John & Roy Boulting
The inimitable Peter Sellers stars as John Smallwood, an idealistic Reverend appointed to the parish of an upper-class village by mistake. With a bad habit of telling the truth at all times, Smallwood makes several clerical decisions that shock his wealthy, landed-gentry parishioners. Inspired by an idea by British satirist Malcolm Muggeridge, the Boulting brothers’ Heavens Above! was considered a bit too sacrilegious for general consumption on its 1963 release.
Way ahead of its time, the film, featuring Sellers at his most iconoclastic, has since accrued a loyal and vocal following. Superb supporting cast includes Eric Sykes, Irene Handl, William Hartnell and Joan Hickson.