Heavens Above!
Encyclopedia
Heavens Above! is a 1963
British
satirical comedy film
starring Peter Sellers
, directed by John and Roy Boulting
, who also co-wrote along with Frank Harvey
, from an idea by Malcolm 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
.
to a small and prosperous country town of Orbiston Parva, in place of Ian Carmichael
's upper-class cleric, with whom he shares a name. His belief in charity
and forgiveness
sets him at odds with the locals, whose assertions that they are good, Christian
people are in Smallwood's view belied by their behaviour and ideas. He creates social ructions by appointing a black dustman (Brock Peters
) as his churchwarden, taking in a gypsy family, and persuading local landowner Lady Despard (Isabel Jeans
) to provide free food for the church to distribute free to the people of the town. However, all his good works lead to trouble.
The cast includes Steve Marriott
who has an uncredited role in the film. 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.
in the village and the nation - the reverend is made a bishop and sent into space, in
England'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."
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?".
1963 in film
The year 1963 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* June 12 - Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison and Richard Burton premieres at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City....
British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
satirical comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
starring Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
, directed by John and Roy Boulting
John and Roy Boulting
John Edward Boulting and Roy Alfred Clarence Boulting , known collectively as the Boulting brothers, were English filmmakers and identical twins who became known for their popular series of satirical comedies in the 1950s and 1960s.-Biography:The twin brothers were born in Bray, Berkshire, England...
, who also co-wrote along with Frank Harvey
Frank Harvey
Frank Harvey was an English screenwriter who jointly won a BAFTA Award with John Boulting and Alan Hackney for I'm All Right Jack in 1960. He was born 11 August 1912 in Manchester. During his career he was nominated for a second BAFTA for Private's Progress. He died 6 November 1981 in Ottery St...
, from an idea by Malcolm Muggeridge
Malcolm Muggeridge
Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge was an English journalist, author, media personality, and satirist. During World War II, he was a soldier and a spy...
. It is in much the same vein as earlier collaborations between Sellers, Harvey and the Boultings, Private's Progress
Private's Progress
Private's Progress is a 1956 British comedy film based on the novel by Alan Hackney. It was directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting, from a script by John Boulting and Frank Harvey.-Plot:...
and I'm All Right Jack
I'm All Right Jack
I'm All Right Jack is a 1959 British comedy film directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting from a script by Frank Harvey, John Boulting and Alan Hackney, based on the novel Private Life by Hackney...
.
Plot
The plot features Sellers as a naive but caring prison chaplain accidentally assigned as vicarVicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
to a small and prosperous country town of Orbiston Parva, in place of Ian Carmichael
Ian Carmichael
Ian Gillett Carmichael, OBE was an English film, stage, television and radio actor.-Early life:Carmichael was born in Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The son of an optician, he was educated at Scarborough College and Bromsgrove School, before training as an actor at RADA...
's upper-class cleric, with whom he shares a name. His belief in charity
Charity (virtue)
In Christian theology charity, or love , means an unlimited loving-kindness toward all others.The term should not be confused with the more restricted modern use of the word charity to mean benevolent giving.- Caritas: altruistic love :...
and forgiveness
Forgiveness
Forgiveness is typically defined as the process of concluding resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, difference or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution. The Oxford English Dictionary defines forgiveness as 'to grant free pardon and to give up all...
sets him at odds with the locals, whose assertions that they are good, Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
people are in Smallwood's view belied by their behaviour and ideas. He creates social ructions by appointing a black dustman (Brock Peters
Brock Peters
Brock Peters was an American actor, best known for playing the role of Tom Robinson in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird...
) as his churchwarden, taking in a gypsy family, and persuading local landowner Lady Despard (Isabel Jeans
Isabel Jeans
Isabel Jeans was an English stage and film actress known for her roles in several Alfred Hitchcock films, among others.-Career:...
) to provide free food for the church to distribute free to the people of the town. However, all his good works lead to trouble.
