lovely period of time in our benighted 20th century.

'THE SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH' may not have been exactly that since there were certainly smaller, but it was a case of a fictional small "electric theatre" (the once British way of differentiating a movie theatre from a legitimate theatre or 'music hall,' as they designated their version of the American vaudeville). This delightful British film is as heart warming and sometimes hilarious as the other reviewers here describe, but it is the wonderful interaction between the story, the sets, and the actors that balance the film and make it a classic. This 19th century 'kinema' was styled in the manner of the traditional British 'music hall' of live performers, but held early projection equipment (hence the double entendre about projectionist Peter Sellers' 'equipment.') Such asides will be over the heads of the kiddies, but the pleasant pacing and careful dialogue of the actors will please the adults for whom this comedy is intended.

The story of a young couple inheriting a cinema and finding that it is not quite the money-maker they imagined would have been prosaic were it not for the clever settings and the three fossils who maintained the old "Bijou" (French for 'jewel'). If it were ever a jewel, it had lost its luster as the years passed and patrons flocked to the newer nearby movie palace, the "Grand." Desperate to keep their jobs, the 'fossils' (veteran scene-stealers: Peter Sellers, Margaret Rutherford, and Bernard Miles) took pains to refresh the old place to please new owner Bill Travers, a too seldom used actor of mild presence but uniquely suited to this role. The character of the Bijou's "commissionaire" (doorman, janitor, and boiler keeper) Miles in the end tries too hard and creates the only jarring note in the film, which is otherwise tender and memorable. The device of having latter day elevated trains roar past the cinema was inspired and created some memorable scenes, as when the building shakes to the slow start up of the train, or when Bill Travers' character is almost rattled off the ladder as he attempts to relight the old roof sign. There are many wonderful sight gags and other fine bits that one will long remember.

For those who also like old theatres, it may be of interest to know that the exterior of the Bijou was actually a set created at the meeting of two existing elevated train bridges on Christchurch Ave. at the Kilburn LT station in London. The interior was also a set, but so well done that you would swear that you were in a real 19th century 'opera house.' The design is thought to be derived from the real Palace of Varieties at Camberwell. The movie palace with the pipe organ - "the Grand" - was actually the Gaumont Palace (later the Odeon, now Apollo) in Hammersmith, London. And the use of the fictional name of "Sloughborough" for the town is another little joke since it means 'low place or mire.' These details can be confirmed in the journal of the British "Cinema Theatre Association's" magazine "PICTURE HOUSE," No. 19, Winter 93-94, pages 37 and 38, (where there are photos in this and the previous issue) furnished to this reviewer courtesy of Mr. Brian J. Hall of England.

One reviewer said that the only flaw was that the story was too short and I must concur in that, and that is the only real flaw I can find in the film as well. There is a difficulty, however, in appreciating the quality of the film from the most common versions of the VHS-NTSC format videos now available. IMDB/Amazon lists two ASIN numbers of versions made by the same French Canadian firm, Madacy, which produced them in EP speed, rather than the usual SP speed that allows for quality. Since Amazon never indicates the speed of a tape, I cannot tell if their third variation produced by 'VCI Classics (American Prudential)' is also in this slow speed of poor quality. Not only is the image poor, but the sound is downright difficult to understand! Amazon's sister company, The Internet Movie Data Base, now lists two CD versions about to be released, and we can but hope that they were made from restored masters and are the pleasure that the original film is.

P.S.: Two years before the movie "Majestic" (starring Jim Carrey) debuted, the director wrote on the THEATRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY'S web site that he was searching for information about historic theatres for his forthcoming unnamed movie. This reviewer responded with information and said that the description of it he gave sounded something like "The Smallest Show on Earth." He responded that he was amazed that anyone remembered the 1956 British film, but that it was indeed an inspiration for his movie. Look closely at the lobby in "Majestic" and you will see it clearly resembles that in the 'Bijou,' even if the facades were much different. These films turned out very differently, but at least the architecture rewards lovers of theatres

The younger generation of filmgoers, used to the antiseptic cleanliness of the multiplexes, may not realise that "fleapits" like the Bijou in "The Smallest Show On Earth" did actually exist in post-war Britain. Starved of resources during the war and with restrictions on non-essential building in force until the mid fifties, many small cinemas were in a very sorry state with broken seats, threadbare carpets, antiquated projection equipment and even torn and patched screens.

