Old Man And Mr. Smith

Cover Type: Hardcover
Book Condition: Very Good
Jacket Condition: Very Good
Publisher: Michael O'Mara Books Ltd
Publisher Place: Uk
Publisher Year: 1990
Edition: First Edition

Description: 261 pages. Book and Jacket are both in Very good condition throughout.

Publishers Description: God and Satan return to Earth on a fact-finding mission, meeting after several millenia on a Washington street corner, in this shaggy, overextended fantasy. The conceit of two addled old geezers - the Creator of the Universe played, lets say, by Bert Lahr, with Don Rickles as his sidekick - who dont have a clue about the 20th century (why do they need luggage to check into a hotel how are they going to pay what on earth is the appeal of television) carries the book along, relaxed as a soft-shoe routine, long enough for the plot - no, better make that the running gag - to take hold: first the police, then the FBI, then Interpol are out to nab the pair for forgery (the Old Man created the money he needed to pay for that hotel room). The resulting plot escalates without ever taking hold, and the scenes are disappointing in which the Old Man (whom Ustinov wisely makes more interesting than Mrs Smith) meets the American President and the Soviet First Secretary. But moments of wondrous wide-eyed comedy pop up in all sorts of places - the Old Man tries to deal with a by-the-book concierge, Mr. Smith gets talked down by a TV evangelist, the two of them go on trial in an Israeli religious court - if you have the patience to wait. Hit-or-miss cosmic farce with a gently, insistently preachy undertone. (Kirkus Reviews)

ISBN: 1854790420