Peter Sellers
- 2007
Though expressly advertised as a compilation of Peter Sellers's funniest moments from television, The Very Best of Peter Sellers actually places a much stronger emphasis on clips from the British screen giant's film comedies. The program pulls a number of extracts from Sellers's enormously popular Pink Panther series (1964-82), and numerous other motion pictures as well, honing in on the most infamous and classic moments from those efforts. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers
- 1985
Kermit and Fozzie find treasure in the lost episodes that include cooking lessons with a Swedish Chef and episodes from "Pigs in Space" and "Veterinarian's Hospital." ~ All Movie Guide
- 1982
- PG
Two years after the death of Peter Sellers, Blake Edwards tried to exhume his corpse in this pastiche of clips and out-takes from the old Pink Panther films. The plot concerns the legendary "Pink Panther" diamond which is once more stolen. Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) is again enlisted to find the stolen bauble. When he follows the trail of the diamond to another country, he leaves on an airplane that is soon reported missing. Television reporter Marie Jouvet (Joanna Lumley) then sets out to interview old acquaintances and associates of Clouseau, including Lady Litton (Capucine), Inspector Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) and Sir Charles Litton (David Niven), who recall their experiences with the bumbling inspector. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, David Niven, (more)
- 1980
- PG
Peter Sellers gets to play both hero and bad guy at the same time in this comedy variation on Sax Rohmer's infamous stories of Asian super-villian Fu Manchu. The 168-year-old Fu Manchu (Sellers) is starting to run out of the youth-preserving formula that has kept him alive and kicking for the past eight or so decades, and he decides it's high time he made up some more. However, the list of ingredients includes a few items you can't usually get at your corner drug store, and Fu and his minions become a crime wave of their own as they attempt to steal an ancient Egyptian mummy and the Crown Jewels of England. (In the meantime, Fu keeps his heart beating by administering himself the occasional electric shock.) When word gets out that the evil Fu Manchu is back, his long-time nemesis, Scotland Yard's Nayland Smith (also played by Sellers), is put on the case, but like Fu, Smith isn't quite the man he used to be after all these years. Peter Sellers also contributed to the screenplay of The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu without credit, and is said to have briefly taken over as director, though the results lack the snap of his best work; sadly, it would prove to be the great comic's last film. Sid Caesar, Hellen Mirren, and David Tomlinson also appear in the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Helen Mirren, (more)
- 1979
- PG
The beloved novel by Anthony Hope is shown here in its sixth film adaptation. In this story, Peter Sellers is Rudolf IV, the reigning monarch of the tiny nation of Ruritania. One day, while flying in a hot air balloon, a champagne cork sends him plummeting to his death. The rightful heir, who is to be crowned Rudolf V (also Peter Sellers), is kidnapped by Duke Michael (Jeremy Kemp), who is next in line for the throne. Luckily, the good guys find Syd (Peter Sellers once again), a London taxi-driver who closely resembles the kidnapped heir. While impersonating the monarch-to-be, Syd falls in love with the prince's fiancee Princess Flavia (Lynne Frederick). Neither a box-office nor a critical success, this amiable 1979 swashbuckler nonetheless features fine performances by Peter Sellers, who died in 1980. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Lynne Frederick, (more)
Having lived his life as the gardener on a millionaire's estate, Chance (Peter Sellers) knows of the real world only what he has seen on TV. When his benefactor dies, Chance walks aimlessly into the streets of Washington D.C., where he is struck by a car owned by wealthy Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine). Identifying himself, the confused man mutters "Chance...gardener," which Eve takes to be "Chauncey Gardiner." Eve takes him to her home to convalesce, and because Chance is so well-dressed and well-groomed, and because he speaks in such a cultured tone, everyone in her orbit assumes that "Chauncey Gardiner" must be a man of profound intelligence. No matter what he says, it is interpreted as a pearl of wisdom and insight. He rises to the top of Washington society, where his simplistic responses to the most difficult questions (responses usually related to his gardening experience) are highly prized by the town's movers and shakers. In fact, there is serious consideration given to running Chance as a presidential candidate. Both a modern fable and a political satire, Being There was based on the novel by Jerzy Kosinski and costars Melvyn Douglas, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as Eve's aging power-broker husband. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, (more)
