Peter Sellers Centenary Collection

StudioCanal, Region B

Step into the golden age of British comedy with this essential boxset celebrating the genius of Peter Sellers. From sly satire to uproarious farce, these eight films showcase Sellers at his most mischievous, magnetic, and masterful. A protean comic actor who first came to attention on the popular radio series The Goon Show (1951-1960), Peter Sellers remains one of the world’s most acclaimed comedy stars. Graduating from radio and TV to significant film roles, Sellers demonstrated a remarkable gift for character transformation.

THE LADYKILLERS (1955)

THE LADYKILLERS follows the hilarious capers of a group of small-time crooks, taking on more than they can handle in the form of their sweet elderly landlord, Mrs. Wilberforce (BAFTA Award winning actress Katie Johnson; How To Murder A Rich Uncle). The criminal gang, posing as a string quartet, are unprepared for their landlord’s meddling when one of the ‘musicians’ cases gets caught in a door, revealing the group’s true identity.

THE SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH (1957)

A young married couple inherit a small-town, run-down cinema. Spurred on by a rival cinema owner attempt to buy it off them, they do it up so they can eventually get a bigger sale price. However, they soon find themselves increasingly attracted to the fleapit and the three old staff members that go with it.

CARLTON BROWNE OF THE F.O. (1959)

CARLTON-BROWNE OF THE F.O. follows the story of a long-forgotten British colony suddenly becoming geopolitically hot property due to its rare mineral deposits, with the Foreign Office scrambling to reassert influence.

I’M ALRIGHT JACK (1959)

Upon leaving the army, upper class twit Windrush (Ian Carmichael) takes a job in industry. Before long he has inadvertently started a national strike, which is subsequently mishandled by everyone involved.

TWO-WAY STRETCH (1960)

Constantly taking advantage of the prison governor’s liberal methods towards authority, convict and criminal mastermind Dodger Lane (Sellers) decides to commit the ultimate crime with the ultimate alibi. Along with a misfit crew of fellow inmates he plans to escape from prison, steal a priceless cache of diamonds and then return to his cell before anyone notices. Who said genius was easy?

PETERSELLERS WILFRID HYDE-WHITE “TWO WAY STRETCH” starring MAURICE DENHAM LIONEL JEFFRIES BERYL REID DAVID LODGE IRENE HANDL LIZ FRASER

ONLY TWO CAN PLAY (1962)

Peter Sellers stars as John Lewis, the small-town Welsh librarian who is offered an escape from his mundane life and henpecked-husband routine when councillor’s wife Liz (Mai Zetterling, The Witches) takes a shine to him. Alas, none of their carefully calculated schemes for a romantic tryst come to fruition thanks to a series of comic complications.

THE WRONG ARM OF THE LAW (1963)

The Wrong Arm of the Law is a 1963 British comedy directed by Cliff Owen and starring Peter Sellers, Bernard Cribbins, Lionel Jeffries, John Le Mesurier and Bill Kerr. In London, a gang of criminals from Australia led by Jack Coombes (Bill Kerr) impersonate policemen to carry out robberies.

HEAVENS ABOVE! (1963)

The inimitable Peter Sellers stars as John Smallwood, an idealistic Reverend appointed to the parish of an upper-class village by mistake.

With a bad habit of telling the truth at all times, Smallwood makes several clerical decisions that shock his wealthy, landed-gentry parishioners.

EXTRAS

32-page booklet