The Mouse That Roared (film)
| The Mouse That Roared | |
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Original British quad format film poster
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| Directed by | Jack Arnold |
| Produced by | Walter Shenson |
| Written by | Leonard Wibberley |
| Screenplay by |
Roger MacDougall Stanley Mann |
| Based on | The Mouse That Roared |
| Starring |
Peter Sellers Jean Seberg William Hartnell |
| Music by | Edwin Astley |
| Cinematography | John Wilcox |
| Edited by | Raymond Poulton |
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Production
company |
Highroad Productions
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| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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83 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2,000,000 (US & Canada) |
The Mouse That Roared is a 1959 British satirical Eastman Color comedy film based on Leonard Wibberley's novel The Mouse That Roared (1955). It stars Peter Sellers in three roles: Duchess Gloriana XII; Count Rupert Mountjoy, the Prime Minister; and Tully Bascomb, the military leader; and co-stars Jean Seberg. The film was directed by Jack Arnold, and the screenplay was written by Roger MacDougall and Stanley Mann.
The minuscule European duchy of Grand Fenwick is bankrupted when an American company comes up with a cheaper imitation of Fenwick's sole export, its fabled Pinot Grand Fenwick wine. Crafty prime minister Count Mountjoy (Peter Sellers) devises a plan: Grand Fenwick will declare war on the United States, then surrender, taking advantage of American largesse toward its defeated enemies to rebuild the defeated nation's economy. Grand Duchess Gloriana (also Sellers) is hesitant but agrees to the plan. Mild-mannered game warden Tully Bascomb (also Sellers) is charged as Field Marshal to lead the Fenwick troops, aided by Sergeant Will Buckley (William Hartnell).
The contingent of 20 soldiers in medieval chain mail books passage across the Atlantic on a small merchant ship, arriving in New York Harbor during an air-raid drill that leaves the city deserted and undefended. They chance upon a civil defence truck and are mistaken for invading Martians, prompting an investigation by blustering but ineffectual General Snippet (MacDonald Parke). Puncturing the tyres of the general's jeep with their bows and arrows, the Fenwick troops take him and four NYPD officers hostage. Still looking for a place to surrender, Tully and Will stumble across Dr. Alfred Kokintz (David Kossoff), whose invention of the Q Bomb – capable of destroying an entire continent – has prompted the defense drills. He has built a football-sized prototype of the unstable bomb, which Tully takes possession of. With Kokintz and his attractive daughter Helen (Jean Seberg) as additional hostages, Tully declares victory and returns with them to Grand Fenwick.
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Wikipedia