Heavens Above! (1963)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Directors:

John Boulting
Roy Boulting

Writers:

John Boulting (screenplay)
John Boulting (story)

Release Date:

25 November 1963 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A minister is accidentally appointed to a snobbish parish. |

Plot Keywords:

Vicar | Satire | Gypsy | Salvation Army | Riot

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Peter Sellers	...	The Rev. John Smallwood
Cecil Parker	...	Archdeacon Aspinall
Isabel Jeans	...	Lady Despard
Ian Carmichael	...	The Other Smallwood
Bernard Miles	...	Simpson
Brock Peters	...	Matthew Robinson
Eric Sykes	...	Harry Smith
Irene Handl	...	Rene Smith
Miriam Karlin	...	Winnie Smith
Joan Miller	...	Mrs. Smith-Gould
Miles Malleson	...	Rockeby
Eric Barker	...	Bank Manager
William Hartnell	...	Major Fowler
Roy Kinnear	...	Fred Smith
Joan Hickson	...	Housewife

Runtime:

118 min | USA:105 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:PG | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Charter Film Productions

Trivia:

At one point when Rev. Smallwood (Sellers) is preaching from the pulpit, a young boy is seen in the foreground reading a copy of Nabokov's "Lolita". Sellers played Quilty in Stanley Kubrick's film version of that book.

Quotes:

Simpson: Anytime you hear someone quoting from the bible - better watch out - it's probably the devil himself!

Movie Connections:

References Lolita (1962)

Gospel According to Sellers

"Heaven's Above!" is a wonderful, well-crafted satire that mocks not Christianity but hypocritical and cold "religious" people. It is a British version of "In His Steps" turned on its head and inside-out: what if a sincere believer (Sellers) attempts to live out the gospel in the middle of a spiritually dead English parish? Unchristian attitudes range from the Bishop who complains that Rev. Smallwood (Sellers) "keeps bringing God into everything," to two women arguing over free food they have just (undeservedly) received as handouts telling a black man (Brock Peters) "You don't belong here" under a banner that reads "Love one another."

The script is rife with topical political and social comments but the real focus is timeless: do people really believe what they say they believe? Is there a place for Christianity in a secular, materialistic society? All serious questions aside, "Heaven's above!" is a satirical, incisive look at human nature.