FILM REVIEW - THE SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH (1955 - REVIEWED ON 12/03/08)

Region 2 DVD cover.

A young couple called Jean and Matthew Spenser (Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers) play a young couple struggling to earn a living when out of the blue they recieve a letter informing them that a long lost uncle of Matthew's has died and that he has left them his business - a cinema in the town of Sloughbrough. They expect to make a packet by selling the site but when they arrive they discover that the "Bijou Kinema", which they have inherited is a run down old fleapit with three equally run down staff, the cashier, Mrs Fazackalee (Margaret Rutherford), the projectionist Mr Quill (Peter Sellers) and the doorman Old Tom (Bernard Miles), all of whom have worked there forever. The Bijou is competing with the Grand Super Cinema just over the road and its proprietor, Mr Hardcastle (Francis De Wolff), is offering them a pithy sum of money to buy the place so that he can pull it down and build a car park for his own cinema. Jean and Matthew acting under the advice from their solicitor decide to make Hardcastle think that they are renovating and reopening the fleapit so that he will increase the money he is offering. Unfortunately this little deception gets back to Hardcastle and the only alternative that Jean and Matthew have is to reopen the flea pit for real and try to make it a going concern again in order to force his hand so that he will buy the place for the price they want. However, this is not going to be easy since the Grand has every modern facility whereas the Bijou's equipment is out of the ark and Jean and Matthew have to contend with the constant bickering between Old Tom, Mr Quill and Mrs Fazackerlee...

Region 1 DVD cover

This British comedy from director Basil Dearden is quite simply an unmissable treat even after more than fifty-years since it was first released. It will appeal especially to those of us who are sentimental about the old days of going to the pictures when it meant a lot more than just being motioned into a characterless ten or twelve screen multiplex. This came out in the days when most sizable towns had two or maybe more cinemas and in most cases, one would be a super cinema whilst the other would be regarded as the local fleapit - "oh you don't want to go in there" would have been the reply from most local people living in the community. Margaret Rutherford, Bernard Miles and Peter Sellers are pure joy to watch as the old fleapit's long-serving staff who are always at each others throats but at the same time stick together. "Can't you do something about that old battleaxe Mrs Fazackalee, I can't stand having her around?" Mr Quill asks Matt when he takes over the day to day running of the place. "Are you suggesting that I sack her?" he asks. "Sack Mrs Fazackalee, you can't, she's been here since the silent days, she used to play the piano, how can you say that?" Sellers is absolutely hilarious as the drunken projectionist like when a train thunders past the cinema and he has to cling on to his projectors for dear life to prevent them from toppling over but the film's best scene is when the three of them are recalling their affection for the silent days to a deserted cinema with Mr Quill running snippets of old films which he has saved over the years, Mrs Fazackalee playing the piano and Old Tom sat in the stalls with a tear in his eye and the cinema's cat on his lap. This is an extremely touching scene that one cannot watch with a lump in one's throat . Overall, this is the kind of comedy that film makers have long since forgotten how to make, which will ensure its place in film history as a fondly remembered classic and as it is for sale on DVD for £5.00 in all the good megastores, it is too good a bargain to miss out on.