The United States is a very generous country. If it beats you in a war, it tends to help you out when all is done. This is the premiss behind The Mouse That Roared."

A very small country completely, land-locked by France, declares war on the United States with the idea that loosing this war would provide much needed capital. After sending a declaration of war, an army of about ten is raised and sent to attach New York City with the idea that they would loose. No one in the United States pays any attention to the declaration, and is thus surprised when, by accident, the tiny country steals the Q Bomb and its inventor, and wins the war.

This film is a great time machine to the late 1950's. The idea that someone wouldn't mind loosing the war to win the peace is right out of the era. Watching this film some forty years later allows one to see the large change the world has gone through.

The Mouse That Roared is a great vehicle for Peter Sellers who, as he would later do in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, portrays three characters. Sellers was that good an actor. He could play simple and sophisticated on the same screen - at the same moment.

This is a silly little movie with a lot to say about the cold war from the Western European perspective. It has a commentary and a message, but doesn't bother to club you over the head with them. Sometimes it's great for movie to tell some jokes, make it's point, and then shut up. This one is worth seeking out on cable, disc, or tape.