The Mouse That Roared | | Cast : | Peter Sellers, Jean Seberg | | Director : | Jack Arnold | | Studio : | Columbia Tristar Hom | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | October 26, 1959 | | DVD Released Date : | July 08, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | Unrated | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 14, 2005 | | Summary | "How did the war go?" "I think we've won." | Content
 | In 1959, a hilarious Cold War-inspired film entitled "The Mouse that Roared" was produced about a fictional tiny country named "The Duchy of Grand Fenwick". Grand Fenwick is no ordinary country. First, it's the smallest country in the world (about 15 square miles). Second, it's the only English-speaking country in continental Europe (located in the French Alps). Third, it's primary source of revenue is its wine; which was quite popular in the United States until a Californian winery started to bottle a cheaper wine with a similar name to the Grand Fenwick wine. Several letters of protest had been sent to the U.S., but no response had ever been received, except from the U.S. Department of Agriculture about growing grapes. To prevent bankruptcy, Prime Minister Count Rupert Mountjoy (Peter Sellers, 1925-1980) makes an unusual suggestion to the Grand Fenwick Parliament: declare war on the United States, then immediately surrender so that the U.S. will provide bountiful amounts of monetary aid. Grand Duchess Gloriana XII (also played by Peter Sellers) doesn't initially like the idea of going to war, but she acquiesces and the Prime Minister Mountjoy calls upon the Grand Fendwick military Field Marshal, Tully Bascombe (again, played by Peter Sellers), to lead Grand Fendwick's 20 (or so) man army (wearing chain mail from the Middle Ages) to invade the U.S. in New York City, where they can surrender to U.S. immigration authorities. Grand Fendwick's Declaration of War is perceived initially as a prank in the U.S., which is more interested in the development of a new super bomb (dubbed the Q-bomb) by the well-known scientist Professor Alfred Kokintz (David Kossoff, 1919-2005), who is also in New York City. Due to the potential destructiveness of the Q-bomb, New York City is evacuated. So, when the Grand Fenwick army arrives, there is no one around for them to surrender to. Instead, they proceed into the emptied city and are misconstrued by some evacuation officials as being extraterrestrials because of their chain mail. When Tully happens across a newspaper, he realizes that they are not far from where Professor Kokintz is developing the Q-bomb and decides that surrender isn't necessarily the only available option. What follows is a complete shock to the entire world.
Even after 46 years, "The Mouse that Roared" is still a hilarious and very entertaining film, and Peter Sellers did a superb job of portraying three very different characters. Overall, I rate "The Mouse that Roared" with 5 out of 5 stars. Other memorable characters include Professor Kokintz's daughter Helen (Jean Seberg, 1938-1979), General Snippet (MacDonald Parke, 1891-1960), Will Buckley (William Hartnell, 1908-1975, who is better known for being the very first "Doctor Who" on the long-running BBC sci-fi TV series of the same name), Benter (Leo McKern, 1920-2002) and the United States Secretary of Defense (Austin Willis, 1917-2004). |
| Rating | | | Date | April 20, 2005 | | Summary | The Mouse That Roared | Content
| This is an easy to read and very understandable book. It's one of those books that you want to keep reading until you finish it. The storyline is very unique and different than from other books that I have read. The plot of a country only 5 miles wide going to war against the U.S. is very unrealistic but the author presents it in a very comedial fashion that has one laughing. I found it very amusing that the Americans thought there were aliens from Mars coming to attack their country. Through the author's words one can find themselves encouraging the characters thru their adventure in the United States. If you feel like reading a light, funny, easy to read, and adventurous book then The Mouse That Roared is perfect for you. |
| Rating | | | Date | September 07, 2004 | | Summary | Funny Cold War Satire | Content
| This is not the funniest vehicle for Peter Sellers, but it was the first film to demonstrate his versatility to worldwide audiences. In this film he plays three roles and he does reasonably well in all of them. Basically this film is a gentle tweaking of the post World War II-Cold War politics of the day and as a time capsule this film holds up rather well. An interesting double-bill for this film would be with Dr. Strangelove. |
| Rating | | | Date | October 13, 2003 | | Summary | Funny story, but bad DVD | Content
| The Mouse That Roared is a funny satire that is boosted by the excellent performances of Peter Sellers. Set in the fictional country of Grand Fenwick, the story tells of their plans to invade America, lose the war, and then reap the benefits as the USA tries to rebuild their country just like after WWII with the Marshall Plan. Unfortunately, the whole plan goes awry setting the whole story into motion. This is a funny movie but there is nothing here that is great humor. The idea of it all is pretty good, but the story never really takes off. Peter Sellers is great as the Duchess of Grand Fenwick, the Prime Minister of Grand Fenwick, and also the Field Marshall of Grand Fenwick. He has most of the good lines in the movie although even he is not at his best. The film also stars Joan Seberg as the daughter of a doctor that the Field Marshall falls in love with. The DVD does offer widescreen presentation and several theatrical trailers but there is a problem here. Maybe its just my own DVD but the sound is off so that when people talk their mouths move a second or two after the actual dialogue has been spoken. This may just be my DVD, but it is distracting nonetheless and very obvious. The Mouse that Roared is still a funny movie with three good performances by Peter Sellers. |
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