7/10
Peter Sellers is top-notch as a church minister is wrongly appointed to a snooty county parish
20 February 2021
An acid and scathing satire about a prison chaplain : Peter Sellers , he is a well-meaning and good-natured priest who is sent by mistake to a snoobish county parish . The location is ruled by the wealthy Despad family who owns the prosperous factory run by widow Lady Lucky : Isabel Jeans and her son : Mark Eden. Then Sellers accommodates a gipsy famly : Eric Sykes , Irene Handl, Míriam Karlin , and he unwisely opens his home .But good intentions of the new reverend go wrong and it leads to mayhem, strikes and chaos . Or how a humble Man of the cloth was given the Old Double Cross !

A biting and sharp satire on cleric life in England , dealing with a real critique to uselessness of charity , as well as differences between upper and lower classes and the Protestant Church too . Peter Sellers finely plays as the quiet, down-to-earth reverend who is wrongly appointed to a new post in a little town and finally in space . After the hilarious goings on of Private's progress , Brothers in law and Lucky Jim was a quiet departure for the Boulting brothers who here wrote, produced and directed . Here Peter Sellers is well accompanied by a great plethora of Brit actors , some of them considered to be the best English secondaries , such as : Bernard Miles , Isabel Jeans , Eric Sykes , Irene Handl, Milles Malleson , Kenneth Griffith , Gerald Sim, Mark Eden , Roy Kinnear, Thorley Walters of Hammer, Joan Hickson of Marple series and the Afro-American Brock Peters as priest assistant Mattew.

It includes an adequate and evocative musical score by Richard Rodney Bennet. Adding atmospheric cinematography in black and white by Mutz Greenbaum. This sour motion picture was well written/produced/directed from filmmakers John and Roy Boulting . They were two of the best British directors of the England post-war . As they made nice films wether realizing together or separated at times , such as : I'm all right Jack, Brighton Rock , Lucky Jim, There's a girl on my soup , Charlton Brown of the F.O. , Brothers in law , The Guinea Pig , Fame is the Spur , among others . Rating : 7/10. Decent British comedy with great cast.
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