The Mouse That Roared

Released 1959
Stars Peter Sellers, Jean Seberg, David Kossoff, Timothy Bateson
Directed by Jack Arnold

Peter Sellers stars in the film, portraying three different characters, all from the world's smallest country, a European duchy that decides to declare war on the United States in order to lose and benefit from the economic assistance the US normally provides to countries it has defeated. The only problem is, they win the war.

Summary by Doug Pratt

This movie is a fun satire that both praises and pokes gentle fun at the United States, and it's a very clever premise. There was a long period when many people were convinced there would be a nuclear war, and you can see that in this film. I was one of those people as I had no doubt there would be a nuclear war at some point in my lifetime. Then the Soviet Union crumbled in a matter of a couple years, and the cold war disappeared. I'm still amazed by how quickly it all ended, and a movie like this is a crazy document of that legitimate paranoia. It still holds up 40 years later, but Gen-Y'ers (and later generations) will have trouble relating to it. You know what, that's a good thing. --Bill Alward, January 7, 2002