It is against this background that this charming comedy is set with wonderfully eccentric characters played by Peter Sellers, Margaret Rutherford and Bernard Miles.

The principal character is, however, the Bijou itself. This was a set, the exterior having been temporarily constructed between two railway bridges in Kilburn, a London suburb. The rival cinema, the Grand, was, in fact, a real cinema - the Gaumont at Hammersmith, also a London suburb. If you look closely, it is possible to see that the new name is rather clumsily superimposed.

To someone brought up in the fifties, this film brings back fond memories. To the younger viewers it gives an intriguing glimpse into the past by showing a way of life gone forever.

This film is one of my favourites because fifty years ago I was a young projectionists in a small cinema in the East Midlands, England. My future wife, was also a projectionist there (this was just after World War II, and the men were still away in the forces) and was where we met. I later became a movie house manager for several years before leaving the business with the advent of TV. Although it was hilarious the film hit the nail on the head with many home truths. The projectionist and the cashier were always rivals and vied for positions of authority. I knew many projectionists who were fond of the bottle. The way the show was kept running in all adversities was also typical of real life in a small "flea pit". A great film of days that used to be ! Incidentally my wife and I celebrated our golden wedding two years ago, and we did our courting at the movies on our days off.

Who hasn't seen a forlorn, forgotten little neighborhood theatre and fantasized about reopening it, and making it work? For Jean and Matt, though, who have no options after starting over in a strange city, it becomes a necessity. The hopeless crusade becomes the kind of poignant-yet-hilarious stuff that makes for an unforgettable film. Margaret Rutherford, Peter Sellers and Bernard Miles, as the former staff members recalled from retirement, have a magical scene together in the Bijou's darkened auditorium one night after closing time, recalling the old days with a silent film and the disused piano. Great stuff. I only wish the film was longer.

A delightful story of a young couple that inherit The Bijou -- a broken down movie theater -- and against their wishes make a go of it.

Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers play Jean and Matt -- the young couple.

I was familiar with Ms McKenna's work but Bill Travers was new to me.

He has a wonderful Laurence Olivier air about him and is very appealing as an actor. His only other film that I am at all familiar with was "Born Free."

I was half way through the film before I realized that Percy Quill the projectionist with a drinking problem was Peter Sellers. Even though he was about 32 when the film was released he plays a little old man -- and superbly.

The wonderful character actress Margaret Rutherford, who made a career out of playing Miss Marple, is absolutely enchanting as the somewhat dotty Mrs. Fazackalee.

Why are old, somewhat crazy men in British films always named Tom? For whatever reason, Bernard Mills as Old Tom is quite a piece of work. A tendency to take things a little to literally is what drives his character -- that and the fact he is pretty much nuts.

It seems like many British films from this period look very much like filmed plays -- which this movie very definitely did.

Unfortunately the print that I saw for this film was in nearly as bad a shape as the movies being shown at "The Bijou." A good reason for more and better film restoration -- even for the films that we do not always think of as classics.

It seems to me that in recent years most filmmakers believe that to hold a viewer's interest a film must be fast-paced, full of conflict, and in short "edgy". The British comedies from the this time are leisurely paced, and work extraordinarily well because they are full of wit, first-class acting, and not a small dose of irony. For me, "The Smallest Show on Earth" is a "sleeper". In the US I suspect it is lesser known than "The Mouse that Roared" and some of the wonderful Alec Guinness comedies; but I find its' gentility and droll humor to be wonderful! (I would also add that I think that it's a shame Peter Sellers - who has a marvelous supporting role as a doddering projectionist - is best known to moviegoers in the US from his Pink Panther movies, which I think were mostly a waste of his prodigious talents.)

