- Heavens Above!
Infobox Film
name = Heavens Above!
image_size = 150px
caption = original film poster
director =John Boulting Roy Boulting
producer = John Boulting
Roy Boulting
writer =Frank Harvey Jr.
starring =Peter Sellers Bernard Miles Cecil Parker
music =Richard Rodney Bennett
cinematography =Mutz Greenbaum
editing =
distributor =British Lion Films
Romulus
released = 1963
runtime = 113 min.
country = UK
awards =
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id = 1:21990
imdb_id = 0057134"Heavens Above!" is a 1963 British
satirical comedy film starringPeter Sellers , directed byJohn and Roy Boulting , who also co-wrote along withFrank Harvey , from an idea byMalcolm Muggeridge . It is in much the same vein as earlier collaborations between Sellers, Harvey and the Boultings, "Private's Progress " and "I'm All Right Jack ".Plot
The plot features Sellers as a humble, caring
vicar accidentally assigned to the comfortable country village ofOrbiston Parva , in place ofIan Carmichael 's upper-class cleric, with whom he shares a name. His belief in charity andforgiveness set him at odds with the selfish locals, whose assertions that they are good,Christian people are belied by their behaviour and ideas. He creates social ructions by hiring a new churchwarden, giving away food, taking in a homeless lower class family, and opposing the building of a newfactory in the village. However, all his good works lead to trouble.Cast
The cast includes
Cecil Parker as Seller'sArchdeacon ,William Hartnell as a town councillor,Roy Kinnear ,Irene Handl ,Eric Sykes ,Joan Hickson andSteve Marriott [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A9370415 BBC - h2g2 - The Small Faces - the Band.] Steve Marriott appeared in "Heavens Above!"] . Sellers' performance is generally held to be outstanding, in a meatier, more dramatic role than most he had previously taken on, but many find the ending a little ill-fitting and silly.Fact|date=June 2007Analysis
Like the other Boulting/Sellers films, "Heavens Above!" satirises contemporary attitudes and cautiously espouses a
socialist ethos, while also showing the possible deleterious side-effects of such ideas, and the all-too-human tendency to take advantage of naive generosity.The film is also notable for its use of
profanity , very daring for 1963; Sykes' character at one stage utters the line, "What if it pisses it with rain?".References
External links
* [http://imdb.com/title/tt0057134/ Heavens Above!'s entry at the IMDB]
* [http://www.britmovie.co.uk/directors/j_boulting/filmography/005.html Info and plot summary at Britmovie.co.uk]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
