or [perky] How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb [/perky].

That’s how the theatrical trailer presented it, anyway, and it was very apt.

The bro-in-law gave it to me a couple of Christmases ago, and I finally got around to watching it on Friday. It wasn’t entirely what I was expecting.
1. I hadn’t realised it was black and white.
2. I hadn’t realised Peter Sellers played three roles. That was cool.
3. I had no idea what the comedy in it would be like; that it was so esoteric was unexpected. I think I had thought it would be a bit more laugh-out-loud funny.

I did like it. Peter Sellers was very clever; I am not sure that I have seen him in anything else – which is a terrible burnish on my would-be movie guru plaque – but I was impressed by his physical comedy, as well as his absorption into the characters. It took me a significant while to realise that he was both Strangelove and the English dude; I didn’t realise at all that he was the president at all until maybe the end of the film!

I can’t imagine what it must have been like when it first came out. I am used to seeing apocalyptic movies, and I am not living in the Cold War so it doesn’t feel at all prescient. For a 60s audience… whew. Must have been a bit of a head-spin.