The Mouse That Roared

"The Mouse That Roared was made into a 1959 film starring Peter Sellers in three roles (Duchess Gloriana XII; Count Rupert Mountjoy, the Prime Minister; and Tully Bascomb, the military leader), and co-starring Jean Seberg (as Helen Kokintz, as an added love interest). Other cast members included: William Hartnell (as Will Buckley), David Kossoff (as Professor Alfred Kokintz), Leo McKern (as Benter, the Opposition Leader), MacDonald Parke (as Gene... more

"The Mouse That Roared was made into a 1959 film starring Peter Sellers in three roles (Duchess Gloriana XII; Count Rupert Mountjoy, the Prime Minister; and Tully Bascomb, the military leader), and co-starring Jean Seberg (as Helen Kokintz, as an added love interest). Other cast members included: William Hartnell (as Will Buckley), David Kossoff (as Professor Alfred Kokintz), Leo McKern (as Benter, the Opposition Leader), MacDonald Parke (as General Snippet), and Austin Willis (as the United States Secretary of Defense). A 1963 sequel was released, based on The Mouse on the Moon. Liberties were taken in the film adaptation, as a vehicle for Peter Sellars' versatile comedic talents, most of which are not acceptable to the book's admirers. The lead character of all the books is the Duchess Gloriana XII, an attractive young royal in the manner of the young Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Grace of Monaco. In the film Peter Sellers plays that role as a parody of an elderly Queen Victoria and his Mountjoy as a takeoff on Benjamin Disraeli. The Marseilles and New York harbor sequences were filmed in Southampton, UK. The presence of the RMS Queen Elizabeth ocean liner there was a lucky coincidence. In addition, in the book, an encounter with the New York Police Department leads to bloodshed. Title designer Maurice Binder provided a mouse in a classic opening gag with the Columbia Pictures logo and a return of the mouse in the last scene. In addition to the film's titles, Binder also provided the map in the film. One scene has various diplomats playing a game similar to Monopoly called "Diplomacy". Duchess Gloriana still thinks the President is Calvin Coolidge." Quoting Wikipedia. less