Post #4181142

Accidental discovery: The Mouse that Roared (1959). Director #JackArnold. With #PeterSellers and #JeanSeberg. An entertaining and quietly meaningful low-budget film, made before Peter Sellers became a major star. The Duchy of Grand Fenwick is a tiny European mountain state, run by a bunch of aristocratic incompetents whose incompetence does no one any harm. They decide to venture a pretend invasion of the USA, which by mistake succeeds. A next-generation "Q-bomb" drives much of the plot, slighlty tasteless or insincere perhaps, but the film's tastelessness is honest and cheerful rather than creepy. Sellers plays three characters: the Duchess, the Duchy's scheming Prime Minister, and a naive game warden who is meant to be used as a pawn but who prevails over his masters. A charming film. All the anarchic elements of an Ealing comedy; cheaply made; silly; authentic. As an antidote to today's cinematic routine merchandise, it feels intensely current. #TheMouseThatRoared #film