Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

David Traversa This movie is so dated that to watch it nowadays gives you the feeling of watching an early movie, "A Trip to the Moon" --1902-- for example.But "A Trip to the Moon" can be accepted if we place our mind at that time, with that technology, etc. as a museum piece, a curiosity. Not this movie though, where from the initial 1950s title the whole thing is redolent of naphthalene, and that feeling goes on with a sudden close up of Peter Seller (as funny as yesterday morning flat and cold soufflé) and it goes on in a very Kingsley Amis (the author of this book) way, a way as old fashioned as the treatment for this movie.What a turkey! Peter Sellers is totally miscast for this rol, because if we consider that the character, according to the females reaction when seeing him, was an instant turn on, he, obviously, doesn't fit the rol by a long shot (a Sean Connery was needed here).He was SO blah! and the women that were supposed to be bombshells, were totally ruined with that 1950s look --exagerated (ridiculous) pointed bust, waists cinched to death and beehive hairdos-- the only exception being Virginia Maskell (Sellers wife in the movie) a lovely, natural beauty, fortunately without all that paraphernalia that was the last cry for the fashion of that time. Everything is old fashion in this movie, the situations (many of them pathetic), the pacing, the editing, the camera work, the acting. Some comments mentioned "the humor"... I'm flabbergasted... was there humor in this movie? I totally missed it. I don't get it, English movies are usually exceptionally good, but this one in particular is impossibly bad, as bad as Mr. Amis literature.

moonspinner55 British-made comedy-drama about an unfulfilled Welsh librarian and family man who contemplates having an affair with the library chairman's flirtatious wife. As played by Peter Sellers (in a benign performance earmarked by the actor's charming aloofness), this character is both ridiculous and endearing eyeing the bums and breasts of Welsh's finest femmes, but the kitchen-sink dynamics of the story never really take hold. The film does have something to say about working-class marriages and lives stuck in a rut, but screenwriter Bryan Forbes can't seem to work big laughs into the narrative, and as a result the picture isn't more than faintly amusing. These type of "oh no, my husband's come home!" situations were surely hoary even in 1962, however Sellers has a nice way of turning the hum-drum into sprightly, if low-keyed, human angst; one is drawn to even the smallest gestures on the basis of his charisma alone. Peter has a wonderful moment kissing Mai Zetterling behind a sheer curtain, and a marvelously-observed bit interviewing for a higher position in the library. His talk of jetting off to parts unknown recalls later studies such as "Charlie Bubbles", and the upbeat ending is cute if utterly unrealistic. **1/2 from ****

stanistreet-2 Peter Sellers was always at his best in this type of local comedy. His randy Welsh librarian, frustrated with his dead-end job, has a part-time job as a reporter on the local newspaper, doing reviews of the local repertory theatre. We see his dreary home life; his long-suffering wife - a lovely performance from Virginia Maskell; his interchanges with his hypochondriac neighbour - Kenneth Griffiths. Enter the glamorous Mai Zetterling, wife of the local big-wig (Raymond Huntley)and Seller's life is catapulted into confusions. A chance of promotion - in exchange for sexual favours with Mai - catapults him into a sequence of very funny situations. One, a confrontation with an avant-garde poet/playwright - a beautiful cameo role by Richard Attenborough - is hilarious and the whole film progresses at a very satisfying pace, never descending in to farce. It would be nice to have it available in DVD format. It is a much better example of some of Seller's work, such as the farcical Pink Panther froth.

ianlouisiana Mai Zetterling was a member of that very exclusive club - the female actor/director/writer sorority.Her curse - if indeed that it be - was that she possessed great physical beauty as well as intellectual and artistic distinction:and in a society obsessed with physiognomical appearance her other attributes were very often considered to be of secondary importance. It is ironic then,that in "Only two can play",she is cast as by far the strongest and smartest character - Mrs Gruffyd - Williams. Strong,smart and very sexy,she is clever enough to hide the first two and flaunt the third.Mr Peter Sellers as John Lewis the oversexed librarian is in thrall to her from the moment they meet.Imprisoned in a dreary flat and an equally dreary marriage,a victim of his libido,Lewis is desperately seeking a little spice. Rather than a film of the sixties, this is very much a film of the fifties.It negotiates the labyrinthine complexities of post world war two British society skilfully,following the guidelines set down by Kingsley Amis(a determinedly 1950s man) in his novel.Adultery is contemplated,even attempted but never actually committed. Set in Wales,a country that at the time was considered to be even more prudish than middle - England ,the film pokes fun at social and intellectual pretensions as personified by Mr Kenneth Griffith and Sir Richard Attenborough respectively.The social and sexual aspirations of Mr Peter Sellers' character are gently mocked too. It contains a fine portrait of a woman whose life is crumbling round her as she desperately struggles to keep it all together that is worthy of a less light-hearted context.The late Miss Virginia Maskell reminds us with her portrayal of Lewis's wife that adultery may be a game that only two can play,but others are always on the sidelines. Mr Sellers' career went global soon after this,his roles gradually degenerating until they became merely exercises in virtuoso mimicry. I personally found his performances in "Dr Strangelove" detracted from its efficacy,and once he donned the white mac and alpine hat of Inspector Clouseau he never again played a character that was a recognisable human being.The role of John Lewis has a depth and truth he was not to find again,demonstrating the full range of his skills as an actor.It is a matter of regret for me that "Being There" is apparently widely accepted as his best work and "Only two can play " is virtually unknown.In a perfect world the reverse would hold good.