Husband-and-wife team Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna play a newly married couple who inherit a dilapidated cinema (and its elderly, incompetent and equally dilapidated staff), and try to restore it to something like it's original glory. However they soon discover that it's not going to be as easy as perhaps they first thought. There is competition from a huge modern cinema just across the street, which is in need of a car-park. The site of the old "Bijou" would be just the thing.

This is a terrific comedy (written by Basil Dearden), and features Peter Sellers, Margaret Rutherford, Bernard Miles as the cinema staff, and Leslie Phillips as the Bijou owner's solicitor.

Any American, or indeed any youngster, watching this movie might be slightly bemused, and consider it all a bit implausible. I can tell them that it's not, and so can any Brit over a certain age. When this film was made, every town in the UK had a "flea-pit" (i.e. it's very own "Bijou"). In the town in which I was raised, it was called "The Select".

Events depicted in this movie happened at these cinemas on a regular basis. The films shown were usually as decrepit as the cinema itself. (In the case of the "Select" they were usually the awful B&W "horror" movies which no other theatre would show. If the film didn't break at least once, or a reel was put on the projector in time, and/or was not in the wrong order, you were there on a lucky night.) For all of us of the age, to re-watch this little memorial to the old flea-pit, is a real nostalgic blast from the past, and I defy any newcomers to the movie, not to warm to it, either from it's occasional pathos and/or it's hilarious comedy. So go on, take my advice, have a good scratch, and watch it. The film may be fiction, but what you see actually happened!

This film starts off with a young couple inheriting from an uncle long forgotten. An old theatre named the "Bijou" but known to the locals as the "flea pit" starts the fun. Apart from a closed decaying building, the couple also inherit three old eccentric people who are the employees of the Bijou. Not to be left out is the nefarious owner of the town's other theatre house who wants the valuable land under the Bijou for expansion. The young couple reopen the old theatre to an array of problems. You actually begin to "root" for the employees and couple to keep the old theatre going. Ingenuity is upmost in "bringing" and "keeping" paying customers. These attempts are both amusing and creative and makes this film worth watching.

By some chance i watched this film yesterday morning,and in the afternoon i drove past the spot in Kilburn where the exterior had been constructed on my way to an organ concert at the Gaumont State Kilburn.I also passed the site of the Classic Kilburn,now a petrol station,which was the sort of cinema epitomised by "The Bijou".In the 1950s,when the film was made,there were a lot of cinemas,or flea pits as we called them like "The Bijou".Mainly surviving on revivals of old films.The Classic chain in particular.I loved these old cinemas,and although they were not as rundown as "the Bijou" they still had seen better days.Unfortunately many of these cinemas were located in high streets and thus were prime targets for the newly emerging phenomenon of supermarkets.So not only is this film a comedic masterpiece but to me it is a warm reminder of the passing of these marvelous places.

What can I possibly add to previous comments? Margaret Rutherford is my all-time favourite British film actress. (Favourite American is Betty Grable - but that's another story!) To see Margaret teamed with Peter Sellers and Bernard Miles is an absolute joy. That cowboy scene, with Peter clutching the projector to stop the picture juddering, and the audience going wild in the aisles, is itself worthy of an Oscar.

In honour of this excellent film, I named my first 'home cinema' in 1965 the Bijou Kinema. (My local picture-house in Dundee was the only real one I knew to use this description - the Royalty Kinema. I now have the exterior stills board on display at home.) Actually, my 8-seater wasn't at home but in the basement of my business premises, housing 16mm and 35mm movie projectors. Bliss! Many a time has Margaret Rutherford appeared on that screen, in "Missing Believed Married" and "Castle in the Air".

Sorry, this is not exactly a comment on "The Smallest Show on Earth", but when I think of that film I come over all nostalgic!

