The Smallest Show on Earth is a gentle, frequently uproarious takeoff of Britain's neighborhood-cinema industry. Real-life husband and wife Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna star as Matt and Jean Spencer, a middle-class couple who inherit a decrepit movie house in a tiny railroad whistle stop. They also inherit the theater's ancient, doddering employees: bibulous ticket-taker Percy Quill (Peter Sellers), former silent-movie accompanist Mrs. Fazackalee (Margaret Rutherford) and doorman/janitor old Tom (Bernard Miles). Making ...
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The Smallest Show on Earth is a gentle, frequently uproarious takeoff of Britain's neighborhood-cinema industry. Real-life husband and wife Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna star as Matt and Jean Spencer, a middle-class couple who inherit a decrepit movie house in a tiny railroad whistle stop. They also inherit the theater's ancient, doddering employees: bibulous ticket-taker Percy Quill (Peter Sellers), former silent-movie accompanist Mrs. Fazackalee (Margaret Rutherford) and doorman/janitor old Tom (Bernard Miles). Making the best of things, the Spencers set up shop going through the usual travails of small-time cinema owners: substandard projection and sound reproduction, a dismal selection of films (all they can afford is American B-Westerns), and sundry mishaps with the audience. Just when they're about to write off the theater as a loss, crafty old Tom comes up with an underhanded but effective method to allow the Spencers to make a huge profit on their shaky enterprise. Though chock full of entertaining vignettes, the best and most poignant scene in The Smallest Show on Earth finds the three elderly employees tearfully reveling in a nostalgic screening of the 1924 silent film Comin' Thro' the Rye. Hal Erickson, Rovi
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Add this copy of The Smallest Show on Earth to cart. $19.01, new condition, Sold by newtownvideo rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from huntingdon valley, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Starry Night Video.
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Peter Sellers, Virginia McKenna, Bill Travers, Margaret Rutherford, Bernard Miles, Francis De Wolff. New. Run time: 80. Buy with confidence-Satisfaction Guaranteed! Delivery Confirmation included for all orders in the US.
Add this copy of The Smallest Show on Earth to cart. $29.99, new condition, Sold by itswinwinwithdon rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NORTH PORT, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2003.
The first time I ever saw this film was in the early 1950's,when I was an eight year old,and it has stuck in my memory ever since.A couple get left a very old cinema with some extremely old staff in it,who seem to have always been there.To start with they wonder about selling to there rival in a very modern cinema, who wants to pull it down, and use the site for a car park, but that would leave their staff without any work, or money to live on, so they decide to open the place, and run it.
Well lots of things happen, as you can imagine with Peter Sellers being in the cast. I personally think it is the best role I have ever seen Peter Sellers in, he plays the projectionist ,he keeps getting drunk.In the end they decide to sell it to the rival,and the doorman hears them saying that going to have to sell up,as they are broke,the doorman burns down the rivals place so that the rival wil have give them a lot of money so that he can stay in business while his place is being rebuilt,and also so that the old staff can have some money too.
It really is a great film hence the 5 stars*****.
Henry N
Sep 15, 2011
Always funny
I have enjoyed this movie from the first time I saw it. I recommend this to anyone who finds the old ways fun.
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