THE SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH (1957)

aka BIG TIME OPERATORS

Matt, a struggling novelist, and his wife Jean inherit some property from a great-uncle whom Matt barely remembers. When they hear it's a cinema in a small town, they get excited about the possibilities, but the reality is that the Bijou is known by the locals as the "flea pit"; it’s a small dilapidated theater with three old and eccentric employees. Hardcastle, the owner of the Grand, the bigger, more modern cinema in town, offers to buy the property from them to turn it into a parking lot, but Matt has a plan: engage in a surface effort to make improvements and keep the place going, so that Hardcastle will up the ante on his price. Things actually start looking up for a while. They show some Hollywood westerns and rowdy teenagers start showing up (partly for the fun of the movies, partly to make out). During "The Mystery of Hell Valley," Percy, the recovering alcoholic projectionist, pumps up the heat so their ice cream sells better, and hiring a lovely young woman to walk around selling snacks also helps. After some ups and downs, and an attempt at sabotage by Hardcastle, Old Tom, the senile usher, solves their problems with his own act of sabotage.

This is a charming little comedy with a nice atmosphere and good performances, but given the actors involved, it's a shame that the characters are not better developed. Matt and Jean are played by real-life couple Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna (pictured, of BORN FREE fame), Peter Sellers (in fairly artificial-looking old age make-up) is the projectionist, Bernard Miles is the usher and Margaret Rutherford (Miss Marple in the 1960s movie series) is the cashier. They're all fine, but each character remains flat, defined by only one trait or quirk. Despite the occasional misstep, you're never in doubt that things will turn out fine for Matt and Jean, though the way their happy ending comes about is unusual (and technically seems in violation of America's production code of the era in that someone breaks the law but isn't punished). The ending also has a fun callback to an earlier joke about a trip to Samarkand. It's a feel-good movie with a nice pace and good-natured tone. [TCM]