The Mouse That Roared
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Actor: David Kossoff, Jean Seberg, Leo McKern, Peter Sellers, William HartnellBrand: Sony
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 83 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-07-08
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of The Mouse That Roared
DVD Review: Fun movie, but was Peter Sellers ever as funny as we remember him?
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a savvy Cold War "comedy"--an adaptation of a very sharp little book that probably ranks alongside "Strangelove" and "The Russians are Coming" as a satiric classic of that era. The premise itself dates well because it's the story of a small country trying to manage in a world of Superpowers. It's also a lesson in how small countries can cynically play Superpowers off one another in order to gain perks--a point that's missed by a lot of reviewers.
I dearly love this old chestnut but it's full of problems, nearly enough to earn it a three-star rating. Right off, the directing is uninspired. Second, rather than play it straight from the book and cast it more appropriately, the producers decided to gimmick the film by having Sellers play three separate roles, one of which--the elderly Duchess--isn't even in the original book (but it's probably there so Sellers can appear in drag). This multi-role idea was a mercifully brief trend in (largely) British comedies of the 50s and early 60s, the best (and best realized) British example probably being Alec Guinness's multiple performances in "Kind Hearts and Coronets." Sellers' singular (and late) working of this gimmick is in "Strangelove" of course, which is the best-known example of this multi-role acting for modern audiences--British or otherwise. "Strangelove," I'd argue, was such a success that it (along with the Pink Panther films, and a few other well directed efforts like "The Party") camouflaged Sellers' otherwise highly variable, often surprisingly disappointing, output. A good example of how lackluster Sellers could be is "Casino Royale" where Woody Allen and David Niven provide the solid laughs and Sellers, not atypically, performs as if his mere presence is hilarious, and it isn't.
"The Mouse that Roared"'s sequel--"The Mouse on the Moon"--is revealing too. Sellers is absent (he refused the part) yet the ever-undervalued Ron Moody does a far more memorable job with the role of Prime Minister--in fact his is one of my favorite comedy performances. Margaret Rutherford replaces Sellers as the senile Duchess, bringing a certain high-comedic weight to the dithering and bumbling--Rutherford, unlike Sellers, could often be innately funny onscreen. "The Mouse that Roared" is a classic, but "The Mouse on the Moon" is the better film (directed by Richard Lester) with a far meatier cast and superior production. It suffers only from a less novel, regrettably second-hand premise, and the presence of Bernard Cribbins who manages to be somewhat less interesting than Sellers in the same role in the first film. Cribbins' puzzle-headed "ordinary bloke" character, used here, probably played great in the UK but never traveled well. Terry Thomas also adds a lot to this film.
"The Mouse that Roared" is a fun film and essential viewing, but as the years slide by it's looking a tad shopworn and awkward. I would have preferred it without Sellers at all or with Sellers only playing the bland Tully Bascombe, and Moody and Rutherford in the other roles. "The Mouse that Roared"--in this increasingly multi-power world--is also a film begging for a really sharp remake.
Description of The Mouse That Roared
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