THE SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH is a likable, small scale British comedy of the 1950s. It was directed by the reliably great Basil Dearden and features the tag team of Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna a near decade before BORN FREE. They play a couple who buy a run-down old flea pit from slick agent Leslie Phillips and attempt to make a go of it, with most of the comedy arising from the oddball characters already in residence. Margaret Rutherford makes a fine usher, Peter Sellers isn't too overbearing as the projectionist (and also unrecognisable), while the best is Bernard Miles as the doddering old-timer. The humour is somewhat dated and the laughs somewhat genteel, but overall this is likable and timeless fare.
Review of Big Time Operators