In Revenge of the Pink Panther, for the final time, the bumbling but impeturbable Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) maddens his long-suffering boss Dreyfus (Herbert Lom), sharpens his wits and martial skills with his manservant Cato (Burt Kwouk) and foils the bad guys without ever having a clue about what he is doing. In the story, Clouseau allows a gang of drug racketeers to believe that he has been assassinated and dons a series of disguises as he travels all over the world in order to apprehend the culprits. He is assisted by Simone Legree (Dyan Cannon), the former girlfriend of the drug-lord Douvier (Robert Webber). Though it received a very mixed reception from critics, this, the fifth of the Pink Panther series, did very well at the box-office. Sadly, it was actor Peter Sellers' final screen appearance before his death in 1980 (the later film, The Trail of Pink Panther was composed of outtakes from previous Pink Panther films). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, (more)
- 1977
This humorous video is a compilation of a multitude of comedic clips from various British films spanning from 1930 to 1970. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
Most Inspector Clouseau fans regard The Pink Panther Strikes Again as the best of the clumsy Parisian detective's "comeback" films of the 1970s. Driven insane by the stupidities of Clouseau (Peter Sellers), ex-inspector Dreyfuss (Herbert Lom) transforms into a master criminal. Kidnapping the inventor of a death ray, Dreyfuss threatens to use the demon device indiscriminately unless Clouseau is offered as a "sacrifice." A hunted man, Clouseau is forced to adopt one transparent (but hilarious) disguise after another. He is rescued from being incinerated by Dreyfuss when Soviet spy Olga (Leslie Ann Down) falls in love with him and strives to protect him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, (more)
- 1976
The American Film Institute put together this movie of film clips from all eras of American filmmaking as a Bicentennial tribute to the country. Narrated by Charleton Heston, the 83 film clips included all relate to American history, or reflect on the character of Americans. The clips are grouped into five categories: The Land, The Cities, The Families, The Wars and The Spirit. As much a tribute to American filmmaking as it is a tribute to the country, in this compilation, scenes are shown from such diverse films as Birth of A Nation and 2001. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlton Heston
As penned by Neil Simon, this satire of movie mysteries is set in motion when several prominent detectives are invited to the mansion of the reclusive Lionel Twain (Truman Capote). In Ten Little Indians fashion, the gathered sleuths are locked into the forbidding mansion, and subject to various death-dealing devices. While struggling for their lives, the vainglorious gumshoes continue to try to one-up one another. Each character is broadly based on a famous literary detective: Sidney Wang (Peter Sellers) is an aphorism-spouting Charlie Chan clone: Dick and Dora Charleston (David Niven and Maggie Smith) are patterned on the protagonists of the Thin Man flicks; Milo Perrier (James Coco), a Hercule Poirot takeoff, stalks through the proceedings declaring "I'm a Belgie, not a Frenchie!"; Sam Diamond (Peter Falk) is Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe and Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade rolled in one; and Jessica Marbles (Elsa Lanchester) is a dottier variation of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple. Best bit: a "conversation" between blind butler Jamessir Bensonmum (Alec Guinness) and deaf-mute maid Yetta (Nancy Walker). The fade-out gag of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson showing up late for Lionel Twain's party was edited from the theatrical version of Murder by Death, but was restored for TV. The film marked the big-screen directorial debut of Robert Moore, who'd previously directed several of Neil Simon's Broadway productions. Moore went on to direct another Simon spoof, The Cheap Detective (1978), before his untimely death. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, (more)
- 1975
- R
Peter Sellers stays busy in this comedy playing Hitler, Prince Kyoto, and four others in this tale of an anti-Nazi French whorehouse which supports the Allied war effort by exterminating the most dangerous of its patrons in the bedroom. Highlights include Lila Kedrova as the madame who becomes a general in the resistance, and Curt Jurgens as Gen. Von. Grotjahn, Sellers' nemesis. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lila Kedrova, Curd Jürgens, (more)
- 1975
