The Battle of the Sexes (1959)

Peter Sellers was one of the funniest men alive-fact.
But I think it's more important to remember, he was one of the greatest actors. Now we tend to remember great actors by how many Oscars they won or how well they could play the 'Dane'. But never did a man lose himself in a role like Sellers. He could do anything because he could be anyone... because the man Peter Sellers didn't seem to exist; he was always more comfortable playing someone else. He could be over the top and silly as Clouseau but the funniest acting I think he ever did was as the President in Dr Strangelove...during the 'phonecall to the Russian Premier' scene. Everytime I see that, i have to karaoke-along with him... 'Yes i'm sorry Dimitri... Yes-this is a friendly call... Of course, i like to talk to you Dimitri...'. My point is, he is basically playing it straight through that whole scene and you're on the floor laughing.
The guy was a legend and broke the mould and i can't think of modern equivalent-maybe at one stage, it could have been Jim Carrey but... hmmm.
Sellers is playing to these same strengths in this mostly forgotten British comedy from the late 50's, The Battle of the Sexes. He plays an office manager in Scottish tweed-makers whose life's work is being jepardised by some uppity woman (Constance Cummings) and her new fangled plans for efficiency and production, when she catches the eye of new company boss (Robert Morley), whose dad has just kicked the bucket leaving him the company.
Maybe what makes this film so remarkable, what has consigned it to the annals of time- is how sexist it is. We usually associate sexism with sexualisation but the sexism here is more that this one woman does not know her place; she's an overachieving, over-compensating know-it-all who's callous and ignorant. A harriden. A woman as irritating as 10 Ethel Murman's. You could argue that the filmmakers are well aware but there are only trace amounts of irony; this film was written and produced by woman after all but i don't know if people today could get over that. But if you can, there's a great classy comedy on fixing things that ain't broke and the last 20mins are a sublime farce. I mean you've got Sellers playing a retiring middle-aged conservative (all of which he was not...) but then you've got Robert Morley, one of Britain's greatest pompous cowards of comedy killing it as well; watching them together is a joy. But despite my earlier protestations, Cummings has great fun in this wonderful role where she gets to condescend, bag and shine at every turn.
This is a very fine comedy and i use that word explicitly.
I get the feeling, that there was a greater message in this film that got lost somewhere along the lines; the ending is roughshod and unlike the rest of the film leading up to it but it succeeds for me in reminding me of how amazing Sellers was and always will be...

I watched The Battle of the Sexes (1959) on BBC IPlayer.
My 2011 in Movies will return with I'm Not Here (2010)...