Slideshow
THE SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH
U.K., 1957
Directed by Basil Dearden
Starring Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, Peter Sellers, Margaret Rutherford
Approx. 80 min.
Nice-young-couple Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna (BORN FREE) find they’ve inherited a fleapit cinema with staff consisting of ancient cashier Margaret Rutherford, doorman Bernard Miles, and perpetually drunken projectionist Peter Sellers.
Select shows with
The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film
U.K., 1960
Directed by Richard Lester, Peter Sellers
Starring Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Leo McKern, Graham Stark
Approx. 11 min. 35mm.
Goons Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers romp aimlessly in a field (rented for 5 quid). “Devised” by Sellers and shot over two Sundays in 1959 for a cost of about seventy pounds. Nominated for an Oscar® for best live-action short.
Reviews
On THE SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH:
“A delightfully eccentric comedy… An Ealing-style allegory of English resolve.”
– Time Out
“Loaded with delightful touches.”
– Variety
“Remarkable that such different and eccentric performers should have formed a team so homogeneous.”
– Monthly Film Bulletin (BFI)
On The Running Jumping and Standing Still Film:
“Sublime slapstick surrealism from Richard Lester and two Goons.”
– David Parkinson, Empire Magazine