The Smallest Show on Earth (1957)

[Frederica]

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of watching the 1957 UK comedy, The Smallest Show on Earth, a Basil Dearden-directed film starring Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, Margaret Rutherford, Peter Sellers, and Bernard Miles.

Bill and Virginia are young marrieds who inherit a ramshackle neighborhood cinema (and the cinema's three elderly and eccentric long-time employees). The couple initially decide to sell the cinema as quickly as possible, but end up doing some minor repairs and opening the theater for business. As they struggle to keep the business afloat--despite the decrepit and idiosyncratic projection equipment, programs that run solely to cheap B-westerns, and ill-mannered audiences--they also develop an affection for the nuts and bolts side of the film business. It's a sweet film and at times a very funny one. A big bunch of grapes for The Smallest Show on Earth.

[sc1957]

Does this film involve midgets?
'Cause if not, I'll be very disappointed.

[Frederica]

Does this film involve midgets?
'Cause if not, I'll be very disappointed.

Midget-free.

[Michael O'Regan]

Excellent picture.

Sellers is great in it.

When I was a kid, any film that involved projectors, projectionists, projection boxes, etc. had me drooling. This one was top-o-the-list.

[FrankFay]

It's a rather sweet film & Sellers gives a nicely modulated performance. In one of the key scenes the young couple go out to dinner, when they come back they find the three staff members are running a silent film (Hepworth's Comin' Thru the Rye) and are deeply affected by it.

[Frederica]

It's a rather sweet film & Sellers gives a nicely modulated performance. In one of the key scenes the young couple go out to dinner, when they come back they find the three staff members are running a silent film (Hepworth's Comin' Thru the Rye) and are deeply affected by it.

I wondered if the silent film had been identified (or even if it was a real silent film, although it looked "silent-y"). Were the westerns real? it is a very charming film indeed, not least because Sellers isn't his usual "makes my hair itch" annoying self.

I did not realize that Bill Travers and Linden Travers were siblings. I can hardly wait to stun my friends at parties with that bit o'knowledge.

[Frederica]

Excellent picture.

Sellers is great in it.

When I was a kid, any film that involved projectors, projectionists, projection boxes, etc. had me drooling. This one was top-o-the-list.

The projection equipment and the projection room were terrifying, too. it looked like Three Mile Island in there. Of course Seller's character is smoking like a chimney in it, despite the signs. I liked Sellers' performance, but I preferred Margaret Rutherford as the ticket-booth "girlfriend" of the original owner. Any film that casts Margaret Rutherford in the role of long-term mistress has a fan in me.

[FrankFay]

The Grand Cinema was a real place, but the flea pit exterior was built on a piece of empty ground between two highway ramps.

[Michael O'Regan]

Excellent picture.

Sellers is great in it.

When I was a kid, any film that involved projectors, projectionists, projection boxes, etc. had me drooling. This one was top-o-the-list.

The projection equipment and the projection room were terrifying, too. it looked like Three Mile Island in there. Of course Seller's character is smoking like a chimney in it, despite the signs.

You should've seen the one I worked in back in late '70's Cork. We had ashtrays and there was always a pint bottle of Guinness on the go. Dedicated we was...dedicated I tell ya.

[Jay Schwartz]

Does this film involve midgets?
'Cause if not, I'll be very disappointed.

You might be thinking of William Castle's IT'S A SMALL WORLD.

[Brooksie]

I'm so glad you caught this one Fred - I came across it on TV one rainy Sunday afternoon and was really charmed by it too.

[FrankFay]

You can see it here on line- decent site: LikeTelevision

http://tesla.liketelevision.com/liketel ... heme=guide" target="_blank

[Donald Binks]

I actually attended a cinema very much like the interior of the one depicted in this picture. The only carpet was the one down the aisle and had been there since day one back in about 1921. The seats were those old wooden hard backed ones with the seats that went up. There wasn't much space between the rows and late-comers trod all over you. Underneath the seats it was just floorboards - so if anyone spilled round lollies, they would roll noisily towards the orchestra pit.

The orchestra pit was shielded by a tatty old brown curtain loosely hanging up by large brass rings. It was moth eaten. The main house curtain was held together by the silverfish and used to squeak as it was dragged to and fro. The screen had seen better days and had patches that could only be described as dirt.

The sound system must have been the original Vitaphone equipment and most dialogue was muffled or indistinct - not that it mattered that much as the audience usually made enough noise to compensate - especially during Westerns or other entertainments of huge excitement.

Oh, yes, as you entered the auditorium from the small, dingy foyer, the ticket-tearer would usher you through a curtain and a pile of dust would descend upon you.

It was fun going to the pictures, wasn't it!

[markfp]

THE SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH is one of my very favorite British films. We too had one like it in my hometown. I guess up until the early fifties it was pretty well cared for, but by the time I started going there around 1958 it truly had become a "flea pit". It was so bad that they never turned on the house lights. Before and after the show the small aisle lights on the end of the rows and a rotating color wheel shining on the screen were just enough to keep from tripping over the torn carpets.

Still, for all its faults, I loved the place. Only open on weekends, it survived showing last-run and older films many from RKO and Republic. For a novice film buff, just getting started, it was a great place to get acquainted with all those great films like KING KONG, SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON and CITIZEN KANE which I had yet to see.

