wes-connors Attractive "Born Free" couple Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers (as Jean and Matt Spenser) inherit a creaky, but functional old movie theater. Since they are having financial problems, they decide to manage the cinema. Crowds appear, despite broken reels and other mishaps. The most obvious joke is watching Peter Sellers, made-up as an old projectionist, work while a train makes the theater shake. Luckily, the train only runs once. The audiences in the "Bijou" had more fun than you will.**** The Smallest Show on Earth (4/9/57) Basil Dearden ~ Virginia McKenna, Bill Travers, Margaret Rutherford, Peter Sellers

ShadeGrenade 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!

Cinema_Fan 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.

ianlouisiana 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.