The mouse that roared

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Movie
German title The mouse that roared
Original title The Mouse That Roared
Country of production Great Britain
original language English
Publishing year 1959
length 83 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Jack Arnold
script Roger MacDougall , Stanley Mann
production Walter Shenson
music Edwin T. Astley
camera John Wilcox
cut Raymond Poulton
occupation

The mouse that roared (Original title: The Mouse That Roared ) is a film comedy by Jack Arnold from 1959. It is based on the novel of the same name by Leonard Wibberley from 1955.

action

Somewhere in the French Alps lies the smallest country in the world, the Duchy of Great Fenwick, ruled by the widowed Grand Duchess. Thanks to the export of their Pinot Grand Fenwick wine, the locals are not doing badly. When a company in the USA imitates wine, however, Groß Fenwick threatens bankruptcy . So it is decided to declare war on the USA, to lose it and to rehabilitate the state budget with the then expected reconstruction aid from the USA (a clear allusion to the situation in Germany after the Second World War as a result of the Marshall Plan ). However, the State Department considers the declaration of war to be a joke. In the absence of transport of its own, the grand ducal army (equipped with the most modern armor and longbows available during the last reform of the armed forces in the 15th century) is embarked on the deck of a freighter for New York . Unfortunately an air raid drill is taking place there, so the city is deserted. The Fenwicker Army quickly takes Professor Kokintz and his daughter prisoner and with them the Q-bomb they have just invented.

With this super weapon in hand, the Duchy is a world power in one fell swoop. The USA, completely taken by surprise, sees surrender as the only solution to the problem . A peace treaty stipulates that imitation wine will disappear from the market. Big Fenwick's money worries are solved.

When Tully, Helen and their father try to store the bomb, it accidentally falls down. Contrary to expectations, however, it does not explode, so that the three come to the conclusion that it is a dud . As they leave the storage room, a mouse crawls out of the bomb. Apparently it prevented the bomb from exploding. After the mouse has left the bomb, it reactivates itself. Obviously it is not a dud after all ...

The saying of the Grand Duchess, with which she said goodbye to her troops before leaving for the USA, has become famous: "I don't want anyone to be injured!"

World premieres

  • Great Britain: July 17, 1959
  • Federal Republic of Germany: October 9, 1959
  • USA: October 26, 1959
  • Austria: January 1960

criticism

“The satirical comedy plays off the arrogance of the great power against the lovable quirks of the small state and makes fun of the fears of nuclear war that have become hysterical in the 1950s. A not very profound, but consistently successful pleasure, not least thanks to Peter Sellers in a triple role. "

- Lexicon of international film

Allusions

  • At the time of completion, there was actually a Grand Duchess in Europe, namely Charlotte of Luxembourg
  • However, it was Queen Victoria of England who mourned her husband's death for life
  • Like the coat of arms of Monaco, the coat of arms of the Grand Duchy shows diamonds arranged vertically
  • As with Monaco, the film is about a small state that is “more or less” on French soil
  • The Tiny Twenty are a nod to the Big Three , the victorious powers of World War II
  • The name of the Q bomb recalls the names of the H bomb , U bomb and cobalt bomb

continuation

A sequel was released in 1963 under the title The Mouse on the Moon, too , but without Sellers' involvement. Directed by Richard Lester , Margaret Rutherford , Ron Moody and Terry-Thomas starred .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ World premieres according to IMDb
  2. ↑ The mouse that roared. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 10, 2016 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 

Web links