''Heavens Above!'' is a 1963

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed and produced by

John and Roy Boulting John Edward Boulting (21 December 1913 – 17 June 1985) and Roy Alfred Clarence Boulting (21 December 1913 – 5 November 2001), known collectively as the Boulting brothers, were English filmmakers and identical twins who became known for thei ...

, and starring

Peter Sellers Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show''. Sellers featured on a number of hit comi ...

. It was written by John Boulting and Frank Harvey, from an idea by

Malcolm Muggeridge Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge (24 March 1903 – 14 November 1990) was a conservative British journalist and satirist. His father, H. T. Muggeridge, was a socialist politician and one of the early Labour Party Members of Parliament (for Romford, i ...

Plot

A naive but caring prison chaplain, John Smallwood, is accidentally assigned as vicar to the small and prosperous English country town of Orbiston Parva, instead of a cleric with the same name who is favoured by the Bishop who wants to maintain the support for the church of the Despard family, who practically run the town and operate a large factory there. Smallwood's belief in the practical application of charity and forgiveness sets him at odds with the locals, whose assertions that they are good,

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

people are belied in Smallwood's eyes by their behaviour and ideas. He creates social ructions by appointing a black dustman as his churchwarden, taking in a family being evicted from their illegal encampment, and persuading local landowner Lady Despard to provide food for the church to distribute free to the people of the town. His scheme spirals out of control and very soon the local traders are up in arms as they have lost all their customers. He tries to explain this to the residents but is besieged in the church hall and only just rescued by the police. As a face-saving act, the Bishop appoints the "correct" Smallwood to the parish and assigns the "troublemaker" to the Scottish island of "Ultima Thule" and makes him "Bishop of Outer Space" to the British space operations based there. But when the intended pilot of the first rocket gets cold feet, Smallwood takes his place. He is last heard broadcasting hymns over the space capsule's radio.

Locations

The film was shot at

Shepperton Studios Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of Pinewood Group, the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not ...

, England. Shepperton railway station served as the station of the fictional Orbiston Parva. The mansion where Lady Despard resided was Claremont in Surrey, a listed building designed by the renowned architect Capability Brown built in 1774.

Cast

as the Reverend John Edward Smallwood *

Cecil Parker Cecil Parker (born Cecil Schwabe; 3 September 1897 – 20 April 1971) was an English actor with a distinctively husky voice, who usually played supporting roles, often characters with a supercilious demeanour, in his 91 films made between 1 ...

as Archdeacon Aspinall * Isabel Jeans as Lady Lucy Despard *

Ian Carmichael Ian Gillett Carmichael, (18 June 1920 – 5 February 2010) was an English actor who Ian Carmichael on stage, screen and radio, worked prolifically on stage, screen and radio in a career that spanned seventy years. Born in Kingston upon ...

as the other Smallwood * Bernard Miles as Simpson * Brock Peters as Matthew Robinson * Eric Sykes as Harry Smith * Irene Handl as Rene Smith *

Miriam Karlin Miriam Karlin (23 June 19253 June 2011) was an English actress whose career lasted for more than 60 years. She was known for her role as Paddy in ''The Rag Trade'', a 1960s BBC and 1970s LWT sitcom, and in particular for the character's catchp ...

as Winnie Smith * Josephine Woodford as Doris Smith * Joan Miller as Mrs. Smith-Gould * Miles Malleson as Rockeby * Eric Barker as bank manager * William Hartnell as Major Fowler, town councillor *

Roy Kinnear Roy Mitchell Kinnear (8 January 1934 – 20 September 1988) was an English character actor and comedian. He was known for his acting roles in movies such as Henry Salt in the 1971 film ''Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory'', Algernon in The Be ...

as Fred Smith *

Joan Hickson Joan Bogle Hickson (5 August 1906 – 17 October 1998) was an English actress of theatre, film and television. She was known for her role as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series '' Miss Marple''. She also narrated a number of ...

as housewife * Kenneth Griffith as Reverend Owen Thomas * Mark Eden as Sir Geoffrey Despard *

John Comer John Comer (1 March 1924 – 11 February 1984) was a British comic actor. He was best known for his roles in ''Coronation Street'' as Mr Birtles, then as a taxi driver, and later as Wilf Jones, in ''Emmerdale Farm'' as Ernie Shuttleworth, Les ...

