In celebration of what would have been Peter Sellers’ 100th Birthday, StudioCanal has restored and re-released a collection of Sellers’ finest work from ‘The British Lion’ years.
These films mark Sellers’ arrival on the silver screen, featuring a diverse mix of British comedy and drama. Sellers was a master of character creation, mimicry and disguise, and every film in our collection helped cement his place as one of the finest character actors and comedians of the 20th Century. These StudioCanal re-releases have been lovingly restored as part of its Vintage Classics collection with added extras, documentaries and more on each Blu-ray disc. They are, in short, a must-own collection of Peter Sellers’ British Lion greats.
Carlton Browne of the F.O. (1959)
Director: Roy Boulting and Jeffrey Dell
StudioCanal Vintage Classics Blu-ray and DVD release date: January 26, 2026.
Great Britain and its vast Empire may have emerged from the Second World War as victors, but the global fallout from a new world order in which the United States of America and the Soviet Union dominated global politics was only just beginning.
Great Britain was, to all intents and purposes, broke when the war ended, with rationing continuing to directly affect its population. Loans from the United States would help to heal some of these wounds, but one thing was unavoidable: the British Empire was over, and a new world order had begun. Eager to step out of the countries that fought alongside us during World War II, British foreign policy officials hurriedly drew up plans to leave countries, and the term “partition” became a buzzword for managing Britain’s decision to reshape its place on the world stage. This was despite those partitions leading to substantial conflict and division in countries where the British had previously used them, including Northern Ireland.
The Boulting Brothers always had a keen eye for exploring the socio-political themes that made Britain tick, often taking a scalpel to British politics, class construct, and history through social satire. They were the embodiment of the British ability to laugh at oneself. In Carlton-Browne of the F.O., it was the upper-class boys’ club of the Foreign Office, and the rush to reshape, offload, but retain some influence over colonial territories that came under the Boulting Brothers’ microscope. Carlton-Browne of the F.O. is a tightly honed and beautifully performed dig at British foreign policy during the 1950s, and one that, like many of the Boulting Brothers films, feels just as relevant in today’s world as it did in 1959.
Roy Boulting and Jeffery Dell’s film is the tale of a long-forgotten British colony, Gaillardia, where self-rule was granted years ago but, for some reason, the message didn’t quite get through. Nobody in the British establishment has ever heard of this small Pacific island; their feelings summarised by a newspaper headline that asks, ‘Gaillardia, Where is it?’ ‘What is it?’ ‘And why is it?’
The job of unpicking this knotty situation is placed on the desk of Carlton-Browne (the fantastic Terry Thomas), a charming and utterly clueless foreign-office diplomat who is only there because of his father’s career in a similar role. However, Carlton-Browne’s job is about to become even more tricky when the reigning King of Gaillardia is blown up during a British Council morris dancing performance, presumably by the Russians, and his Oxford University son (Ian Bannen) hurriedly returns to the island to take the throne.
So Carlton-Browne and his equally clueless army chaparrone are dispatched to the island to ensure British interests are protected at all costs, as rival factions vie for control in a country governed by Señor Amphibulos (Peter Sellers), a corrupt Prime Minister far more interested in lining his own pockets.
Titled The Man with the Crooked Hat in the United States, Boulting and Dell’s film is very much a Terry Thomas picture, with his wonderful performance the glue that holds together a series of delightful comedy set-pieces. Sellers is on form as Amphibulos, yet we don’t see enough of him for his perfectly drawn character to step fully from the celluloid shadows. That said, in true Sellers’ style, when he is centre stage, for example, in the brilliant arrival of Carlton-Browne and Colonel Bellingham of the Bays (Thorley Walters), he steals the show.
There’s a lot to love in this deliciously satirical tale of the end of Empire and the heating up of the Cold War, and while it occasionally feels rushed in pulling all the strings together, it is a joy to behold all the same. With an ensemble cast that includes Nicholas Parsons, John Le Mesurier, Luciana Paluzzi, and a small appearance from the wonderful Irene Handl, Carlton-Browne of the F.O. is a British comedy gem that, sadly, isn’t discussed enough among cinephiles despite its modern-day relevance. I can only hope the immaculate restoration from StudioCanal brings Boulting and Dell’s film the fresh appraisal it so richly deserves.
Two Way Stretch (1960)
Director: Robert Day
StudioCanal Vintage Classics Blu-ray and DVD release date: August 4, 2026.
