Robert J. Maxwell From Kingsley Amis, through Brian Forbes, to Sidney Gilliat, this amusing tale of Peter Sellers as a librarian in a small Welsh town, who can win the competitive promotion to Chief Minister of Local Librarianship with the help of Mai Zetterling, the wife of the local power broker, can't help but hold the viewer's interest. Sellers is happily married to Virginia Maskell and has two lovely kiddies at home but he's vaguely discontent and, besides, Zetterling has the hots for him and looks just swell in the nude, as we see in a brief shot.Zetterling keeps coming on to him and they keep getting interrupted at awkward moments. But there's no question about it. All Sellers has to do is continue to make himself available and sooner or later the dirty deed will happen. Zetterling has done it before. She has a dejected former lover following her around, waiting despondently for orders like hold this doggie, get me my usual drink, and baby sit for the man I now want to seduce.This is 1962, sort of on the cusp. Sellers hasn't quite got the character down. He uses his familiar mannerisms and interjections -- "Yes, well, you see --" and "My darling." Except for one slapstick episode involving the early return of Zetterling's husband, he plays the role as blasé, a little anxious about everything but not quite anxious enough about any particular thing, like the possibility of promotion. Sometimes his speech sounds a little Welsh. And there are a few moments when the hint of a Hindi accent appears, which he was later to put to good use in "The Party" and the baccarat scene in "Casino Royale." The director has given Sellers his head in some scenes and he's as good as ever at improvisation.Zetterling is suitably provocative. Virginia Maskell, as Seller's wife, is industrious, sensible, and a stunning combination of sensuality and domesticity. Richard Attenborough has a hilarious stint as a celebrated local poet who is busy translating Kafka into Welsh and who has written a play in the bardic tradition with an unpronounceable Welsh title. Kenneth Griffith is diverting as the neural shambles who vomits when he's upset.The chief problem with the film could hardly have been avoided. It reflects the traditional values of the 1950s and unless we can accept that, it's liable to seem dated. Sellers could be Doris Day and Zetterling could be Rock Hudson. The ending is concordant with those values, with Sellers turning down the sneakily-gotten promotion and Zetterling's body because he doesn't want to be used. Hardly acceptable in today's ethical climate in which sleeping one's way to the top is no longer despicable but more or less taken for granted.If it's not a great comedy, it's a good one, and uses the customary elements of the British comedies of the 1950s -- black and white, small budget, fine cast.

