Before he was a household name around the world, Peter Sellers honed his acting talent in a string of British black and white comedies. Five of the best have been released by Kino Lorber on individual Blu-rays over the past year, and are now compiled in this new box set. I’ve previously reviewed four of them in depth, with corresponding links to those reviews embedded in the titles below.
Buy Peter Sellers Early ClassicsMan in a Cocked Hat (1959) is primarily a Terry-Thomas vehicle, with Sellers providing limited support as a corrupt prime minister of a backwater UK colony. When valuable mineral deposits are discovered in the forgotten territory, Terry-Thomas’ bumbling diplomat is dispatched to secure them for the Empire, leading to a spiraling comedy of errors.
I’m All Right Jack (1959) finds Sellers tackling dual roles in a smartly written satire about labor relations in an industrial factory. Again, he’s not the primary focus, instead supporting Ian Carmichael’s role as the posh idiot nephew of the munitions factory owner. Sellers mostly plays the harried labor union leader walking the thin line between uncaring management and shiftless workers.
Two Way Stretch (1960) plays a bit like Hogan’s Heroes, with Sellers portraying a jailbird living a comfortable pampered existence behind bars with his two cell mates, played by Bernard Cribbins (Doctor Who) and David Lodge. Sellers’ artful Dodger character runs the joint, able to sneak in whatever he wants thanks to lax, friendly guards, until a hardnosed new chief guard arrives to ruin his cushy gig. When his man on the outside, Soapy (Wilfrid Hyde-White, Battlestar Galactica), sets up a major diamond heist as parole approaches for the three cellmates, they team up to outwit the guard and pull off the legendary job.
The Wrong Arm of the Law (1963) has Sellers playing another crook, but this time he’s a no-nonsense Cockney kingpin running a major criminal organization behind the scenes of a haute couture dress shop. There’s a throughline from Two Way Stretch, with Cribbins and Lodge again playing his criminal associates, even as Sellers plays a more sinister character. He gets to try on different accents as he juggles time as the seemingly highbrow store owner and the streetwise crime boss, showing off his impressive range.
Heavens Above (1963) is the most atypical Sellers role in the set, with his earnest chaplain character mistakenly assigned to a wealthy parish at odds with his progressive ideals. It’s not really a comedy, but it is a heart-warming dramatic turn for Sellers that once again proves his ability to do it all, and do it remarkably well.
The box set fits all five films into a case just slightly deeper than a standard single, making for a very compact footprint. The discs contain the same bonus features as the prior individual Blu-ray releases, consisting of audio commentary tracks for all films, a few theatrical trailers, and two interviews: one with I’m All Right Jack co-star Liz Fraser, and the other with the screenwriter for The Wrong Arm of the Law. The black and white films are all in fantastic condition, with Heavens Above perhaps the most visually impressive. While the mono soundtracks are free of defects, they offer little more than passable fidelity as originally recorded.
While Sellers remains most renowned for his incredible run of films after 1963, these early gems very clearly prove how he became a breakout star. They also provide a glimpse of a simpler, more subdued time for him when he hadn’t yet set his ever-increasing bar for zany, over-the-top antics. There’s not a dud in the bunch, and even the most devout, peak-career Sellers fans are likely to find new respect for his inimitable craft in these charming performances.
