The Smallest Show on Earth (1957)
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60% of users liked it
(955 ratings)
The Smallest Show on Earth is a gentle, frequently uproarious takeoff of Britain's neighborhood-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.… More The Smallest Show on Earth is a gentle, frequently uproarious takeoff of Britain's neighborhood-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, Rovi
- Directed By
- Basil Dearden
- Genres
- Drama, Classics, Comedy
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Jan 1, 1957 Wide
Critic Reviews
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Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film
It's a madcap charming film, but don't expect anything extra here.
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Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film
Very much an ensemble piece, it relies heavily on sight gags and cinema business.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
No Featured Audience Ratings Found…
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Cast
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Bill Travers
as Matt Spenser
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Virginia McKenna
as Jean Spenser
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Leslie Phillips
as Robin Carter
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Peter Sellers
as Percy Quill
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Margaret Rutherford
as Mrs. Fazackalee
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Bernard Miles
as Old Tom
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Francis De Wolff
as Hardcastle
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June Cunningham
as Marlene Hogg
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Sidney James
as Mr. Hogg
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Stringer Davis
as Emmett
- Sam Kydd
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Michael Corcoran
as Taxi Driver
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George Cormack
as Bell
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George Cross
as Commissioner
