Carlton-Browne of the F.O.
Discovered by a British expedition in 1720 and naturally assimilated as a colony of the Empire, the island of Gaillardia in the south seas had traditionally been ruled by the two sides of the same royal family, one occupying the south and the other the north, their feud ongoing when Gaillardia was returned to self-rule in 1916 with the slight oversight that His Majesty’s government neglected to inform either the islanders or their own representatives of at the time.
The discontinuity coming to light when a communique is received at the Foreign Office in 1959, as the dispute escalates following the assassination of the king and his immediate heir at the opera house it is to Permanent Assistant Political Secretary for the Miscellaneous Territories Cadogan De Vere Carlton-Browne of the F. O. that the task falls to ensure that the succession proceeds towards a candidate amenable to the homeland.
The son of a distinguished former ambassador who has received his position solely by dint of his father’s achievements and standing, it is little surprise that Carlton-Browne of the F. O. is not up to the task, Terry-Thomas playing a man disposed to quaffing spirits at the gentlemen’s club but incapable of outwitting a tin opener and certainly not qualified for the hurdles he must jump to negotiate with Peter Sellers’ oily Prime Minister Amphibulos or John Le Mesurier’s Grand Duke, making his bid for the throne via the proxy of Luciana Paluzzi’s Princess Ilyena.
Written and directed by Roy Boulting and Jeffrey Dell and originally released in 1959, Carlton-Browne of the F. O. is terribly British, an absurdist comedy of sharp dialogue and occasional slapstick of the remnants of a former empire whose principal role in the global relations is gumming up bureaucracy rather than smooth diplomacy, the preferred new leader, British educated and recently crowned King Loris (Doomwatch’s Ian Bannen) rightly suspicious of all and asking why both west and east are so interested in his poverty-stricken island.
With Russian agents also scouting the area seeking mineral rights, Gaillardia undeveloped yet harbouring sufficient cobalt to heat up the cold war, Carlton-Browne of the F. O. is a satire of foreign policy and the myth of cultural superiority, released twelve years after the partition of India which it parallels and part of a long line of British comedy which mocks the ruling class, a predecessor to Yes, Minister, House of Cards and their political brethren.
Restored by StudioCanal and joining their Vintage Classics collection alongside Only Two Can Play, the new edition of Carlton-Browne of the F. O. is supported by a conversation between Peter Lydon and Vic Pratt on the film, archive interviews with Roy Boulting, Ian Carmichael, Bryan Forbes and Beryl Reid conducted for the Seller’s Best retrospective and a gallery.