That matchless British farceur Spike Milligan stars in The Great McGonagall. The story concerns indigent Scotsman William McGonagall, who aspires to become Poet Laureate of Great Britain. McGonagall might have a better chance of accomplishing this if he had any talent, but he is hilariously inept. The plot is abandoned somewhere in the middle of the film in favor of a series of virtually unrelated comic episodes. Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan's onetime Goon Show cohort, steals the show in drag as a sexually voracious Queen Victoria! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, (more)
After several years at loggerheads with one another, director Blake Edwards and star Peter Sellers reteamed for the slapstick fiesta The Return of the Pink Panther. It looks as though wizard cat-burglar Sir Charles Litton, played by David Niven in the original 1964 Pink Panther but here essayed by Christopher Plummer, is back in business. Dispatched to the Swiss resort town of Gstaad by his long-suffering superior Inspector Dreyfuss (Herbert Lom), Clouseau adopts a series of easily penetrable (and hilarious) disguises to get the goods on Sir Charles and his wife Claudine (Catherine Schell). If you remember A Shot in the Dark, you'll recall that Clouseau's ineptitude turned Inspector Dreyfuss into a twitching homicidal maniac. The same thing happens here, paving the way for the sequel, The Pink Panther Strikes Again. And, as with all the "Panther" movies, we are treated to the insinuating theme music by Henry Mancini, and the animated opening and closing titles. Return of the Pink Panther earned $17 million on its initial release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Christopher Plummer, (more)
- 1974
Released several years after it was filmed, this standard Peter Sellers comedy focuses on Dick Scratcher (Sellers), a bumbling, roughly-hewn chief cook on a pirate ship trying to keep an unsteady control of things after he murders the captain. Once the captain is dead, Scratcher is the only one who knows where the pirate's stash lies hidden and that is the source of his control over everyone, even the second mate Pierre (Anthony Franciosa). Into this precariously balanced situation comes little Jeremiah (Richard Willis) who wants to learn all about sailing the high seas and becomes a third factor in the struggle for control of the ship and the hidden treasure. Meanwhile, Bill Bombay (Spike Milligan), another pirate captain, is also out for the same treasure, complicating everything. Both Sellers and Milligan launch into improvised routines -- but in general, the acting is frenetic and underpar while the story runs aground instead of pulling into port with a reasonable ending. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Anthony Franciosa, (more)
Peter Sellers gives a splendid, understated performance in this gentle comedy-drama. Liz (Donna Mullane) and Mark (John Chaffey) are a pair of poor children trying to get by on the streets of London. In their travels, Liz and Mark get to know Sam (Sellers), a one-time music hall performer who these days performs for change with his dog on streetcorners. Sam takes the youngsters under his wing and helps remind them of the simply joys of living that they've forgotten in their hardscrabble lives. Also released as The Optimists of Nine Elms, The Optimists features several original songs by Lionel Bart and an incidental score by George Martin, best known as the man who produced The Beatles' recordings. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Donna Mullane, (more)
Set during World War 2, The Blockhouse takes place virtually in its entirety in an underground German blockhouse. Six men of wildly varying nationalities and walks of life are trapped in the blockhouse-and remain so for over six years. Though their prison is well stocked with food and beverages, the mortality rate is appalling, the victims dying more from loneliness and fear than anything else. Intriguingly, Peter Sellers is cast as a Frenchman, while French singer/actor Charles Aznavour plays an Italian! The Blockhouse was based on a novel by Jean Paul Ciebert-which, incredibly, was inspired by a true story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
- R
Where Does It Hurt? is a hospital comedy which is carefully designed to leave no interest group unoffended. In the broadest of broad comic manners, it recounts its tale of greed, ignorance and corruption in the medical profession. Dr. Albert T. Hopfnagel (Peter Sellers), a hospital administrator, is a doctor who is expert in the arts of bill-padding, unnecessary surgery, and kickbacks. His assistant (Jo Ann Pflug) has finally had enough of his destructive and dishonest shenanigans and gets him sent to prison. He is released a little too soon for comfort, however. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
