Amazon.co.uk Review
British cinema in the late 1950s and early 1960s turned out a series of gently satirical films which mocked established institutions, and
Heavens Above is the member of that group that turned its attention to religion. Peter Sellers, in an unusually low-key performance that's all the better for being underplayed, stars as a young vicar whose tendencies to interpret Christian doctrines in his own individualistic way, rather than conform to church traditions, leads to all kinds of chaos. He really believes, for example, in taking from the rich to give the poor. It's a quietly funny film rather than a festival of belly laughs, but the points it scores against religious hypocrisies are deftly and persuasively made, and it's one of those British comedies where squadrons of lovely character actors fill out the minor roles. Any fan of vintage British comedy will find a cast including Irene Handl, Eric Sykes, Miriam Karlin, Ian Carmichael, Cecil Parker and Roy Kinnear hard to resist, and there are also very brief appearances from Derek Nimmo and Rodney Bewes at the beginning of their careers. --
Andy Medhurst
Amazon.co.uk Review
I'm All Right Jack After a decade on radio in
The Goons, 1959's
I'm All Right Jack set Peter Sellers on the road to international stardom. Sellers played both Sir John Kennaway and, unforgettably, the Bolshy trade union leader Fred Kite (he would go on to take three roles in
Dr Strangelove and featured endless disguises in
The Pink Panther in 1963) series. The result is laugh-out-loud comedy with a satiric edge, lampooning the then burning issue of industrial relations. Bertram Tracepurcel's (Dennis Price) plans to make a fortune from a missile contract, a scheme which involves manipulating his innocent nephew Stanley Windrush (Ian Carmichael) into acting as the catalyst in an escalating labour dispute, from which the socialist Mr Kite is only too keen to make capital. Management and labour both have their self-serving hypocrisy dissected in this ingenious comedy, actually a sequel to the military comedy
Private's Progress (1956), but which stands independent of the earlier film. Both films were made by the brothers John and Roy Boulting, director and producer of such British classics as
Brighton Rock (1947),
Seven Days to Noon (1950),
Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1959) and
Heaven's Above (1963). The superb cast of
I'm All Right Jack also features Richard Attenborough, John Le Mesurier, Margaret Rutherford and Terry Thomas. --
Gary S. DalkinHeavens Above British cinema in the late 1950s and early 1960s turned out a series of gently satirical films which mocked established institutions, and Heavens Above is the member of that group that turned its attention to religion. Peter Sellers, in an unusually low-key performance that's all the better for being underplayed, stars as a young vicar whose tendencies to interpret Christian doctrines in his own individualistic way, rather than conform to church traditions, leads to all kinds of chaos. He really believes, for example, in taking from the rich to give the poor. It's a quietly funny film rather than a festival of belly laughs, but the points it scores against religious hypocrisies are deftly and persuasively made, and it's one of those British comedies where squadrons of wonderful character actors fill out the minor roles. Any fan of vintage British comedy will find a cast including Irene Handl, Eric Sykes, Miriam Karlin, Ian Carmichael, Cecil Parker and Roy Kinnear hard to resist, and there are also very brief appearances from Derek Nimmo and Rodney Bewes at the beginning of their careers. --Andy Medhurst
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