This film is part of Rentals
Mr. Topaze
Charming character comedy, unseen for decades, starring Peter Sellers as a school teacher corrupted by big business.
Director: Peter Sellers
Overview
Unseen for decades and described by Peter Sellers' biographer Roger Lewis as a lost classic, this gently melancholy, bittersweet character comedy sees the enigmatic Sellers in engrossing form as a poor, provincial French schoolteacher slowly corrupted by big business. A fine array of actors, including Herbert Lom, Billie Whitelaw and Leo McKern, provide support for Sellers – who also directed.
Meek teacher Topaze, expertly played by Sellers at the peak of his powers, is a quiet man at the heart of a noisy film, surrounded by other characters writ large. Scripted by Pierre Rouve from a play by Marcel Pagnol, and Sellers' only credited feature as director, it was shot just as his first marriage was disintegrating. Speaking at the time to Herbert Kretzmer, who wrote the lyrics to I Like Money, the song featured in the film, Sellers confessed that it was only work keeping him going. "I've never been so low in my life. The days were all right. The days I worked. I worked non-stop. I set out to lose myself in work," he confessed. Available for the first time in decades, Sellers' performance in this unjustly neglected film certainly validates those efforts.
Related
Ballywalter Ballywalter
Comedy 2020 90 mins Director: Prasanna Puwanarajah
Seána Kerslake is superb as caustic cab driver, Eileen, who makes an unlikely connection with regular passenger and local comedian, Shane (Patrick Kielty), in Prasanna Puwanarajah’s charming debut.
Little English Little English
Comedy 2022 99 mins Director: Pravesh Kumar
A raucous and audacious comedy following the lives of a dysfunctional British Punjabi family.
Something Always Happens Something Always Happens
Comedy 1934 70 mins Director: Michael Powell
Michael Powell’s sprightly comedy about a freeloading charmer who romances the daughter of a wealthy petrol station owner.
Joy Ride Joy Ride
Comedy 2023 95 mins Director: Adele Lim
Four unlikely friends embark on a once-in-a-lifetime international adventure in this riotous and unapologetically explicit story of identity and self-discovery.
The Innocent The Innocent
Comedy 2022 98 mins Director: Louis Garrel
Louis Garrel’s unique French comedy-heist-romantic-thriller comes loaded with charm and humour.
Amanda Amanda
Comedy 2022 95 mins Director: Carolina Cavalli
Carolina Cavalli’s darkly comic feature debut follows a young woman who returns to home town to find she doesn't know anyone, so decides to rekindle her friendship with an old agoraphobic childhood friend.
Local Hero Local Hero
Comedy 1983 111 mins Director: Bill Forsyth
An American oil-man goes native while on a mission to buy up a Scottish fishing village, in Bill Forsyth’s tribute to Scotland’s irresistible charm.
Spring Meeting Spring Meeting
Comedy 1941 94 mins Director: Walter C. Mycroft and Norman Lee
A penniless woman’s attempts at matchmaking her way to riches go awry when her son falls for the wrong daughter of a nobleman.
Mindhorn Mindhorn
Comedy 2017 88 mins Director: Sean Foley
Julian Barratt is hilarious as the washed-up actor forced to reprise his 80s TV role as a sleuth with a robotic truth-telling eye, to help catch a deranged killer.
In the Loop In the Loop
Comedy 2009 106 mins Director: Armando Iannucci
Armando Iannucci returns to the world of his hit show The Thick of It as Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) and Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) deal with a Middle-East crisis of their own making.
The Big Sick The Big Sick
Comedy 2017 120 mins Director: Michael Showalter
The hilarious, breakout indie comedy about a Pakistan-born comedian and his culture-clash relationship with an American grad student.
Withnail & I Withnail & I
Comedy 1988 107 mins Director: Bruce Robinson
Richard E. Grant steals the show in the indomitable cult classic following two washed-up actors as they embark on a booze-filled getaway to the Lake District.
Lolita Lolita
Comedy 1962 153 mins Director: Stanley Kubrick
With an Oscar®-nominated screenplay by Nabokov himself, Kubrick filmed a tale that was once thought unadaptable.
The Optimists of Nine Elms The Optimists of Nine Elms
Drama 1973 106 mins Director: Anthony Simmons
Peter Sellers is superb in a warm, wistful family drama, in which two Battersea kids forge an unlikely alliance with a faded music hall star.
The Slappiest Days of Our Lives The Slappiest Days of Our Lives
Comedy 1953 73 mins
A young Peter Sellers voices this compilation film of silent slapstick footage, featuring Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Laurel and Hardy.
Penny Points to Paradise Penny Points to Paradise
Comedy 1951 72 mins Director: Tony Young
The first screen outing for Goon Show stars Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe in a cheerful comic escapade set in Brighton.
Let's Go Crazy Let's Go Crazy
Comedy 1951 33 mins Director: Alan J. Cullimore
Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan shine in a series of sketches and multiple roles, in this madcap mixture of music-hall and anarchic comedy.
The Blockhouse The Blockhouse
Drama 1973 92 mins Director: Clive Rees
A rare serious performance by Peter Sellers drives this tale of eight men buried in a bunker for three years at the end of WWII.
Out of Darkness Out of Darkness
Horror 2024 87 mins Director: Andrew Cumming
Bringing a whole new meaning to the term ‘period film’, Andrew Cumming’s Palaeolithic horror movie is a true original.
The Peasants The Peasants
Drama 2023 115 mins Director: Hugh Welchman and Dorota Kobiela
Using an advanced oil painting animation technique, The Peasants is a visually thrilling rendering of Władysław Reymont’s Nobel Prize-winning tale.
The Iron Claw The Iron Claw
Biopic 2023 132 mins Director: Sean Durkin
Compelling sports drama about the real-life Von Erich brothers and their tragic journey to the top of professional 1980s wrestling.
Samsara Samsara
Drama 2023 114 mins Director: Lois Patiño
Berlin Film Festival award winner Lois Patiño’s assured third feature transports us to magical places in Laos and Zanzibar, where the visible and the invisible merge.
Occupied City Occupied City
Documentary 2023 251 mins Director: Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen’s cinematic commemoration of the Holocaust offers a multidimensional experience full of gravity and sublimity.
The End We Start From The End We Start From
Drama 2023 102 mins Director: Mahalia Belo
A stunning post-apocalyptic British drama navigating the anxieties of parenthood and the future of the world.