The Smallest Show on Earth (1957)

(On TV, June 2021) There are plenty of movies about moviemaking, but far fewer movies about moviegoing. This makes The Smallest Show on Earth distinctive even today, as it details the adventures of a young British couple who inherit a decrepit movie theatre located between two train tracks and despair to get any profit out of the property. The local movie mogul (owner of the city’s other theatres) is only interested in offering them a pittance for bulldozing the lot and putting up a parking lot, while the theatre’s three elderly employees fear for their continued employment. (Peter Sellers plays one of those three employees, but he’s near-unrecognizable in heavy makeup, and doesn’t break away from a mercifully toned-down character.)  More of an affectionate look at moviegoing more than an outright laughing marathon (although the antics of the rowdy audience get a few chuckles), The Smallest Show on Earth is not a big movie, but it’s warm, sympathetic, features likable leads and wraps up in a typically wry (and not entirely law-abiding) British comedy fashion. I liked it quite a bit, even if I’ve accepted that single-screen movie theatres are fading away. In fact, I may like it because they’re fading away.