I saw this film on DVD. It was part of a package of 50 old films - it hadn't been restored and appeared much older than its 50 years. I had trouble reading the titles and credits.

What ever happened to all those old cinemas? This is one of them. In one scene the projectionist is having a horrid time and the film burns causing a "melt" before the audience. I experienced this at a local theatre in Papua New Guinea and it took me right back. And how the audience would tolerate it. Well sort of.

The scene where the three old codgers watch a silent film is very touching. In fact, I thought this would surface again in the film but it didn't.

It was delightful. The ending is not your stereotypical Hollywood film that we accept as the norm.

If you can get this film - it is well worth the watch.

A struggling novelist and his wife inherit a 'fleapit' cinema in an Midlands glue-manufacturing town, which shudders to its foundations every time an express train passes. Abetted by an alcoholic projectionist, genteel cashier and doddering odd job man, they defy the wiles of a rival picture palace proprietor.

Basil Dearden's versatility makes his directorial career somewhat of a mystery, like John Huston's. Beginning as cutter and technical assistant to the great Will Hay, he progressed through 'issue' movies ( 'Frieda', the colossally influential 'Blue Lamp', 'Sapphire', 'Victim') into action blockbusters, and before his untimely death brought off a handsome, deft comedy thriller, 'The Assassination Bureau'. Otherwise he was not much noted for laughs, and 'The Smallest Show on Earth' came after a spell taking joint credit in the chair with his producing partner Michael Relph; so perhaps it is more heartfelt than most films Dearden signed.

Certainly it now seems doubly nostalgic. Within the narrative, the elderly staff hark back to the dear dead days of silent movies; yet the one they replay, Cecil Hepworth's remake of 'Coming Through the Rye', was only as far back in their time as 'The Godfather' in ours. The film's present day, 1957, is way back from ours: a time of steam trains, family firms of solicitors and all-white hooligans who wear collars and ties, when old people could safely walk home from work after dark.

But it was also an era when the telly (never mentioned as a rival here) was draining all cinemas, not just the Bijoux, of patrons. Their sites were being ravaged for supermarkets and bingo halls. The only danger in this story is that the Grand will snap up the site as a car park. In the end the tables are turned, and the Bijou's inheritors depart to Samarkand with £10,000 (say £166,000/$300,000 in today's money) after a plot development which unfortunately is neither plausible nor morally creditable.

That apart, the tone of gentle and graceful fun is maintained smoothly, with little slapstick or mugging on the part of the rich supporting cast. Sellers, 32, who had been off the big screen for two years, draws on his 'Willum' character in 'The Goons' for the tippling projectionist; Dame Margaret Rutherford, likewise absent for a while, is an endearing grande dame and as usual procures a tiny part for her husband, Stringer Davis; and the future Lord Miles, aged 50, bumbles about octogenarianishly as old Tom. Leslie Phillips, two years before 'Carry On Nurse' redefined him as a Lothario, is a friendly local lawyer. Sid James, then riding high as Tony Hancock's foil on TV, is against type in a cameo as the aggrieved father of the Bijou's enceinte usherette, wrongly suspecting Bill Travers.

Which brings us to the faintly anodyne central couple. It's customary in comedy for such as these to 'stand in' for the audience itself, guiding its reactions to the grotesques that encircle them. Bill and Virginia are as bland and bourgeois as anyone could ask, but in her jut-jawed resolution and his moments of putting his foot down there are hints of steel. Alas, a few years later 'Born Free', lions and conservation derailed both their careers. The reviewer who compared Travers with Cary Grant in his ability to convey exasperation and helplessness while remaining, at bottom, in control of the audience was not overstating the case. (Kenneth More, Travers's Fifties contemporary, was showing the same skill more consistently and genially in 'The Admirable Crichton'.)

