A classic film that I watched with mom as a kid. I passed this on by showing it to my wife, who was charmed by this film. This is really a slightly slapstick anti-war film with the warmest of all hearts, and a message about just how crazy the world can be. If you have not seen it, you have missed out, and if you have, go watch it again. It is every bit as charming as you remember!

Set during the first World War in France, Scottish Private Charles Plumpick (Alan Bates) is sent into a town that was known to be occupied by the retreating Germans. The German’s have set a large cache of explosives, and the Scots know about this because they had someone spying for them in town. What they do not know is that the entire Town has in fact run, and the German’s have left, but the door to the insane assylum has been left open, by Plumpick himself who was hiding from German’s, and the lunatics have taken over the town.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…Plumpick wanders around the town, interacting with all the inmates, who he believes are the real people. As he searches for the German bombs which are hidden under a stage in the town center.

Eventually Plumpick finds love in a crazy high wire artist named Coquelicto (Genevieve Bujold), and is crowned the King of Hearts.

Plumpick does manage to disable the bombs, but the German’s return as the Scots also move into town, and they end up killing each other completely off.

The lunatics have meanwhile returned to the Asylum, not wanting to be part of this crazy world. Plumpick realizes that this must be the smarted thing to do, and shows up at the asylum doors totally naked, carrying a bird in a cage, and is welcomed by his friends with open arms.

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Really a lovely little film. Most worth watching.