Following, I’m Alright Jack in 1959 and his performance in Carlton Browne, Two Way Stretch would see Sellers take on the role of Dodger Lane, a criminal genius and leader of a tight-knit bunch of prisoners including, David Lodge and the fabulous Bernard Cribbins who hatch a plot to commit the ultimate crime with a perfect alibi, the caniving and wholey untrustworthy Soapy Stevens (Wilfrid Hyde-White) who now masquarades as a vicar. Along with his misfit crew, Dodger plans to escape from prison, steal a priceless cache of diamonds and then return to his cell before any of the guards, including the hard-nosed Crout (Lionel Jeffries) and the Governor (Maurice Denham), notice. But who said being a criminal mastermind was easy?
Also starring the outstanding Liz Frazer, Beryl Reid and Irene Handl, Two Way Stretch, directed by Robert Day and written by John Warren, Len Heath, and Alan Hackney, is a true British comedy crime caper classic, and much of this is down to expertly written characters and the outstanding performances that embrace just how ridiculous the whole premise is, especially given that Dodger and Co. only have a few days left of their prison sentence!
Two Way Stretch follows the classic crime caper arc without much deviation, allowing the characters to take centre stage, and many of those familiar with British TV will rightly ask the following question: Did Sellers’ film and its richly drawn characters partly inspire Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais’ BBC series Porridge, which premiered 14 years later? In my opinion, there’s no doubt this was the case. Dodger may not be the most memorable character in Sellers’ repertoire, but put him alongside Cribbins and Lodge, and a veritable who’s who of British talent and Two Way Stretch becomes the perfect Sunday afternoon matinee.
Only Two Can Play (1962)
Director: Sidney Gilliat
StudioCanal Vintage Classics Blu-ray and DVD release date: January 26, 2026.
Based on the novel ‘That Uncertain Feeling’ by Kingsley Amis, Only Two Can Play is one of the most fascinating Sellers films of the British Lion years. Released with an X Certificate in British cinemas, many expected Only Two Can Play to be a classic relationship comedy, yet Sidney Gilliat’s film isn’t a straightforward comedy or farce, nor is it a 60s’ kitchen sink drama; it’s a fascinating hybrid mix of all three.
Sellers was already a household name by the time Only Two Can Play was released, with his silver screen career going from strength to strength. Yet at the same time, his first marriage to Anne Howe in 1951 had hit the buffers. Peter Sellers would divorce Howe a year after Only Two Can Play hit cinema screens, and it’s this personal turmoil that makes Sellers’ performance so fascinating to watch. Sellers plays John Lewis, a Welsh library clerk and town theatre critic, married to a loving wife with two children living in a rundown flat in a shared house. John Lewis dreams of escape, longs for something new, including women and sex, and wants nothing more than to walk away from the monotony of his life.
His long-suffering wife, Jean (Virginia Maskell), knows he is unhappy, and from the outset, it’s also clear she knows he looks at other women. So Jean attempts to persuade John to apply for an upcoming promotion at work that would raise John’s salary and make life easier for both of them. However, John knows that any promotion opportunity will also see his henpecked colleague Jenkins (Kenneth Griffith) apply, and Jenkins has much more knowledge of the Welsh language than he does; a sure winner at any interview. But that’s all about to change as John meets married socialite Liz Gruffydd-Williams (Mai Zetterling), who changes the male concubine in her unhappy but necessary marriage to a local council leader more regularly than her perfume.
Liz clearly wants John, and John thinks he wants Liz, and so begins an affair that never really gets off the start line. Meanwhile, Jean starts to explore her own escape with John’s arch nemesis, the local poet and playwright Gareth Probert (the brilliant Richard Attenborough). John’s about to learn that the grass isn’t always greener, no matter how much you think you want to switch things up.
With a cracking ensemble cast featuring John Arnatt, John Le Mesurier, Sheila Manahan and more, and a killer score composed by Richard Rodney Bennett, who would later score Murder on the Orient Express, Only Two Can Play is not only a carefully crafted drama, but one of Sellers’ most honest performances. Sellers was a master of disguise and a genius in character creation. However, in Only Two Can Play, there is no elaborate mask for him to hide behind, in a story that very much reflected the demons sitting on Sellers’ shoulder as his first marriage collapsed. There’s an honesty in Sellers’ portrait of John Lewis that feels rare in his silver screen career. John isn’t necessarily likeable, he is flawed, selfish and always seeking something and someone else. Nothing in his life quite seems to fit; much like Sellers.