[Frederica]

THE SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH is one of my very favorite British films. We too had one like it in my hometown. I guess up until the early fifties it was pretty well cared for, but by the time I started going there around 1958 it truly had become a "flea pit". It was so bad that they never turned on the house lights. Before and after the show the small aisle lights on the end of the rows and a rotating color wheel shining on the screen were just enough to keep from tripping over the torn carpets.

(Sigh.) If I'd had a theater of any kind in my hometown, I'm sure it would have been rundown yet charming, and I'm just as sure that I would have frequented it--perhaps even served as an usherette! ("Raisinettes?") But no. No, I'm forced to vicariously wax nostalgic for the film emporia of my youth. Am I the only person in the western world who didn't have a theater in my hometown?

[Lokke Heiss]

How far WAS the nearest theater to your home town, and how often did you get there?

[Frederica]

How far WAS the nearest theater to your home town, and how often did you get there?

10 miles to the north, 17 to the west, 27 miles to the south, nothing until Fresno to the east. I was taken to the movies by my parents four times during my childhood. (101 Dalmations, The Music Man, The Sound of Music, and 2001: A Space Odyssey). I'm still not sure how I became a movie buff.

[moviepas]

I had a lot of movie houses around me when I was born in 1949 and three are still there and operating(two as live houses now) and one for classic films(Mamba's 21st Century premiere). When we moved in Sept 1957(10 miles further away from downtown) where I still live we had one in my suburb(never entered it whilst it was open and our local council-owned library with DVDs is now on the site) and four others around me. Only part of one exists, most of which was torn down to add extra shops etc and some parking. McDonalds could not get permission to use the site due to parking problems thus a little of the late 1920s building does exist still. There were also two drive-ins near me but they are long gone and I might still have some glass slides and 70mm footage I took from the abandoned office at the nearest. I recently found again a wages book from there I harpooned.

The Smallest Show film was very popular among collectors here who were in the projection business in the city theaters. The full film was on Archive.org, I think but DVDs are available legally. There is or was, not sure, a theater in London called The Players which ran music hall shows as a club one belonged to near a railway viaduct.

[Richard M Roberts]

I had a lot of movie houses around me when I was born in 1949 and three are still there and operating(two as live houses now) and one for classic films(Mamba's 21st Century premiere). When we moved in Sept 1957(10 miles further away from downtown) where I still live we had one in my suburb(never entered it whilst it was open and our local council-owned library with DVDs is now on the site) and four others around me. Only part of one exists, most of which was torn down to add extra shops etc and some parking. McDonalds could not get permission to use the site due to parking problems thus a little of the late 1920s building does exist still. There were also two drive-ins near me but they are long gone and I might still have some glass slides and 70mm footage I took from the abandoned office at the nearest. I recently found again a wages book from there I harpooned.

The Smallest Show film was very popular among collectors here who were in the projection business in the city theaters. The full film was on Archive.org, I think but DVDs are available legally. There is or was, not sure, a theater in London called The Players which ran music hall shows as a club one belonged to near a railway viaduct.

Sadly, the Players was closed and torn down about a decade ago. It was a tragedy as it was a beautiful theater and pub.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Frederica]

Sadly, the Players was closed and torn down about a decade ago. It was a tragedy as it was a beautiful theater and pub.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

There is a 1987 Welsh language film called Rhosyn a Rhith (Coming up Roses) with a similar theme: two people attempt to keep an on-its-last-legs Aberdare neighborhood cinema functioning. It had much the same elegiac charm as The Smallest Show on Earth. Looks like it will be a hard one to find, though.
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/71322/Rhosyn-a-Rhith/" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

[Lokke Heiss]

How far WAS the nearest theater to your home town, and how often did you get there?

10 miles to the north, 17 to the west, 27 miles to the south, nothing until Fresno to the east. I was taken to the movies by my parents four times during my childhood. (101 Dalmations, The Music Man, The Sound of Music, and 2001: A Space Odyssey). I'm still not sure how I became a movie buff.

Only 10 miles away? That's not far. I walked that far twice a day, barefoot, to get to school and back.

[drednm]

Anybody know anything about the various DVDs of this classic? Any of them better than the washed out copy that's been floating around for years? I assume the Alpha DVD is exactly what's been floating around, but there are others....

[Doug Sulpy]

I thought the Anchor Bay DVD looked fine - and you can buy it for next to nothing these days.

http://www.amazon.com/Smallest-Show-Ear ... w+on+earth" target="_blank

[drednm]

Thanks!

[earlytalkiebuffRob]

THE SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH is one of my very favorite British films. We too had one like it in my hometown. I guess up until the early fifties it was pretty well cared for, but by the time I started going there around 1958 it truly had become a "flea pit". It was so bad that they never turned on the house lights. Before and after the show the small aisle lights on the end of the rows and a rotating color wheel shining on the screen were just enough to keep from tripping over the torn carpets.

(Sigh.) If I'd had a theater of any kind in my hometown, I'm sure it would have been rundown yet charming, and I'm just as sure that I would have frequented it--perhaps even served as an usherette! ("Raisinettes?") But no. No, I'm forced to vicariously wax nostalgic for the film emporia of my youth. Am I the only person in the western world who didn't have a theater in my hometown?

For about six years I had a cinema at the bottom of my road - The Essoldo (later The Classic) in Albert Road, Southsea, England. My family moved to Chelsea Road in about 1968, but the cinema closed in 1975 of thereabouts. There was another, The Odeon, about 10-15 minutes walk from us, but that, too folded in the early 1980s and was demolished sometime after. At least the squirrels which frequent the place supply plenty of entertainment.