Nonureva
Really Surprised!
SpunkySelfTwitter
It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.
ChampDavSlim
The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.
Ogosmith
Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
Robert J. Maxwell
The people of the little village of Toddy on one of the Outer Hebrides runs out of whiskey and there is no prospect of any coming in. A shroud descends on the island. No one smiles. The elderly waste away.Then, through the seasonable interposition of a gracious Providence, a ship is wrecked just offshore while carrying a cargo of 50,000 cases of scotch. The villagers, champing at the bit while waiting for the Sabbath to end, finally manage to save some 250 cases before the ship goes down.The sun shines again and the islanders are happy -- except for the comically strict captain of the Home Guard who learns of the theft and calls in the authorities to confiscate the goods. He almost does it, too.It's a fine farce. The comedy is understated and flows naturally from the unnatural situations. The laughs are never forced. I'll give just one example.As the men of the village are finishing the transfer of all that booze from the ship to a fleet of rowboats, the ship itself gives a lurch and lists heavily. The cargo hold, still full of stone-heavy cases of whiskey, is filled with tumbling cartons. One man is trapped below and when his rescuers hurriedly pull the crates away from him, they find him sitting there with a resigned but not at all unhappy expression. If you're going to lose your life, this is the proper way to do it -- crushed by the water of life.There's a dumb coda, but it's sarcastic and can be ignored safely. Otherwise this is a truly heart-warming movie that belongs to the "happy peasant" genre. The outsiders are cold and repressed, while the peasants dance, sing, drink, and feast. There are far worse examples of the genre. I particularly like the fact that, at the end, the moralistic outsider isn't converted by the peasants. He simply goes away in frustration.
Jackson Booth-Millard
I recognised the title of this comedy classic from Ealing Studios and director Alexander Mackendrick (The Ladykillers, Sweet Smell of Success), and being in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die I was bound to try it. Based on a true story, set in World War II, a remote Scottish Hebrides island group - Great Todday and Little Todday - have run out of all whisky, the "water of life", most people can't live without it. There fortune changes though when a cargo vessel crashes, and when they find out it is filled with 50,000 bottles of whisky, so the villagers are quick to get to the wreck and loot it. They manage to get plenty before the ship sinks, of course the authorities are bound to get involved, so plenty of people are finding places to hide their bottles. In the end, after they all get away with it and they eventually run out, the price for whisky is risen twice, and only two people that don't drink it live happily ever after. Starring Basil Radford as Captain Paul Waggett, Catherine Lacey as Mrs. Waggett, Bruce Seton as Sergeant Odd, Joan Greenwood as Peggy Macroon, Gordon Jackson as George Campbell, Wylie Watson as Joseph Macroon, Gabrielle Blunt as Catriona Macroon, Jean Cadell as Mrs Campbell and James Robertson Justice as Dr Maclaren, narrated by Finlay Currie. The story might have been a bit droll, but there were some alright performances, it was quite intriguing in parts, and I did laugh in a few moments of the film. It was nominated the BAFTA for Best British Film. Very good!
FarrBoot
I was told that the star of this movie is Will Fyfe (Fyffe?). Are we talking about the same movie here? My Scottish husband tells me the film is very funny, remembering it from when he was young and still living in the Hamilton/Kilmarnock (western) area of Scotland after World War II. We would like to find a copy of the original which, he recalls, starred Will Fyfe. This listing shows Basil Radford in the starring role. Would this be a remake of the original, which he and his friends remember as: Tight Little Island? We would appreciate any clarification one might have on this title/actor confusion to be confident of searching for a copy of the original, wonderful movie. Thank you.
MartinHafer
When I saw this film was made by Ealing Studios, I jumped at the chance to see it. That's because following WWII, this small studio made a long string of cute little gems--all with exquisite writing, acting and direction--and on shoestring budgets. Their Alec Guinness films and PASSPORT TO PIMLICO are some of the very best films of the era. So I wasn't surprised when I found I also enjoyed this slight little film about a town that ran out of whisky (the Scottish spelling) and their attempts to smuggle in a new supply of drink. Once again, the very simple story was deftly handled and it was quite entertaining. There were only two drawbacks--neither one might affect you personally. The first was the language. While I watch tons of British television and movies, I, like most Americans have a much harder time understanding Scottish accents than English accents. I really would have loved subtitles or closed captioning, but the videotape I saw had neither. Secondly, the quality of the print was really lousy. Both these problems can be blamed on Critic's Choice Videos. I've seen other films from them and must say they produce among the WORST quality videotapes--try to find ANY other brand.
