The Optimists

This loosely plotted 1973 feature film from director Anthony Simmons—adapting his own 1964 novel The Optimists of Nine Elms—features comic actor Peter Sellers as Sam, who was once a headlining comic entertainer in the vanished London music-hall scene. Now, Sam ekes out a living as a street musician. Two Cockney children (Donna Mullane and John Chaffey) befriend the curmudgeonly showman and plan to give Sam's ailing old dog a fitting burial in the landmark Victorian-era pet cemetery that is tucked into Hyde Park (the film has many London sights that most tourists never see). Oliver composer Lionel Bart contributed the songs and music for this bittersweet, working-class sleeper, in which Sellers avoids Inspector Clouseau–like pratfalls and slapstick in favor of comedy with a more delicate appeal. Recommended. (C. Cassady)