The Duchy of Grand Fenwick decides that the only way to get out of their economic woes is to declare war on the United States, lose and accept foreign aid. They send an invasion force (in chain mail, armed with bows and arrows) to New York and they arrive during a nuclear drill that has cleared the streets.
Acting
Sellers plays three roles with distinct comic precision.
Writing
Satire sharper than the arrows they bring to Manhattan.
Director
Jack Arnold
Peter Sellers
Grand Duchess Gloriana XII / Prime Minister Count Rupert Mountjoy / Tully Bascombe
Jean Seberg
Helen Kokintz
William Hartnell
Will Buckley
David Kossoff
Professor Alfred Kokintz
Leo McKern
Benter
MacDonald Parke
General Snippet
Austin Willis
United States Secretary of Defense
Timothy Bateson
Roger
Monte Landis
Cobbley
Alan Gifford
Air Raid Warden
Colin Gordon
BBC Announcer
Harold Kasket
Pedro
Guy Deghy
Soviet Ambassador (uncredited)
Eve Eden
Spectator (uncredited)
Bill Edwards
Army Captain (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Sellers based Grand Duchess Gloriana XII on his own mother, who he often impersonated for laughs.
The film's premise came from a 1955 novel written during peak Red Scare paranoia, mocking how both superpowers manufactured enemies.
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