The Smallest Show on Earth is a gentle, frequently uproarious takeoff of Britain's neighbourhood-cinema industry. Real-life husband and wife Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna star as Matt and Jean Spencer, a middle-class couple who inherit a decrepit movie house in a tiny railroad whistle stop. They also inherit the theater's .. Read more
| Starring | Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, Leslie Phillips, Peter Sellers |
|---|---|
| Director | Basil Dearden |
| Genres | Comedy |
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The Smallest Show on Earth is a gentle, frequently uproarious takeoff of Britain's neighbourhood-cinema industry. Real-life husband and wife Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna star as Matt and Jean Spencer, a middle-class couple who inherit a decrepit movie house in a tiny railroad whistle stop. They also inherit the theater's ancient, doddering employees: bibulous ticket-taker Percy Quill (Peter Sellers), former silent-movie accompanist Mrs. Fazackalee (Margaret Rutherford) and doorman/janitor old Tom (Bernard Miles). Making the best of things, the Spencers set up shop going through the usual travails of small-time cinema owners: substandard projection and sound reproduction, a dismal selection of films (all they can afford is American B-Westerns), and sundry mishaps with the audience. Just when they're about to write off the theater as a loss, crafty old Tom comes up with an underhanded but effective method to allow the Spencers to make a huge profit on their shaky enterprise. Though chock full of entertaining vignettes, the best and most poignant scene in The Smallest Show on Earth finds the three elderly employees tearfully reveling in a nostalgic screening of the 1924 silent film Comin' Thro' the Rye.~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
| Starring | Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, Leslie Phillips, Peter Sellers, Margaret Rutherford, Bernard Miles |
|---|---|
| Director | Basil Dearden |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 17 mins |
| Certificate |  |
| Genres | Comedy |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | Production year: 1957 To Rent: DVD: not available |
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Lovely film ...lovely subject
This reminds me of Saturday afternoons when i was a kid,watching matinees
at my local cinema in Buxton.
This is only 90 minutes long but ... read more »
[Highly rated reviewer]
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The Smallest Show On Earth
The reviewer above who complained about the quality of the transfer to DVD is absolutely right - it's so bad, it's unwatchable. The picture quality is ... read more »
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Couldn't watch this
The quality was simply not worth transferring to DVD - it really is abyssmal. I watched a few minutes before giving up, they must have a better print than this ... read more »
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Lovely classic B&W film
Caught some of this on tv one afternoon, was interesting and funny, not to mention charming. However I decided to hire this as I'd missed some of the movie... read more »
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