Highly Overrated But Still Good

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Nobody seems to have mentioned that this awful film marked the end of the distinguished film careers of The Boulting Brothers and Charter films.It is difficult to know who to blame most.The writers,Roy Boulting as director or Peter Sellers for his overwhelming arrogance in believing he could play all 6 characters.This film is supposed to be a comedy but there are precious few laughs.His Gestapo officer seems to be in a different film from everybody else.Sellers made a lot of stinkers but this must rate as the worst of the lot.

As we saw in Dr Strangelove, Peter Sellers is extremely adept and talented at playing many roles. However, in this lame and unfunny comedy, he literally falls flat on his (many) face(s).(For those not in UK, 'Allo, 'Allo is a long-running British family comedy series, set in a Belgian war-time town and occupied by the Germans.)It might be due to the winds of time and the changing tastes in comedy, but as someone who would have very young at this film's release, I didn't laugh once, neither at the jokes nor the visual slapstick.Sure, this send-up of everything second world war (Sellers plays all the world leaders, it seems) could have provided many comedy highlights but at times it's just painfully embarrassing. The dodgy accents either grate or annoy. I found the 'story' impossible to follow, assuming there actually was one and within half an hour had lost interest and only followed it to the end for reviewing purposes.The oft nude working girls of the 1940's Paris-set brothel made this an X-certificate novelty back 40 years ago and today, the toplessness a mere '12' certificate. These are pleasant distractions for the average male viewer of course but the novelty soon wears off and soon we are amidst the awful masks that Sellers wears to turn himself 'Japanese'. Even though the film runs for 90 minutes, it seems far longer.There's also a young-ish Timothy West as a Cardinal and Curt Jurgens as an SS Officer.This may remain Peter Sellers' single worse film. He made some truly great ones, this is the exact opposite.

This movie is not particularly funny but it is good for Sellers fans. I am such a fan and really enjoyed his acting. Sellers plays 6 roles and his range is different than many other actors in that he portrays people from several nationalities at once very well. Although this time I think his French accent was not as good as the others. The movie itself is amusing but not great.

To my mind, Sellers was at his peak when he made this film. It wasn't a commercial success like the Panther films, but it was a personal success for Sellers. He was being funny AND enjoying himself whilst doing it. I saw this film when it was first released at the cinema and enjoyed it then, and then again when it was shown on British TV. It hadn't aged, it was still excellent. I just wish Warners would release it on Video or DVD now......