Big Time Operators (1957)

• Year: 1957
• Released: 17 Sep 1958
• Country: United Kingdom
• Adwords: Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award1 nomination total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050985/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/big_time_operators
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: Not Rated
• Genre: Comedy
• Runtime: 80 min
• Writer: William Rose, John Eldridge
• Director: Basil Dearden
• Cast: Virginia McKenna, Bill Travers, Margaret Rutherford
• Keywords: inheritance, eccentric, projectionist, run down building,

7.0/10

Big Time Operators Storyline

Young married couple Jean and Matt Spenser, who are barely surviving financially as aspiring writer Matt works on his novel, believe their money problems are solved when they receive notice that Matt’s just passed Great Uncle Simon, who he did not even know existed, has listed him as a beneficiary to his estate. What Uncle Simon has left him is a cinema in the town of Sloughborough. Upon arriving in Sloughborough and meeting with lawyer Robin Carter, Jean and Matt are saddened to learn that Matt did not inherit the grand looking Grand Theatre, but rather the decrepit looking Bijou down the road. In addition, they discover with the Bijou, Matt and by association Jean have also inherited its three elderly, eccentric employees, Mrs. Fazackalee who it is rumored was more than a friend to Uncle Simon. Having no idea what it takes to run a cinema let alone not having the desire to do so, what Matt and Jean plan on doing is selling it to Albert Hardcastle, the owner of the Grand who had wanted to buy it from Uncle Simon to tear it down to build a parking lot for the Grand. Unable to come to terms with Hardcastle who tries to low-ball them, especially problematic as Matt and Jean want to share the profits with their employees for who they have grown an affection, Matt and Jean believe they have no other option but to reopen the Bijou themselves leading to a series of misadventures among them, their employees and their patrons.

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Big Time Operators Movie Reviews

evocation of a long gone era

By some chance i watched this film yesterday morning,and in the afternoon i drove past the spot in Kilburn where the exterior had been constructed on my way to an organ concert at the Gaumont State Kilburn.I also passed the site of the Classic Kilburn,now a petrol station,which was the sort of cinema epitomised by “The Bijou”.In the 1950s,when the film was made,there were a lot of cinemas,or flea pits as we called them like “The Bijou”.Mainly surviving on revivals of old films.The Classic chain in particular.I loved these old cinemas,and although they were not as rundown as “the Bijou” they still had seen better days.Unfortunately many of these cinemas were located in high streets and thus were prime targets for the newly emerging phenomenon of supermarkets.So not only is this film a comedic masterpiece but to me it is a warm reminder of the passing of these marvelous places.

Some good laugh-out-loud scenes make this a great small film.

A delightful story of a young couple that inherit The Bijou — a broken down movie theater — and against their wishes make a go of it.

Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers play Jean and Matt — the young couple.

I was familiar with Ms McKenna’s work but Bill Travers was new to me.

He has a wonderful Laurence Olivier air about him and is very appealing as an actor. His only other film that I am at all familiar with was “Born Free.”

I was half way through the film before I realized that Percy Quill the projectionist with a drinking problem was Peter Sellers. Even though he was about 32 when the film was released he plays a little old man — and superbly.

The wonderful character actress Margaret Rutherford, who made a career out of playing Miss Marple, is absolutely enchanting as the somewhat dotty Mrs. Fazackalee.

Why are old, somewhat crazy men in British films always named Tom? For whatever reason, Bernard Mills as Old Tom is quite a piece of work. A tendency to take things a little to literally is what drives his character — that and the fact he is pretty much nuts.

It seems like many British films from this period look very much like filmed plays — which this movie very definitely did.

Unfortunately the print that I saw for this film was in nearly as bad a shape as the movies being shown at “The Bijou.” A good reason for more and better film restoration — even for the films that we do not always think of as classics.

A cute and diverting little film–but DON’T watch it on account of Peter Sellers

The film begins with a young couple learning that they are the sole beneficiaries in a will for a relative they didn’t know existed. Visions of great wealth and success dance in their minds, though it runs out all they really inherited was a broken down and debt-riddled old movie theater–along with three old people who work there. All is not lost, though, as they discover that a large and successful movie house nearby wants to buy their property. The problem is, since they know nothing about the business, the other theater is offering next to nothing to buy them out. So, to increase the value of their business, they decide to re-open the old place and thus force a better offer.

While this movie DOES feature Peter Sellers as a supporting player, you should not rush out to see it because it’s a “Peter Sellers Picture”. That’s because although he is in the film, you’d have a hard time noticing that this is the same Peter Sellers you’re used to seeing, as his role is decidedly non-comedic. He is made up to look like a rumpled 60-something year-old man and he’s fine in the role–but he is given nothing funny to say or do and Sellers plays the role very straight. Now this does not mean that this isn’t an enjoyable film, though it’s a very, very mild comedy with none of the silliness or quirkiness you might expect from a Sellers film.

Don’t expect the magic of an Ealing picture or a Sellers farce. This is just a cute little film about the foibles that develop as they try to make a go of it, though I must say the ending was pretty strange and didn’t fit in well with the rest of the film. Decent acting and a likable but slight plot make it a nice little time-passer, but not a whole lot more.