The picture is beautifully art-directed. Mr Quill's wheezing projection gear, Mrs Fazackalee's cubby hole and old Tom's rusted radiators are evocative. The script packs in every gag about poverty-row Electric Theatre operations: the audience barracks and accompanies the action of the cheap westerns on screen, snogs in the back row, gasps for soft drinks during scenes set in the desert and stampedes for the exit before the National Anthem. Then there are the sight gags of a performance going wrong every which way under Travers's prentice hand, which top 'Singin' in the Rain'.

Too many British cinemas of the period were like the Bijou. Consciously or not, Dearden was writing the epitaph of his industry. Within a few years, not only would most small towns lack a picture palace, but the production end would be as Americanised as the Bijou's procession of oaters.

Dearden was an Ealing Studios alumnus. Ealing perished the year 'The Smallest Show on Earth' was released, but something of its spirit lingers in this 'Titfield Thunderbolt' redivivus: one of the very rare movies about how movies are screened.

Going to the cinema today is virtually a hands off experience.You can book your ticket online(don't even try to explain that to Miss Fazackerley)walk into a building the size (and with all the charm of)a missile silo,that contains a dozen screening rooms sited off long twisting passages,go to your numbered seat with a pre-ordered drink and watch in vain for that little dot in the corner of the screen that warned you of a reel change because there isn't going to be one.There won't be a second feature either and it will cost you the equivalent of a week's wages in 1957 for popcorn and orange juice for two. It won't be run by a charming young couple who address you by name and ask if you enjoyed the picture,and if you offered half a dozen eggs and a tub of home made butter as payment you'd soon be ringing for someone to raise your bail. This is our Brave New World.We have ended up with the cinemas we deserve. For those of you who wish it wasn't so let me present....."The Smallest Show on Earth". Have you noticed you never seem to see any really old people any more? What have they done with them?I'm 65 it might not be long before I get the knock on the door in the middle of the night. Back in 1957 old people could still walk the streets without looking over their shoulder for some member of the "Social Work Support Team" who might be waiting to throw them into an unmarked van. The three real stars of this film are all portraying really old people. They are not perpetually cheerful and whistling in all difficulties,they creak and groan and probably niff a bit but they are wonderfully and cantankerously alive.Miss Margaret Rutherford was,of course,completely potty and one of the best-loved characters in British film.As the cashier,Miss Fazackerley,she walks away with the movie. It is one of the great comedy performances,combining comedic brilliance with true compassion.All her bits of "business" are beautifully observed in a masterclass of character acting.Mr Peter Sellers,playing a man 40 years older than his real age,must have learned a lot from her. Mr Bernard Miles,himself relatively young,was more used than Mr Sellers to ageing up,and,to be honest,was a bit more convincing. I have always thought that the late Mr Bill Travers resembled Rock Hudson more than Cary Grant,certainly from a physical point of view. He was very charming and handsome with a pleasing light touch.He and his wife Miss Virginia McKenna play the couple who inherit the decrepit cinema.Quietly clever,loyal,devastatingly beautiful,stubborn and kind - hearted,she has that quintessentially English look.Her staff all fall in love with her immediately. The passing of nearly 50 years has served only to add further piquancy to this near masterpiece.Full of gentle humour and deft touches,it is an object lesson in how ,quietly and modestly,to produce a film that,half a century on is still gaining admirers.

The other comments about this film are all positive - mine continues the unanimity. Worth the discounted price of most bargain-bins if you wanna buy your own copy. Definitely worth the time if shown on TV. A British town has two theatres. A husband inherits the loser of the pair and initially intends to sell it to the owner of the other. After all, what does HE know about operating a theatre? Plus, he could convert his newly-acquired real estate into cash. But the other owner offers so little bucks that the husband hangs on to his "Flea Pit", actually reopening it, using the same three ancient staffers who have worked there for decades. Innovations even the competition considerably, although funny and pathetic tribulations occur along the way. That dry, English humor punctuates this movie. Part of the finale, however, is a bit unsavory. It's relieving to read that others, too, enjoyed his flick. Therefore, my liking it might not be solely a reflection of the facts that my grandfather was a projectionist and some of my fondest childhood memories are of accompanying him to work in the 60s and late 50s. Unlike Peter Sellers in this movie, I can assure you that my relative was responsible with the booze.

