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:: The Smallest Show On Earth
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The Smallest Show On Earth
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THE SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH, the Bijou movie house, is well worth watching for its'lesson in what acting is all about.
The enigmatic title is the only puzzlement of the movie. Otherwise, you get entertainment the British plain acting way that only the British seem to know how to do it. "Smallest" is a simple, delightful plot of what might go wrong with the best laid plans of inheritance when the legatees need to put an over-the-hill movie house back in business to compete with an up-to-date rival. You are tenderly entertained, then, by the actors Rutherford, Sellers, and Bernard Miles who were former employees and a threesome tossed into the plot as part of the inheritance. Margaret Rutherford was the deceased's "courtesan" ticket-seller bookkeeper who found a way to keep the old theater operating by taking in, as admission ticket "money," chickens, eggs, and such bookkeeping entries. She also is wise to the dipsy sot up there in the projection booth, Peter Sellers. Despite his penchant for booze he manages to make the ancient projectionist equipment function; equipment manufactured and carried over from Tudor times I would guess. Sellers did not cotton well to Margaret Rutherford. His major complaint was her bad behavior, suggesting thus that the new owner ought to not sack
her, but could " . . . say something rude and nasty to her." Bernard Miles,urban relative of the village idiot, janitor and doorman aspired to continue working, but only if he could have a u-nee-form; one like the doorman in the competing movie house [with white gloves tucked under the left shouler epaulette, you see]. A good story also includes something inanimate object that actually plays a role. In this production, that "actor" is the thundering Britrail locomotive driven train that rattles the Bijou movie house, projection equipment and moviegoers, hilariously shaken--not stirred. The Bijou itself is a vestigial of Britain's lust for theater complete with organ that played musical strains for the silent movies, and a section in the back where young couples learned some of the facts of life. Theaters like this, originally opera houses and music halls, still exist in the Notting Hill section of London. Besides all of this location nostalgia, the characters are funny . . . gove'ner. The dvd duplicate is very good
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| Runtime: |
80 min |
| Genre: |
Comedy |
| Year produced: |
1957 |
| Cast: |
Virginia McKenna, Bill Travers, Margaret Rutherford, Peter Sellers, Bernard Miles |
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Rights: |
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For Sale Rights
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