I can't quibble with the performance offered by Peter Sellers in this movie. Much as in "Dr. Strangelove," he plays three parts (the Duchess, Prime Minister and Field Marshall of the tiny fictional country of Grand Fenwick) and he plays them superbly. Having said that, I also have to say that, in spite of Sellers' fine performance, I just didn't find this movie to be particularly funny. The story has huge comedic potential. Grand Fenwick is supposedly the tiniest country in the world (obviously somebody forgot about The Vatican, which is far smaller than Grand Fenwick was described as being.) It's also extremely backward, with an army equipped with bows and arrows and suits of armour, and its entire economy is dependent on wine exports, which have gone into the tank, so to speak, and so the PM (Sellers) hatches a plan: declare war on the United States, lose and receive massive amounts of U.S. foreign aid. The invasion of New York City is placed in the hands of the incompetent Field Marshall Tully Bascombe (also Sellers), but he's so incompetent that he actually wins the war he's supposed to lose by capturing a physicist who's invented the most powerful bomb ever made. What's Grand Fenwick to do once the United States has surrendered?
It sounds so good - but I just didn't find it that funny. Maybe it's the British style of comedy, but I've seen other British comedies and enjoyed them; I've seen Sellers in other movies and enjoyed them. For whatever reason, this one just didn't work for me.
It sounds so good - but I just didn't find it that funny. Maybe it's the British style of comedy, but I've seen other British comedies and enjoyed them; I've seen Sellers in other movies and enjoyed them. For whatever reason, this one just didn't work for me.