Books: Poor Little Sod the Sioux

The photograph on the dust jacket will look familiar to devotees of British comic films, and with good reason. Irene Handl, now 82, appeared with Peter Sellers in I'm All Right, Jack (1960) and with Terry-Thomas in Make Mine Mink (1960); she also played the deranged hero's mother in Morgan! (1966), in which she made a dottily poignant pilgrimage to the London grave of Karl Marx. In addition to these and other movie roles, plus extensive work in the theater and television, Handl found the time to write a novel. The Sioux was first published in 1965 and elicited glowing responses...