The read
It runs a compact 1h 25m.
Synopsis
In this high-camp farce, Goons legend Spike Milligan stars as William Topaz McGonagall, an unemployed Scottish weaver and aspiring poet laureate who falls in love with Queen Victoria - a brilliant cameo by Peter Sellers - and thereafter devotes his banal poetry to her. Though McGonagall's solicitations are rejected by the Queen, it doesn't stop the turgid prose, and pathos, from overflowing as McGonagall hilariously attempts to become the greatest poet in the land. The image of the bad poet, trapped by his romanticism and inspired by a muse with a tin ear, appealed mightily to Spike Milligan, and this cult British spoof features the Goons show maestro at his ridiculous, genre-defying best.
Ratings
IMDb4.9/10
5 audience votes
Key crew
- Joseph McGrathDirector
- Joseph McGrathScreenplay
- Spike MilliganScreenplay
Cast
- Spike MilliganWilliam Topaz McGonagall
- Peter SellersQueen Victoria
- Julia FosterMrs. McGonagall
- John Bluthalvarious
- Victor SpinettiCast
- Valentine DyallCast
- Clifton JonesCast
- Julian ChagrinCast
- Charlie Young AtomCast
- Luie CaballeroCast