Cast
- Peter SellersPeter SellersRichard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
as The Reverend John Smallwood - Cecil ParkerCecil ParkerCecil Parker was an English character and comedy actor with a distinctive husky voice, who usually played supporting roles in his 91 films made between 1928 and 1969....
as Archdeacon Aspinall - Isabel JeansIsabel JeansIsabel Jeans was an English stage and film actress known for her roles in several Alfred Hitchcock films, among others.-Career:...
as Lady Despard - Ian CarmichaelIan CarmichaelIan Gillett Carmichael, OBE was an English film, stage, television and radio actor.-Early life:Carmichael was born in Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The son of an optician, he was educated at Scarborough College and Bromsgrove School, before training as an actor at RADA...
as The Other Smallwood - Bernard MilesBernard MilesBernard James Miles, Baron Miles, CBE was an English character actor, writer and director. He opened the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1959, the first new theatre opened in the City of London since the 17th century....
as Simpson - Brock PetersBrock PetersBrock Peters was an American actor, best known for playing the role of Tom Robinson in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird...
as Matthew Robinson - Eric SykesEric SykesEric Sykes, CBE is an English radio, television and film writer, actor and director whose performing career has spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and/or performed with many other leading comedy performers and writers of the period, including Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Peter...
as Harry Smith - Irene HandlIrene Handl-Life:Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the daughter of an Austrian banker father and French mother. She took to acting at the relatively advanced age of 36, and studied at the acting school run by the sister of Dame Sybil Thorndike...
as Rene Smith - Miriam KarlinMiriam KarlinMiriam Karlin, OBE was a British actress who worked on screen for over 60 years. She was best known for her role as Paddy in The Rag Trade, a 1960s BBC and 1970s LWT sitcom , especially for her catchphrase "Everybody out!"...
as Winnie Smith - Joan Miller as Mrs. Smith-Gould
- Miles MallesonMiles MallesonWilliam Miles Malleson was an English actor and dramatist, particularly known for his appearances in British comedy films of the 1930s to 1960s. Towards the end of his career he also appeared in cameo roles in several Hammer horror films, with a fairly large role in The Brides of Dracula as the...
as Rockeby - Eric BarkerEric BarkerEric Leslie Barker born in Thornton Heath, Surrey, was an English comedy actor. He is most remembered for his roles in the popular British Carry On films.-Career:...
as Bank Manager - William HartnellWilliam HartnellWilliam Henry Hartnell was an English actor. During 1963-66, he was the first actor to play the Doctor in the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Early life:...
as Major Fowler, town councillor - Roy KinnearRoy KinnearRoy Mitchell Kinnear was an English character actor. He is best remembered for playing Veruca Salt's father, Mr. Salt, in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.-Early life:...
as Fred Smith - Joan HicksonJoan HicksonJoan Hickson OBE was an English actress of theatre, film and television, famed for playing Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series Miss Marple.- Wivenhoe :...
as Housewife - Kenneth GriffithKenneth GriffithKenneth Griffith was a Welsh actor and documentary filmmaker.-Early life:He was born Kenneth Reginald Griffiths in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales. Six months after his birth his parents split up and left Tenby, leaving Kenneth with his paternal grandparents, Emily and Ernest, who immediately adopted...
as Reverend Owen Smith - Mark EdenMark EdenMark Eden is a British actor.-Career:Born in London, Eden has appeared in repertory theatre in England and Wales and at the Royal Court Theatre. His many television and film roles include the Doctor Who serial Marco Polo in which he played Marco Polo...
as Sir Geoffrey Despard - John ComerJohn ComerJohn Comer was a British actor best known for his comedy roles in the television series I Didn't Know You Cared, Last of the Summer Wine and All Our Saturdays.-Early life:...
as Butcher - Basil DignamBasil DignamBasil Dignam was an English character actor.Basil Dignam, a native of Sheffield, acted on film and television between 1951 and 1975. He often appeared as an authority figure, such as a police officer, army general or peer....
as Prisoner Governor - Franklyn Engelman as TV Commentator
- Colin GordonColin GordonColin Gordon was a British actor born in Ceylon .He was educated at Marlborough College and Christ Church, Oxford. He made his first West End appearance in 1934 as the hind legs of a horse in a production of “Toad of Toad Hall”. From 1936 to 1939 he was a director with the Fred Melville Repertory...
as Prime Minister
The cast includes Steve Marriott
Steve Marriott
Stephen Peter Marriott , popularly known as Steve Marriott, was an English musician, songwriter, and frontman of several notable rock and roll bands, spanning over two decades...
who has an uncredited role in the film. 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.
Analysis
The Revd John Smallwood must have been modelled on eighteenth-century picturesque guru William Gilpin : "The first act of the new reverend is to invite a group of colourful gypsies 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 havocin the village and the nation - the reverend is made a bishop and sent into space, in
England'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."
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
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
, very daring for 1963; Sykes' character at one stage utters the line, "What if it pisses it with rain?".