Heavens Above!: Difference between revisions

1963 film

Heavens Above! is a 1963 British satirical comedy film starring Peter Sellers, directed by John and Roy Boulting, who also co-wrote along with Frank Harvey, from an idea by Malcolm Muggeridge.^[2] It is in a similar vein to the earlier collaboration between Sellers, Harvey and the Boultings, I’m All Right Jack.^[3]

A naive but caring prison chaplain, John Smallwood (Sellers), is accidentally assigned as vicar to the small and prosperous English country town of Orbiston Parva, instead of a cleric (Carmichael) with the same name who is favoured by the Bishop who wants to maintain the support for the church of the Despard family, who practically run the town and operate a large factory there.

Smallwood’s belief in the practical application of charity and forgiveness sets him at odds with the locals, whose assertions that they are good, Christian people are belied in Smallwood’s eyes by their behaviour and ideas. He creates social ructions by appointing a black dustman (Peters) as his churchwarden, taking in a family being evicted from their illegal encampment, and persuading local landowner Lady Despard (Jeans) to provide food for the church to distribute free to the people of the town.

His scheme spirals out of control and very soon the local traders are up in arms as they have lost all their customers. He tries to explain this to the residents but is besieged in the church hall and only just rescued by the police.

As a face-saving act, the Bishop appoints the ‘correct’ Smallwood to the parish and assigns the ‘troublemaker’ to the Scottish island of ‘Ultima Thule’ and makes him ‘Bishop of Outer Space’ to the British space operations based there. But when the intended pilot of the first rocket gets cold feet,…