The Mouse That Roared
                                                                                                            
Director: Jack Arnold
Year: 1959
Rating: 7.0
The fiasco in Iran made me think of this film. As the Prime Minister of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick (Peter Sellers) says to the Royal Duchess (Peter Sellers) "There isn't a more profitable undertaking for any country than to declare war on the United States and to be defeated." By doing so America will be very generous with largesse. Sounds familiar. $300 billion familiar. A lovely little satire made at a time of the Cold War and nuclear annihilation seemed a mistake away. It feels very British, very Ealing but was in fact produced by Columbia though shot in England. It was intended to be very much a throwaway film made for obscure financial reasons but became a surprise hit in America. Estimated to have made $50 million in its lifetime for a budget of $450,000.




They could keep the budget so low by hiring basically unknown actors. Sellers was popular in England for The Goon Show, but unknown in America. He plays three roles here and the film made him a star. The female lead is Jean Seberg who up to this point had made only two films directed by Otto Preminger and her performances were panned by the press. Nevertheless, in the year after this she was chosen by Godard for Breathless. Otherwise, the only other two actors of some note are Leo McKern later as Rumpole and William Hartnell, later to be the first Dr. Who. The film is directed by Jack Arnold, of the Creature from the Black Lagoon fame.




It is all very silly and very quaint. It only runs 83 minutes and jumps right into it. The Duchy is the smallest country in the world with a parliamentary monarchy, dependent on their wine exports to America. When a Californian company imitates their branding, sales dry up and they are soon broke. So, they decide to declare war on America, expecting and hoping to lose. But after America ignores them, they send their mighty army to invade America by tugboat headed by again Peter Sellers as Tully Bascombe. The army consists of twenty men armed with longbows and in medieval uniforms. And they win. And have control of the world. And demand nuclear disarmament. They have their Hormuz Strait. A bomb that can blow up the world. Probably isn't as relevant today but then maybe it is. Consistent low-key humor.