ShadeGrenade 'Only Two Can Play' is my all-time favourite Peter Sellers picture. As well as being wonderfully funny, it has the added appeal for me of being partly filmed on locations I know well - they are just up the road from where I live! Based on Kingsley Amis' book 'That Uncertain Feeling', it was brought to the screen by writer Bryan Forbes and the formidable producer/director team of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat. The story goes that Sellers did not want the role of 'John Lewis' as he felt incapable of reproducing a Welsh accent. Kenneth Griffith, one of his co-stars, took him into a Swansea pub and, after listening to the local men for a short while, Peter knew enough to get the accent dead right. As chief librarian in the town of Aberdarcy, Lewis is dissatisfied with his lot in life, and who wouldn't be - his wife Jean ( Virginia Maskell ) is too tired for sex, the kids ( particularly Gwyneth, who has an imaginary friend she calls 'Balk' ) nag him constantly, the plumbing in their lodgings does not work, the landlady is a right old gossip, the bus does not wait for him in the mornings, and so on. He glances lustily at the pretty women who come his way looking for books. He is ripe for a torrid affair, and Liz Gruffydd-Williams ( Mai Zetterling ) the wife of a local big-wig, seems attracted to him, as well as willing to help him secure a better job.Their attempts at love making are amongst the funniest scenes ever put on film, almost Clouseau-like in fact. At one point, they caress each other in a car in a field at night, but their passion dies when a cow peers through the window. When Liz' husband is away, she invites John to her house, but he returns unexpectedly, and John tries to sneak off, only to bump into their pompous butler ( the wonderful John Le Mesurier ). The French accent John uses would later be deployed by Sellers in 'The Pink Panther' ( 1964 ) and its sequels. Sellers gets the Welsh angry young man down to a tee, and the rest of the cast are impressive too, particularly Maskell ( whom Sellers did not get on at all with ) as Jean. Zetterling seems to have spent much of her career playing foreign spies in trench-coats, but here she took it off ( along with everything else! ). Griffith is a riot as John's best friend 'Ieuan', who seems to be dead and does not know it. He too is a bit of a social climber. In one of the best scenes, he plays 'Dai Death' in an amateur stage play, only to accidentally burn down the theatre! Having sat through 'Under Milk Wood' numerous times whilst at school, how marvellous it is to see Dylan Thomas' work parodied as 'Bowen Thomas - Tailor Of Llandilo'. "What a fabulous title!", says John, sarcastically. "Its a wonder nobody's thought of it before. Is it a comedy is it?". Richard Attenborough, who acted with Sellers in 'Private's Progress' and 'I'm Sll Right Jack', gives a nicely judged performance as supercilious Welsh playwright Gareth Probert.There's also Graham Stark as a pervert searching for dirty books in the library, John Arnatt as 'Bill', and Raymond Huntley as Liz' husband 'Vernon'. An uncredited Meg Wynn Owen, Talfryn Thomas and Desmond 'Q' Llewelyn are also around. But its Sellers who makes the film a treat to watch. There are similarities between 'Only Two Can Play' and the kitchen sink drama 'Room At The Top' ( 1959 ) which starred Laurence Harvey as 'Joe Lampton', a frustrated Northern working class provincial hero who has an affair with a foreign temptress ( Simone Signoret ). Like 'Billy Liar' ( 1963 ), you can watch this film on two levels - as a comedy, and as a social document of life in Wales at that time. Nice music by Richard Rodney Bennett too!Funniest moment? There are many, but for me its the sight of John trying to carry Liz into the bedroom and handle two cigarettes at the same time.If you love early '60's British film comedies, you must see 'Only Two Can Play'. It was one of Sellers' last great films, made just before he went to Hollywood and squandered his talents on tenth-rate junk.

MartinHafer While there are some ironic twists here and there, this Peter Sellers film is definitely NOT a comedy. And while it is interesting (particularly at the end), it's a movie that is just OK--not one you should rush out to see.Sellers plays a librarian who is both looking for a promotion and longs for an affair. In many ways, the film is like a Welsh version of THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH, as Sellers is a family man who seems to want to cheat on his nice wife more to prove he's "still got it" than any other reason. Throughout the film, he pursues the rather easy to get Liz, the wife of a local big-wig. I was frankly quite turned off by this because it wasn't all that funny and it was really hard to care at all about Sellers--he was behaving like a real jerk.Fortunately, as the movie continues, it fortunately begins to show a bit more depth--with a deeper message other than "horny Sellers wants to get in Liz's knickers". This leads to a dandy climax (no pun intended) which tends to make watching the rest of the film worth while.Overall, if you are looking for a film like DR. STRANGELOVE, THE MOUSE THAT ROARED, THE PINK PANTHER or BEING THERE, then you'll be very disappointed. Without these high expectations, you'll probably have an easier time connecting to the film.

stanistreet-2 Peter Sellers was always at his best in this type of local comedy. His randy Welsh librarian, frustrated with his dead-end job, has a part-time job as a reporter on the local newspaper, doing reviews of the local repertory theatre. We see his dreary home life; his long-suffering wife - a lovely performance from Virginia Maskell; his interchanges with his hypochondriac neighbour - Kenneth Griffiths. Enter the glamorous Mai Zetterling, wife of the local big-wig (Raymond Huntley)and Seller's life is catapulted into confusions. A chance of promotion - in exchange for sexual favours with Mai - catapults him into a sequence of very funny situations. One, a confrontation with an avant-garde poet/playwright - a beautiful cameo role by Richard Attenborough - is hilarious and the whole film progresses at a very satisfying pace, never descending in to farce. It would be nice to have it available in DVD format. It is a much better example of some of Seller's work, such as the farcical Pink Panther froth.