Oh no! They're sending us kids!

An early film night this week as Arthur has somewhere else to be on the traditional Friday. Nevertheless

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he arrived with the full trappings of a proper film night- Melton Mowbray pie, bottles of beer and a couple of black and white films.

The first of these was "Only Two Can Play" a Peter Sellers film of 1962 and this was followed by another episode of "Bilko" (One in which he meets his match in the delightful Sergeant Hogan). The final film of the day was "The Village of the Damned" a 1960 adaptation of John Wyndham's chilling Midwich Cuckoos, featuring George Sanders.

The first of these was the stand out by a long way, featuring a marvelous performance by Sellers as a Welsh librarian, tempted by the possibility of an affair with the exotic Mai Zetterling as an escape from his humdrum and rather impoverished life, which never quite manages to be consummated. All to the good when you consider that his wife is the lovely Virginia Maskell. Such is the skill and subtlety of Sellers' performance that we do have sympathy for his straying, despite meeting his wife and children.

There is much to be enjoyed and some great supportin

The Midwich Cuckoos (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

g acting. Sellers/Lewis' interaction with the oth

er's sha

ring the lodgings is funny, well-played and well written (by Brian Forbes from Kingsley Amis' novel). It makes one a little sad that Sellers, undoubtedly an extremely talented actor, enjoyed broader caricature so much that his later career moved away from such "straight" performances. Not that I would want to deprive the world of Clouseau I suppose...