A star-studded cast highlights this musical adaptation of the classic fantasy tales of Lewis Carroll. One day young Alice (Fiona Fullerton) takes a nasty spill down the rabbit-hole and finds herself in the bizarre kingdom of Wonderland, where she encounters a number of strange and enchanted characters, including the playful White Rabbit (Michael Crawford), the manic March Hare (Peter Sellers), the mysterious Caterpillar (Ralph Richardson), the Doormouse (Dudley Moore), the imperious Queen of Hearts (Flora Robson), and the quizzical Mad Hatter (Robert Helpmann). The cast also includes Spike Milligan, Peter Bull, Roy Kinnear, and Michael Jayston as Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland won two prizes at the 1973 British Academy of Film and Theatre Awards -- for Georfrey Unsworth's photography and Anthony Mendelson's costume design. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fiona Fullerton, Michael Crawford, (more)
The television host of a popular cooking show, Robert Danvers (Peter Sellers) has a real penchant for women. After one episode, he finds Marion (Goldie Hawn) changing from a wedding dress to street clothes. Instantly deciding to get to her and "take over" before the groom, Jimmy (Nicky Henson) has another opportunity, Robert invites her to his bachelor pad, a specially designed command center for his romantic adventures. He turns on the English gentleman's charm, only to have Marion laugh and suggest forthright that they sleep together. She moves in the following day and the two vacation in France on the Riviera and tour the wine country before returning to London. Upon their return, Robert proposes to %Marion; she rejects him in favor of Jimmy, however, who has sworn faithfulness to her and given up cheating forever. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Goldie Hawn, (more)
A woman who is blackmailed by her boss discovers his plans are not at all what she imagined in this low-key comedy-drama. Benjamin Hoffman (Peter Sellers) is a businessman who has eyes for a secretary working in his office, Janet Smith (Sinead Cusack). Smith is engaged to marry a man named Tom Mitchell (Jeremy Bulloch), but when Hoffman learns that Mitchell has a criminal past and is wanted by the law, he makes a startling proposal to Smith -- he'll turn her fiancé in to the police unless she agrees to spend the weekend with him. Smith sees little choice but to agree, but arrives at Hoffman's door imagining the worst. However, to her surprise she discovers Hoffman is a desperately lonely man who wants to be loved, and he demands almost nothing of her but her companionship. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Sinéad Cusack, (more)
This zany British comedy finds a homeless hobo (Ringo Starr) being adopted by the world's richest man, Sir Guy Grand (Peter Sellers). Setting sail on the luxury liner The Magic Christian, Sir Grand tests the limit of human avarice. With money to motivate the greedy, Laurence Harvey combines his Hamlet soliloquy with a striptease. A vile cesspool of excrement is seeded with cash and the money-hungry dive right in. Wilfred Hyde White is the drunken captain, Yul Brynner is uncredited in his performance as a chanteuse transvestite, and John Cleese is the director of Sotheby's auction house. Roman Polanski, Richard Attenborough and Raquel Welch also appear in this offbeat comedy. Paul McCartney wrote and produced "Come and Get It," the first international hit from the power-pop group Badfinger. John "Speedy" Keene wrote "Something In The Air" and performed the track with his group Thunderclap Newman. Sellers, Cleese, Graham Chapman and Terry Southern co-authored the screenplay taken from Southern's novel. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Ringo Starr, (more)
One of the few 1960s satires of the hippie culture that doesn't appear to be concocted by grumpy old men, I Love You, Alice B. Toklas stars Peter Sellers as Harold Fine, a staid, fortysomething Jewish attorney. Engaged to the equally straitlaced Joyce (Joyce Van Patten), Harold wistfully dreams of having a more exciting lifestyle. Through a fluke, Harold is obliged to drive a station wagon emblazoned with "psychedelic" imagery; it is with this vehicle that he picks up his flower-child brother Herbie (David Arkin), and Herbie's groovy chick Nancy (Leigh Taylor-Young). Rather enjoying the company of people outside of his establishment orbit, Harold visits Nancy at her pad, where she plies him with "hash brownies" -- concoctions laced with marijuana. His inhibitions released by the spiked pastries, Harold kicks over the traces, grows his hair to shoulder length, and embarks upon an affair with Nancy. But when the effects of the brownies wear off, Harold suddenly feels like the rather foolish middle-aged man that he is. The beauty of I Love You, Alice B. Toklas is that it patronizes neither the hippies nor the Establishment characters; both groups are shown as human beings rather than agit-prop stereotypes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Jo Van Fleet, (more)
