Heavens Above!
| Heavens Above! | |
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| Directed by |
John Boulting Roy Boulting |
| Produced by | John Boulting Roy Boulting |
| Written by | Frank Harvey |
| Starring |
Peter Sellers Bernard Miles Cecil Parker |
| Music by | Richard Rodney Bennett |
| Cinematography | Mutz Greenbaum |
| Edited by | Teddy Darvas |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | British Lion Films (UK) |
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Release date
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Running time
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113 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Heavens Above! is a 1963 British satirical comedy film starring Peter Sellers, directed by John and Roy Boulting, who also co-wrote along with Frank Harvey, from an idea by Malcolm Muggeridge. It is in much the same vein as the earlier collaboration between Sellers, Harvey and the Boultings, I'm All Right Jack.
The plot features Sellers as a naive but caring prison chaplain accidentally assigned as vicar to the small and prosperous country town of Orbiston Parva, in place of Ian Carmichael's upper class cleric, with whom he shares a name. His belief in charity and forgiveness sets him at odds with the locals, whose assertions that they are good, Christian people are in Smallwood's view belied by their behaviour and ideas. He creates social ructions by appointing a black dustman (Brock Peters) as his churchwarden, taking in a gypsy family, and persuading local landowner Lady Despard (Isabel Jeans) to provide free food for the church to distribute free to the people of the town. However, all his good works lead to trouble.
The cast includes several noteworthy uncredited performers: A Hard Day's Night actor John Junkin, Rodney Bewes, who has a couple of lines as a milkman, and future Small Faces and Humble Pie singer Steve Marriott. Sellers' performance is generally held to be outstanding, in a meatier, more dramatic role, similar to his work in I'm All Right Jack, released in 1959.
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