118 minutes
5/20/1963
A naive but caring prison chaplain, who happens to have the same last name as an upper class cleric, is by mistake appointed as vicar to a small and prosperous country town. His belief in charity and forgiveness sets him at odds with the conservative and narrow-minded locals, and he soon creates social ructions by appointing a black dustman as his churchwarden, taking in a gypsy family, and persuading the local landowner to provide free food for the church to distribute free to the people of the town. When the congregation leaders realise the mistake and call for the Church of England to remove him, this turns out to be a very, very difficult issue - until one clergyman realises that a British project to send a man into space is in need of an astronaut...
Peter Sellers
as The Rev. John Smallwood
Cecil Parker
as Archdeacon Aspinall
Isabel Jeans
as Lady Despard
Ian Carmichael
as The Other Smallwood
Bernard Miles
as Simpson
Brock Peters
as Matthew Robinson
Eric Sykes
as Harry Smith
Irene Handl
as Rene Smith
Miriam Karlin
as Winnie Smith
Joan Miller
as Mrs Smith-Gould
William Hartnell
as Major Fowler
Roy Kinnear
as Fred Smith
John Harvey
as Wilson, Prison Officer
Joan Hickson
as Housewife
Eric Barker
as Bank Manager
John Comer
as Butcher
Kenneth Griffith
as Rev. Owen Thomas
Mark Eden
as Sir Geoffrey Despard
Basil Dignam
as Prison Governor
Colin Gordon
as Prime Minister
Geoffrey Hibbert
as Council Official
Ludovic Kennedy
as Himself
Malcolm Muggeridge
as Cleric
Harry Locke
as Shop Steward
Derek Nimmo
as DG Assistant
Conrad Phillips
as Deaf Man
Miles Malleson
as Bishop Rockeby
Nicholas Phipps
as DG
Thorley Walters
as Tranquilax Executive
Marianne Stone
as Miss Palmer
Cardew Robinson
as Tramp
Gerald Sim
as Store Manager
Anna Wing
as Housewife (uncredited)
John Junkin
as Reporter at Space Launch Site (uncredited)
Rodney Bewes
as Milkfloat Driver (uncredited)
Steve Marriott
as Jack (uncredited)
Louis Mansi
as Man Buying Groceries (uncredited)
Jack Carter
as Launch Site Worker (uncredited)