Watch Only Two Can Play For Free

Thanks for the memories!

Expected more

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This classic deserves a far higher rating. Peter Sellers made most of his best films from the mid 1950s to the mid 1960s and "Only Two Can Play" is a masterpiece. Sellers added the lecherous Welsh librarian to his gallery of comic characters and his performance is the one to watch. He has been given some excellent dialogue to act with but so has the rest of the cast. "Only Two Can Play" isn't the kind of comedy where the humour is broad and direct, such as in the "Carry On" films. No, the humour in the above film is more subtle and incisive. Peter Sellers plays a librarian in a small Welsh town and can't seem to keep his eye off the ladies! He is married with two small children and they all struggle to make ends meet. Then an opportunity for promotion comes along and that is where the problems begin. There follows an affair between Sellers and a married, rich and bored wife who promises to give the librarian an advantage in being promoted in return for his selling his soul..... I won't say anything more about the plot but this is a fine film and Peter Sellers is at his very best.

This is an excellent film which is true-to-life without being showy or melodramatic. Although definitely a comedy it makes great play of the depressing and restricted life of the central character, particularly the crowded and noisy family home and the lack of privacy and comfort resulting from shared bathrooms (Sellers adjustment of the air-freshener when his landlord comes out of the toilet makes any verbal comment redundant).As a librarian myself I can relate to the professional setting and the dull routine of lending and shelving stock. Graham Stark's Mr Hyman is typical of some of the characters public libraries seem to attract. I remember a man like this who used to visit a library I once worked in. His speciality was putting a small mirror on the floor so he could look up women's skirts.The film makes no attempt to make adultery look romantic. Here it is a guilt-ridden farce full of betrayal and exploitation. It's a fine moment when Liz dumps her lapdog on Sellers and he realises he is just another accessory to her lifestyle (her 'bit of rough' to balance Bill's smoothness maybe?).Sellers attempt at adultery is all the worse because his wife is far from unattractive. Tired and worn down by family responsibilities perhaps, but practical and supportive. Virginia Maskell makes Jean's helplessness in the face of Liz's glamour extremely poignant indeed. It's a tragedy that this fine actress would reach a point in her own life when she couldn't see a way out.Sellers himself is still just on the verge of international stardom. He looks like a normal human being, not the stick thin Hollywood type he became (Sellers lost his natural chubbiness throughout his career, as he got thinner he got unhappier). He is also still a character actor, rather than a caricature who says things like 'heump' and 'beumb'. His John Lewis is totally believable.Some critics have ridiculed the idea that Sellers was ever an actor, they say he was only a mimic with a slim talent for funny voices. This film shows how wrong they are.

This is a terrific example of a number of little English gems that Sellers made before his international stardom as Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther. The writing and directing are wonderful as is the great black and white cinematography that captures a dismal Welsh mining town. See it if you can find it.

saw this film last night on pay tv, and it was the first time i have ever run across this film either on tape or TV. The subject matter must have been a bit risque for the earlier 60's and there was even a quick nude shot of the leading actress in a reflection of a mirror.. the black and white photography was good, as it reflects the era of the early 60's and in color would not have given any benefit to the material shot in England or Wales.