The Mouse That Roared (1959): Cast & Plot

The tiny, cash-strapped Duchy of Grand Fenwick faces a harsh new reality when an American company releases a cheaper imitation of its single export, the revered Pinot Grand Fenwick wine. In response, the wily Prime Minister Count Rupert Mountjoy plots a mischievous and remarkably simple scheme: declare war on the United States, then surrender and rely on the generous postwar aid that often follows a victory. The Duchess Gloriana XII, a patient but practical monarch, tilts toward the plan, while the mild-mannered game warden Tully Bascombe becomes the unlikely Field Marshal who will lead a twenty-man unit into the world’s most powerful theater. The unit’s commander is the unassuming Will Buckley, a sergeant who brings steady nerves to a mission that sounds more like a prank than a march.