I noticed a Peter Sellers film at HPB that I didn't remember having seen. Carlton-Browne Of The F. O. was only 3 bucks and I thought I'd take a chance. It's a 1958 film with Terry-Thomas in the lead role as a low-level bureaucrat in the Foreign Office. His father was a big man in the F. O. but Terry hasn't proved himself.
The 1958 film was originally title The Man In The Cocked Hat. I would have remembered seeing it under that name. I don't remember it ever turning up on Turner or one of the other oldies channels of the 80s. Jeffrey Dell and Roy Boulting wrote the story, the screenplay and also directed.
Ian Bannen plays Prince Loris, who's been living in England after being educated at Oxford. His father gets blown up and Loris has to return home to be king. Peter Sellers plays the corrupt Prime Minister. John Le Mesurier plays Loris's uncle, he thinks the crown should go to his niece Her Serene Highness Princess Ilyena, played by Luciana Paluzzi. Uncle is thinking revolution if he doesn't get his way. New King Loris is more devious and peace minded.
Loris and the Princess are at odds for part of the movie and then magically they fall for each other. The island turns out to be home to a large deposit of Cobalt and the US and Russia are very interested. Terry-Thomas tries to keep Britain's interests afloat but it's all too much for him. It's up to King Loris to put the super powers in their place.
I got a few laughs out of the story. It's very much like A Mouse That Roared in a way. Kind of slow moving but still entertaining.
One joke might have slipped past me, though I could have guessed what was going on. One the Parade ground Peter Sellers takes Terry-Thomas on a tour of the troops. He tells Terry that they patterned themselves after the British Guards. The men at attention keep passing out. I might have guessed that the BG's had a passing out on parade problem but I since I had just read this Giles cartoon, from 1953, that pokes fun at the same issue, I got the gag right away.
This was the cartoon that appeared a couple of days later.
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