Peter Sellers’ behaviour behind the scenes of Only Two Can Play was volatile, especially toward his co-star Virginia Maskell, who would tragically die just five years later following post-natal depression. Maybe that behaviour was down to Sidney Gilliat’s film feeling too close to home? We may never know the answer to that question, but it’s a question that makes Only Two Can Play one of the most fascinating films and performances of Sellers’ early career.
Heavens Above! (1963)
Director: John Boulting and Roy Boulting
StudioCanal Vintage Classics Blu-ray and DVD release date: August 4, 2026.
Watching any Boulting brothers movie is a pleasure, and a fascinating, complex and thought-provoking deep dive into British social history. The Boulting Brothers embraced the turbulence, oddities, progress and stories of a transforming British society like few other filmmakers. From Desert Victory (1943) to the masterpiece Brighton Rock (1947), and I’m All Right Jack (1959), their work under the British Lion label encompassed documentary realism, noir, and socially informed comedy, with Sellers becoming a regular star in many of their pictures. Heavens Above! was to be their final collaboration with Sellers before he became a massive Hollywood star, and it’s a film that is often overlooked when discussing the Boulter Brothers’ ability to take a sharp, satirical knife to British society and Sellers’ ability to transform himself into a character born from his lived experience.
By the early 1960s, British society was undergoing a radical transformation, as a new generation challenged the foundations of post-war 1950s conservatism like never before. Having already explored these significant societal shifts and changes in relation to the armed forces in Private’s Progress, international relations in Carlton-Browne of the F.O. and trade unionism in I’m All Right Jack, it was only a matter of time before the Boulter Brothers took a scalpel to the Church of England in Heavens Above!
Heavens Above! arrived in cinemas four years before John Lennon famously said “we’re more popular than Jesus,” a comment that was taken entirely out of context in the United States, causing a major fuss for The Beatles. Of course, we know that Lennon was in no way comparing The Beatles to Jesus, but simply stating that while many Britons would self-describe as Christian, British society was in fact becoming far more secular. Heavens Above! also explores this march toward secularism as Reverend John Smallwood (Sellers), a naïve but passionate and quietly revolutionary man of the cloth, arrives in the small town of Orbiston Parva following an administrative error that should have seen a different, less radical Reverend Smallwood (Ian Carmichael) hold the keys to the vicarage and church.
Orbiston Parva has long been in the pocket of the wealthy Despard family, whose drug factory makes Tranquilax, a three-in-one sedative, pain killer, and laxative. People don’t have time for the church or its teachings, but Smallwood is determined to change that and challenge the town’s religious apathy with his belief that God is love, Christianity is kindness, and there’s no mistaking the real three-in-one: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Within hours of arriving, Smallwood’s choice of Church Warden is met with controversy by the local elite, as he hires the equally gentle and passionate local dustman, Matthew (Brock Peters), to serve in this role. The controversy has nothing to do with Matthew being a dustman; it’s purely because of the colour of his skin, even if, in true British style, that’s never directly mentioned. Then there is Smallwood’s decision to take a large family of squatters, the Smiths, led by the fabulous Eric Sykes, Irene Handl, Miriam Karlin, and Roy Kinnear, into the sprawling local vicarage on their eviction from a field designated for factory expansion, much to the disdain of Major Fowler (William Hartnell).
However, Smallwood is about to earn the allegiance of Lady Despard (Isabel Jeans) as plans to distribute free food to the townsfolk take shape, a decision that will ultimately lead to chaos, greed, and conflict in Orbiston Parva. While many point to the critique of Britain’s growing secularism, like most of the Boulter Brothers’ films, Heavens Above! is in reality a layered and complex exploration of many social topics from religion to class, capitalism, charity, and the newly formed welfare state, and it’s themes continue to speak to us today through increasing poverty, the use of food banks and the growing wealth of the uber-rich.
Sellers channels a Brummie-born, God-fearing brother from his past at St Aloysius’ College in Highgate, run by the Brothers of Our Lady of Mercy, in bringing John Smallwood to the screen. It’s a subdued comic performance, one that centres on the emotions, beliefs, and deeds of a compassionate, good man, facing the realities of a world that will never match his doctrine. It’s in Sellers’ ability to capture quiet moments of reflection as the utopian world of Smallwood begins to collapse under the pressure of human greed and consumption that Heavens Above! hits its stride, in what is undoubtedly one of Sellers’ most underrated characters and performances.
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