The Smallest Show on Earth (1957)

Director:

Basil Dearden

Writers:

William Rose (screenplay)
John Eldridge (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 March 1962 (Finland)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A young couple inherits a debt-ridden old movie theater, appropriately nicknamed "The Flea Pit," and the three eccentric senior citizens who work there.

Plot Keywords:

Movie Theater | Theater | Seniors | Rival Business | Abandoned Theater

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Virginia McKenna	...	Jean Spenser
Bill Travers	...	Matt Spenser
Margaret Rutherford	...	Mrs. Fazackalee
Peter Sellers	...	Percy Quill
Bernard Miles	...	Old Tom
Francis De Wolff	...	Albert Hardcastle
Leslie Phillips	...	Robin Carter
June Cunningham	...	Marlene Hogg
Sid James	...	Mr. Hogg (as Sidney James)
George Cross	...	Commissionaire
George Cormack	...	Bell
Stringer Davis	...	Emmett
Michael Corcoran	...	Taxi Driver

Also Known As:

Big Time Operators (USA)

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:S

Filming Locations:

Christchurch Avenue, London, England, UK

Company:

Hallmark Productions

Trivia:

The films shown at the Bijou (all fictional and presumably filmed just for this movie) are: - Killer Riders of Wyoming - The Mystery of Hell Valley - Comin' Thro' the Rye (Silent Movie) - Devil Riders of Parched Point

Goofs:

Errors in geography: When the young couple arrive in "Sloughborough", in the north of England, they climb out of the taxi in front of Hammersmith underground station in London.

Quotes:

Jean: [Reacting to seeing the inside of the theater and its employees for the first time] Flea pit? More like "The Snake Pit!"

Movie Connections:

References The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

A very funny movie

I am happy to read all the kudos from other film buffs for this little gemstone of a movie. It will seem corny and boring to those brought up on Hollywood in the past 30 years but if they would open up their minds to dry humor and sweetness there is much to enjoy in 'The Smallest Show on Earth.' First off the cast are top-drawer English comedians that are now extinct, sadly. Margaret Rutherford, Bernard Miles and Peter Sellars crown the story with their three highly eccentric and touching portrayals of the old hands at The Bijou, better known as The Flea Pit, an old opera house turned "Kinema". Bernard Miles, especially, gives a highly subtle and often moving portrayal of an aging janitor who lives on for a new uniform. Nowadays he'd be tossed in a home to rot, suffering from "dementia" or some such thing the medical profession has created to niche people for more convenient disposal. But in the days of the making of this movie people like old Tom (Miles) were allowed to continue with their lives, dotty as could be, but happy and earning a living, happy with his cats and his new uniform.

The "straight" couple, the new owners of the Flea Pit, are wonderfully done by the very handsome and under-rated Bill Travers and his real-life wife Virginia McKenna. Travers had the timing sense of Cary Grant, and was much better looking into the bargain. At 6'6" tall he had an engagingly masculine yet vulnerable way about him. He and McKenna have some of the cornier lines and the jokiness can be a bit "eye-rolling" but aside from that period humor this movie is filled with a dry wit that has always been beyond the abilities of Hollywood screen-writers to pen.

There is one scene in particular that sticks in the mind. The three old hands are alone at night in the old theatre. A silent film is playing, Mrs Fazackalee (Rutherford) is at the tinny old piano in the orchestra pit, Old Tom (Miles) is sitting with his cat in the front row. Mr Quill (Sellars) is in the control booth. Only Sellars speaks briefly to the new owners as they arrive upon the scene, lost in the "old days" of the kinema. Just the sight of Rutherford at the piano improvising music to the old love story on the screen, and Miles and his cat in the front row is enough to evoke tears. Longing for lost innocence I suppose.

This movie is loaded with a high humor, no vulgarity, sex or profanity comes into it. A very memorable little film that is long overdue for release on DVD. I was lucky enough to find a good quality VHS copy at Facets in Chicago in case anyone's had trouble rounding up a copy. An excellent miniature masterpiece portraying a more innocent and lovely period of time in our benighted 20th century.