Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Legendary humorist James Thurber is best remembered for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, as well as his whimsical cartoons in the "New Yorker". But his many other societal contributions include "The Catbird Seat", a short story that forms the basis of the British film The Battle of the Sexes.

The setting has been changed to Edinburgh, Scotland. MacPherson (Robert Morley) is the awkward and easily impressionable inheritor of the family business, a manufacturer of traditional, hand-woven Scottish cloth. He encounters visionary American business manager Angela Barrows (Constance Cummings), whose brash and controlling nature has led to an exile in Scotland.

Soon, Barrows has MacPherson eating out of her hand, while she plots the ruinous transformation of the staid textile firm into an enormous, Americanized factory producing synthetic fabrics. But she meets surprisingly resourceful resistance from milquetoast manager Martin (Peter Sellers), leading to industrial sabotage and even attempted murder.

The latter subplot provides the film's best slapstick. The hapless Mr. Martin makes one half-hearted effort after another to kill the clueless Ms. Barrows, before discovering another (and better) plan. The supporting cast includes a young Donald Pleasence, as one of the office workers.

Battle of the Sexes doesn't quite live up to its title. The struggle for the company's future isn't really about male versus female, as it is America versus Scotland, and mass production versus craftsmanship.

Barrows sees the office and its laborers as living museum exhibits. Meanwhile, Martin and his fellow employees see Barrows as a crass, heartless futurist, seeking the destruction of the Scottish cultural identity. While the film can be taken at face value as a droll comedy, beneath its surface lies a warning that cultural change best occurs only one step at a time. (68/100)

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Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8