Samuel LoveThis September marks the 100th birthday of comedy royalty Peter Sellers. Although he was known off-screen for being erratic, volatile, and troubled, there’s no denying that on-screen, he was one of the funniest and most gifted comedy actors we’ve ever seen. But while most would be quick to remember The Pink Panther or Dr. Strangelove, his career was packed with little-seen gems ripe for rediscovery and reappraisal. StudioCanal’s Vintage Classics line has just released two 1960s classics – crime caper Two-Way Stretch and religious satire Heavens Above! – that certainly fit this bill. Both feature Sellers at his finest, and allow both fans and newcomers alike a chance to celebrate the icon’s centenary. With a Sellers boxset teased for towards the end of this year and a BFI season, the celebrations are just beginning!
Two-Way Stretch
Synopsis
Constantly taking advantage of the prison governor’s liberal methods towards authority, convict, and criminal mastermind Dodger Lane (Sellers) decides to commit the ultimate crime with the ultimate alibi. Along with a misfit crew of fellow inmates he plans to escape from prison, steal a priceless cache of diamonds and then return to his cell before anyone notices. Who said genius was easy?
Special Features
- NEW – Peter Sellers: Criminally Good – A look at the production of Two Way Stretch featuring interviews with Peter Lydon, director of BBC Arena’s The Peter Sellers Story and the BFI’s Vic Pratt, co-author of The Bodies Beneath: The Flipside of British Film and Television
- NEW – Two Way Stretch: Sellers on the Inside – Featuring interview footage with Roy Boulting, Beryl Reid, Bryan Forbes, Sidney Gilliat and Mai Zetterling originally shot for Seller’s Best (1992, dir Paul Joyce) a 60-minute documentary on the early film career of Peter Sellers, broadcast on Channel Four
- Audio Commentary by Authors and Comedy Historians Gemma Ross and Robert Ross
- Behind the Scenes stills gallery
- Trailer
Heavens Above!
Synopsis
The inimitable Peter Sellers stars as John Smallwood, an idealistic Reverend appointed to the parish of an upper-class village by mistake. With a bad habit of telling the truth at all times, Smallwood makes several clerical decisions that shock his wealthy, landed-gentry parishioners. Inspired by an idea by British satirist Malcolm Muggeridge, the Boulting brothers’ HEAVENS ABOVE! was considered a bit too sacrilegious for general consumption on its 1963 release.
Special Features
- NEW – Sellers Takes Off in Heavens Above! – A look at the production of Heavens Above! featuring interviews with Peter Lydon, director of BBC Arena’s The Peter Sellers Story and the BFI’s Vic Pratt, co-author of The Bodies Beneath: The Flipside of British Film and Television
- NEW – Heavens Above! A Q&A with Daily Mash’s Tom Whitley, Eva Griffith and Benedict Morrison – filmed at the LOCO London Comedy Film Festival in 2025
- NEW – Heavens Above! The Mask Behind the Mask– Featuring interview footage with Roy Boulting, Ian Carmichael and Sidney Gilliat originally shot for Seller’s Best (1992, dir Paul Joyce) a 60-minute documentary on the early film career of Peter Sellers, broadcast on Channel Four
- Audio Commentary by Authors and Comedy Historians Gemma Ross and Robert Ross
- Lobby Cards Gallery
TWO-WAY STRETCH and HEAVENS ABOVE! are available now on Blu-ray from StudioCanal as part of the Vintage Classics series
