The Smallest Show on Earth Movie Review

This charming Basil Dearden comedy focuses entirely on the management of a dilapidated movie theatre. The elderly ticket taker (Margaret Rutherford as Mrs. Fazackerlee) is used to accepting barter as the price of admission from many of the patrons, the elderly projectionist is an alcoholic named Percy Quill who occasionally muddles the reels (Peter Sellers was only 32 at the time), and the sweet young couple (Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers) who inherit this beat-up bijou haven't a clue about how to whip the place in shape. This affectionate look at the days before mall multiplexes is scripted with obvious affection by William Rose and John Eldridge, who really capture the essence of why the neighborhood theatre meant so much to those who still remember them. AKA: Big Time Operators.

1957 80m/B GB Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, Margaret Rutherford, Peter Sellers, Bernard Miles, Leslie Phillips, Stringer Davis, Francis De Wolff, Sidney James, June Cunningham; D: Basil Dearden; W: William Rose, John Eldridge; C: Douglas Slocombe. VHS