The Mouse That Roared (1959)
Film:
DVD:

Written by Roger MacDougall & Stanley Mann, based on the novel by Leonard Wibberley
Directed by Jack Arnold
Starring Peter Sellers, Jean Seberg, Leo McKern, David Kossoff, William Hartnell

Features:

• Trailer
  

Released by Columbia-Tristar
Rating: NR
Region: 1
Anamorphic: Yes.

My Advice: Own it.

Welcome to the Duchy of Grand Fenwick--a country in the midst of France that's so small, it's eighty-five cents in a cab from one end of the country to the other. Pretty much literally. Previously, they were living in the lap of luxury thanks to their chief export (wine) to their chief market (the U.S.)--however, a company in California has started making a direct knock-off of their product (they dropped the "F" in "Fenwick" on their label) and the country faces ruin. Backed into a corner--and a little hacked off that their dimuntive nature makes their demands to the U.S. to take action less than ignored--their prime minister, Count Mountjoy (Sellers), comes up with a desperate strategem. They'll declare war on the U.S., send their army's field marshall, Tully (also Sellers), to America with a small army, lose spectacularly, and then reap the benefits that America heaps upon its defeated enemies. The Grand Duchess (also Sellers) consents...but of course you just know it's all going to go horribly wrong.

Hilariously wrong, really. An amazing satire about war and America's superpower placement in the world, it's interesting that a film more than four decades old can make its point without being so top-heavy with Point that it takes you out of the film entirely. Well, it's interesting--but not altogether surprising. But that's the beauty of the flick--it sets out to be utterly ludicrous and puts the pedal to the floor. I think of it as a kinder, gentler Strangelove.

Sellers, as in Strangelove, plays three roles here--and like Kubrick's film--does so with an eerie chameleonic quality. Sure, it's a comedy, so it's less immediately apparent than his trifecta of madness in Strangelove, but it's no less striking how he's able to inhabit characters so completely. Just compare the body language of all three characters, and you'll see what I mean.

A film this good deserves a better treatment, but I fear there's none to be found. You get the trailer--which is priceless, of course--and the trailer for the aforementioned Strangelove--which is totally whacked, of course--and that's about it. Of course, there's only so much you can do when the cast and crew have all already left us (and long before DVDs and commentaries and whatnot were even conceived of). Still, there are some things that could stem the feeling of deprivation: a featurette on Sellers would be good, or a commentary with a film historian or Sellers biographer, or the like. Perhaps one day I'll get my wish on that.

Even without special features, the film is just too damn funny to miss out on. Grab it and enjoy, and hope there's a better version sometime in the future.