The Mouse That Roared (1959)

Director:

Jack Arnold

Writers:

Roger MacDougall (writer)
Stanley Mann (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

26 October 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

The Hilarous Story of How the Duchy of Grand Fenwick Waged War on the U.S. - and Won

Plot:

An impoverished backward nation declares a war on the United States of America, hoping to lose.

Plot Keywords:

Cold War | Duchy Of Grand Fenwick | Invasion | Satire | Imaginary Kingdom

Cast

Peter Sellers	...	Grand Duchess Gloriana XII / Prime Minister Count Rupert Mountjoy / Tully Bascombe
Jean Seberg	...	Helen Kokintz
William Hartnell	...	Will Buckley
David Kossoff	...	Professor Alfred Kokintz
Leo McKern	...	Benter
MacDonald Parke	...	General Snippet
Austin Willis	...	United States Secretary of Defense
Timothy Bateson	...	Roger
Monte Landis	...	Cobbley
Alan Gifford
Colin Gordon	...	BBC Announcer
Harold Kasket	...	Pedro
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Wally Brown	...	Air Raid Warden in Physics Lab (uncredited)
Jacques Cey	...	Ticket Collector (uncredited)
Charles Clay	...	British Ambassador (uncredited)
Henry De Bray	...	French Ambassador (uncredited)
Guy Deghy	...	Soviet Ambassador (uncredited)
Bill Edwards	...	Army Captain (uncredited)
Richard Gatehouse	...	Mulligan (uncredited)
George Margo	...	O'Hara (uncredited)
Lionel Murton	...	American General at the Pentagon (uncredited)
Bill Nagy	...	U.S. Policeman (uncredited)
Robert O'Neill	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Stuart Saunders	...	Cunard Captain (uncredited)
Ken Stanley	...	Cunard Second Officer (uncredited)
Mavis Villiers	...	Telephone Operator (uncredited)

Directed by
Jack Arnold

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Roger MacDougall		writer
Stanley Mann		writer
Leonard Wibberley		novel

Produced by
Jon Penington	....	associate producer
Walter Shenson	....	producer

Original Music by
Edwin Astley

Cinematography by
John Wilcox

Film Editing by
Raymond Poulton

Art Direction by
Geoffrey Drake

Costume Design by
Anthony Mendleson

Makeup Department
Stuart Freeborn	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Leon Becker	....	production supervisor
James H. Ware	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Philip Shipway	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Red Law	....	sound
Richard Marden	....	sound editor
George Stephenson	....	sound

Special Effects by
Gerald Endler	....	mechanical effects

Stunts
Jack Cooper	....	stunts (uncredited)
Nosher Powell	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Austin Dempster	....	camera operator
John Winbolt	....	camera operator: second unit

Other crew
Maurice Binder	....	title designer

Production Companies

• Open Road

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures Corporation (1959) (UK) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures (1959) (USA) (theatrical)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (1983) (USA) (video)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Video Ltd. (1986) (UK) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2002) (UK) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

The Day New York Was Invaded (UK) (working title)

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Argentina:Atp | Finland:K-8 | UK:U | USA:Unrated | West Germany:12 | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Open Road

Trivia:

Among the musical quotations used in the film were excerpts from Felix Mendelssohn's "Hebrides Overture" and a number of American marches, including a number of passages from "Our Director".

Goofs:

Continuity: The narrator tells us that the mock version of Grand Fenwick's wine drove the real wine out of the U.S. market in 1959. A news announcer later reports the score of the last game of the 1958 World Series.

Quotes:

General Snippet: I warn you, madam - I know the entire Geneva Convention by heart!
Grand Duchess Gloriana: Oh, how nice! You must recite it for me some evening; I play the harpsichord.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Unknown Peter Sellers (2000) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Romeo and Juliet Love Theme

Light, charming

Yes, the "joke" is rather a truism: declare war on the US, lose and then collect the massive foreign aid we always send... Peter Sellers has fun in his several roles, along with a cast of strong supporting actors. The standard "pretty blonde" is Jean Seberg -- who seems not to know what she's doing in this role: comedy was not the lady's strongpoint.

Yet there is something very gentle and charming that moves this film along. I suppose that little something could very well be that the "bottom line" for the tiny country was world peace... Not a bad concept.

Worth watching.