as butcher *

Basil Dignam Basil Dignam (24 October 1905 – 31 January 1979) was an English character actor. Basil Dignam was born in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire. Before the acting, he tried many jobs, from a company clerk to a journalist. He acted on film and ...

as prison governor * Franklin Engelmann as TV commentator * Colin Gordon as the Prime Minister * Geoffrey Hibbert as council official * Joan Heal as disgruntled housewife * Ludovic Kennedy as himself * Margery Lawrence as quarrelling housewife * Harry Locke as shop steward * Henry Longhurst as deaf man *

as cleric * Derek Nimmo as the Director-General's assistant * Conrad Phillips as P.R.O. * Nicholas Phipps as the Director-General * Cardew Robinson as tramp * Gerald Sim as store manager * Olive Sloane as housewife * Marianne Stone as Miss Palmer * Elsie Wagstaff lady on parish council * Thorley Walters as Tranquilax executive * Ian Wilson as Salvation Army major * George Woodbridge as the Bishop *

Drewe Henley Gordon Drewe Henley (1940 – 14 February 2016) was an English actor. He had a variety of roles in film, television and theatre including as Red X-Wing Squadron Leader Garven Dreis in '' Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope''. He retired from acti ...

as Doris's boy friend (uncredited) * Ed Devereaux as communication officer (uncredited) * John Junkin (uncredited) * Rodney Bewes (uncredited) *

Steve Marriott Stephen Peter Marriott (30 January 1947 – 20 April 1991) was an English actor, musician, guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a student at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London and appeared in the West End, before taking a r ...

(uncredited)

Release

The film premiered in London on 23 May 1963 at the Columbia Cinema in Shaftesbury Avenue (later the Curzon Soho).

Reception

Box office

It was one of the 12 most popular films in Britain in 1963.

Critical

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' wrote: "Way off target as a satire, the Boultings' latest effort is remarkable chiefly for the amount of schoolboy smut it manages to incorporate, and for the nastiness of its view of people. Buñuel castigates mankind because he is urgently concerned for it; ''Heavens Above!'' despises everybody just about equally, even its heroes. Matthew, the 'liberally' conceived coloured man, for example, is presented insultingly (through no fault of the actor) as one of those simpleminded, hymn-singing innocents with water-melon smiles. The whimsical ending; the crude caricaturing in most of the characterisation; the aimless lashing out at everything in sight; the sentimental imagery of an angelic child and a forlorn teddy-bear to point up Smallwood's message of charity and the barren ground in which it has fallen – all point to real desperation. Half-a-dozen funny lines, an excellent performance by Peter Sellers, and good ones from Isabel Jeans, Cecil Parker and Brock Peters, don't take the film very far" ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' found it lacking the mild bite and satire of the Boulting-Sellers film '' I'm All Right Jack''The Times, 23 May 1963, page 6, Film review
''A Serious Film Comedy Gone Wrong - Heavens Above!''
- found in The Times Digital Archive 2014-03-15

Analysis

An article in ''Garden History'' likened the character of Smallwood to that of the 18th century picturesque guru William Gilpin: "The first act of the new reverend is to invite a group of colourful travellers to reside in the vicarage; the second is to convince an old lady to open her house and grounds to all sorts of poor vagabonds, scruffs and vagrants, characters who bring picturesque values to the noble scene. Eventually, a picturesque economic system based on free donation causes havoc in the village and the nation – the reverend is made a bishop and sent into space, in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

's first spaceship. The film revives a character that one can safely imagine as a modern version of Doctor Syntax – cordial, dedicated, stubborn, fearless, not reacting against, but slightly diverging from, the established values of his culture."The Revd William Gilpin and the Picturesque; Or, Who's Afraid of Doctor Syntax? Author(s): Francesca Orestano Source: Garden History, Vol.31, No.2 (Winter, 2003), pp. 163–179

References

External links

* * * {{Boulting brothers 1963 films 1963 comedy films British comedy films British satirical films British black-and-white films 1960s English-language films Films directed by John Boulting Films directed by Roy Boulting Films scored by Richard Rodney Bennett Films about Christianity Religion in the United Kingdom 1960s British films English-language comedy films