Imagine inheriting an entire estate and finding it consists of a run-down fleapit cinema just under a railway line! That's exactly what happens to Matt and Jean Spencer (Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna)when they receive a letter from the solicitor dealing with a long-forgotten great-uncle's estate.

With the beautiful and bizarre Bijou cinema taking centre stage, and its three odd employees (the wonderful Margaret Rutherford as Mrs Fazackalee; Peter Sellers as drunken projectionist Quill; and Bernard Miles as daft doorman Old Tom) livening up the proceedings with their eccentricity, the stage is set for a British movie with a warm heart and a genuine love of the silver screen.

With Leslie Phillips as solicitor Robin, Francis de Wolff as the rival cinema owner Hardcastle, and Sid James as one of his trademark wideboy characters, this film is a treat from beginning to end. Of particular note is the scene where the three long-term Bijou workers watch silent films when the audience has gone home - magical!

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!

Character actors never come as grand and as enigmatic as the late Peter Sellers (1925 - 1980) whose greatest mainstream movie achievement would have to be the now legendary Pink Panther series. During too, the radio days of the nineteen-fifties in The Goon Show, with the late Spike Milligan (1918 - 2002) and Sir Harry Secombe (1921 - 2001).

What was to be just one of four movies during 1957 by Peter Sellers, The Smallest Show on Earth here is his instalment in the persona of one not so young cinema projectionist Mr. Quill. By this time, he had already done the Ealing Studio classic The Ladykillers (1955), and this relatively small part in this 80-minute timepiece is of no exception.

This charming little fable, via British Lion Films Limited, finds that quite unexpectedly modern and middle class couple Jean (Virginia McKenna) and Matt's (Bill Travers; 1922 - 1994) lives are about to change. She the doting housewife and he the up and coming novelist, receiving good news, they have become soul heirs to Matt's late uncle's cinema, the Bijou, literally meaning small and fashionable. It is in this tiny tale, and being told in the past tense, that the trip to the north of England has these dreamy pair coming straight back down to earth with much complication and bewilderment abound.

They seem almost inseparable in their careers, having worked together in some eleven movies such as Born Free (1966), Ring of Bright Water (1969), The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957) and The Belstone Fox (1973). With a tiny, blink and you'll miss him, bit part from one Sidney James (1913 - 1976) and fine co-starring from a very young and talented Leslie Phillips (B: 1924) as Robin, the mediator and solicitor Robin bringing a little sanity to the proceedings.

The Smallest Show on Earth is a petite story that draws the line between the cinemas of the classic silent movie era and its constant struggle to adapt, and the inevitable onslaught of mass commercialism of the cinemas that have now grown into franchisees and chains. It is also the advent of the television that is ironically the main competitor for this new wave of Cinema in this 1957 movie. The tide of technological advancement waits for no one, sadly for the Bijou, its days, its old and tired staff and apparatus, and its movies, are now part and parcel of glories past.

The coupling of the great and funny Margaret Rutherford (1892 - 1972) as the ticket and ice-cream seller, along with Bernard Miles (1907 - 1991) as Old Tom the ticket collector, with Peter Sellers is a fine and magnificent move, set against the seriousness of the couple from afar, these old nemeses with their differing standards set the humour and pace. Their comic bickering, nitpicking and constant, but harmless, backbiting toward one another are as sentimental and proud as is both their respect and fondness for this run down, clapped out old flea pit of a cinema, that all three have now become fully integrated, not with, but as the furniture.

This is a truly heart-warming story, of the old romantic bygone age of the silent screen, the people who have been there and the realisation of the changing times. It's in the eyes of this young couple that the story has most effect, their City way's clashing against rustic and nostalgia's past, and their slowing fondness and respect for the peoples who still remain.

