A post-Ealing comedy perhaps, well, perhaps not, as it's hard to imagine the Boulting Brothers making such a politically specific modern-day satire as this, but nevertheless the irreverence, charm and humour are all very definitely there.
Of course, adding to the Ealing feel is Peter Sellers doing an Alec Guinness with a multi-part role as the dim but determined Everyman Tulley Bascombe of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick, chosen to lead the invasion force to the United States, its rascally Prime Minister Count Rupert and its droll dowager ruler, the Grand Duchess Gloriana. I think old Obe Wan would have been proud of his disciple's very different but very good performances.
The film makes astute and still relevant political points, particularly about America invading countries and then afterwards cleaning up the mess by showering foreign aid on them as well as wider points about the preposterousness of the whole weapons of mass destruction argument.
The humour is sparkling, right from the spoof opening and end title sequence featuring a live "Miss Columbia" hitching up her dress and vacating her plinth and continues on in fine style from there. My favourite scenes included the Grand Fenwick mother literally locking up her daughter at the sight of the four American policemen in their midst, the mock-serious A-bomb interlude, the US and Russian envoys playing a board game called "Diplomacy" (although "Monopoly" itself would have been more apt) and a sub-title joke that was years ahead of Woody Allen in "Bananas".
Sellers, as I said, acts the three best parts in the film with his already established versatility and comic timing, but Leo McKern as the collaborating and conspiring leader of the opposition, future Doctor Who William Hartnell as the stern first officer and David Kossof as the perhaps too stereotypical potty professor inventor of the bomb, also shine while Jean Seberg, with her modern, boyish hair-cut is delightful as the latter's dutiful, beautiful daughter.
My only real complaint would be the simpering, docile part played by women in the film, including Seberg's part, but I guess times and attitudes to females were different then and maybe I should make some allowances. On the whole though this was an ace British comedy, quirky, topical and above all, funny.
Of course, adding to the Ealing feel is Peter Sellers doing an Alec Guinness with a multi-part role as the dim but determined Everyman Tulley Bascombe of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick, chosen to lead the invasion force to the United States, its rascally Prime Minister Count Rupert and its droll dowager ruler, the Grand Duchess Gloriana. I think old Obe Wan would have been proud of his disciple's very different but very good performances.
The film makes astute and still relevant political points, particularly about America invading countries and then afterwards cleaning up the mess by showering foreign aid on them as well as wider points about the preposterousness of the whole weapons of mass destruction argument.
The humour is sparkling, right from the spoof opening and end title sequence featuring a live "Miss Columbia" hitching up her dress and vacating her plinth and continues on in fine style from there. My favourite scenes included the Grand Fenwick mother literally locking up her daughter at the sight of the four American policemen in their midst, the mock-serious A-bomb interlude, the US and Russian envoys playing a board game called "Diplomacy" (although "Monopoly" itself would have been more apt) and a sub-title joke that was years ahead of Woody Allen in "Bananas".
Sellers, as I said, acts the three best parts in the film with his already established versatility and comic timing, but Leo McKern as the collaborating and conspiring leader of the opposition, future Doctor Who William Hartnell as the stern first officer and David Kossof as the perhaps too stereotypical potty professor inventor of the bomb, also shine while Jean Seberg, with her modern, boyish hair-cut is delightful as the latter's dutiful, beautiful daughter.
My only real complaint would be the simpering, docile part played by women in the film, including Seberg's part, but I guess times and attitudes to females were different then and maybe I should make some allowances. On the whole though this was an ace British comedy, quirky, topical and above all, funny.