This was a very good movie. I am a huge fan of Peter Sellers (unfortunatly this wasn't a main role for him as suggested by the newer DVD case). Although he was an excellent supporting role/extra do not watch this movie expecting him to be the main character as I did the first time watching it. The movie had humorous situations and clever one liners. Virginia McKenna, who played Jean, was very funny and an excellent compliment to Bill Travers who plays Matt. The movie is also black and white (another aspect that I was not expecting but probably should have realized). This is a nice light comedy that is fun to watch with friends or on a date. It kept me entertained but was slower moving than more modern films. That is not to say that it dragged anywhere but I did have time to get up several times and grab food or whatnot. All in all a movie I would recommend if you like the kind of movie that Peter Sellers is normally in

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.

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.

Although William Rose's screenplay telegraphs every plot move in advance, and then wastes time by allowing the screen characters to catch up and tediously convince themselves to take this obvious course of action, the movie partly makes up for this defect by clever casting. True, the main roles are held down more than adequately by Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, but it's the support cast led by Margaret Rutherford, Peter Sellers and Francis de Wolff, that really make "The Smallest Show" the delightful excursion that it is! Sid James is on hand too, although his appearance is disappointingly brief. Fortunately, we do see a bit of June Cunningham - although it would have been really nice to see a whole lot more! Of course, the real star of the picture is the Bijou, a wonderfully rundown picture "palace" if ever there was one! It didn't exist in real life, alas, but was all cleverly constructed in the studio. However, real locations were used in other sequences. In all, art director Allan Harris is to be congratulated.

When young marrieds Virginia MacKenna and Bill Travers (the real-life married couple, best known for "Born Free") are bequeathed a dilapidated cinema, they plan to sell it to a local mega-cinema magnate who wants to turn it into a parking lot for his "Grand" right across the street. But when they realize that he's decreased his offer, thinking they are too scared to fight him, they plan to make him up his offer by making him think they are re-opening it. Travers' deceased great uncle left behind a staff probably too long in the tooth to work, but out of loyalty, they keep them on. When word gets out of the deception, the couple decide "what the heck..." and re-open it anyway, leading to humorous circumstances and complications for their rival.

A sweet and affectionate tribute to the "mom and pop" owners of small businesses threatened by corporate chain owners, this is a must for film history buffs. MacKenna and Travers are extremely likable, and they will have you rooting for them from the moment Travers finds out that he's been given the major bequest in his great-uncle's will. Margaret Rutherford is given the opportunity to loose the eccentricity so prevalent in her other roles (especially the very tweedy Miss Marple) and plays a rather sour-faced ticket taker. Bernard Miles, as the sarcastic handyman/usher, is delightfully droll, and you won't even recognize Peter Sellers as the alcoholic projectionist who promises to quit drinking forever once the theater actually prepares to re-open. Francis De Wolff combines the personalities of every classic movie evil businessman with his phoniness and condescention to the young couple.

The screenplay is very direct, and in spite of the possibility of potential sappiness, the script never goes there, and sticks to a very simple mood. Sexy June Cunningham is amusing in her brief role as the voluptuous ice cream girl Travers hires after finding all the local boys fighting over her. A very amusing scene has the theater temperature raised to the highest it can go during the showing of a desert movie and the women rushing in immediately afterwards to serve cold beverages. The result is a simply told tale of the small fish taking on the big bully fish and coming out of it without being fried.

I found this film a gentle comedy - it was quite funny, in a nostalgic way. The story was interesting and the characters quirky. I found it a very good watch. My favourite character was Mrs. Fazackalee, who is often referred to and I found myself giggling at the mention of her name, possibly due to the tone used when it was said?. Its hard to fully review this film other than to say its an old British comedy from the late 1950s and I enjoyed the story, finding it funny at numerous points, with an interesting variety of quirky characters - it has one or two morals about it which I liked and I would happily recommend this film to others.