Delightful post-war British comedy illustrating for the umpteenth time the fighting spirit of the "ordinary Joe" (or in this case Jock) when set against the pomposity of the would-be ruling classes. Capt Waggett (Basil Radford) is the real star here as the middle class representative of stiff upper lippery. Surely Jimmy Perry and David Croft must have drawn on him when they were dreaming up the Capt Mainwaring character for the long-running BBC TV sit-com "Dad's Army". Even one of Waggett's lines ("I was waiting to see when you'd spot that", a comment usually made when Mainwaring had just uttered some piece of logistical nonsense) made an appearance. Unmissable example of British comedy rooted in the style that made Ealing so succesful.
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davidholmesfr2 April 2002
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bkoganbing25 December 2016This film was shot in part in the New Hebrides Islands and those island folk have little enough to do to relax and unwind. So the Scots congregate at the local pub, looks like few even have a radio. So when World War II comes spirits among other things are put on a quota. Four bottles a month for the pub. War is hell, but this is ridiculous.
So when the HMS Cabinet Minister founders and eventually sinks and its cargo being a few tons in crates containing whiskey it's manna from heaven. A way to endure the war so to speak. If only that pompous idiot Basil Radford of the local home guard would stop thinking he's in the Coast Guard and try to spoil all the fun.
In a role that would have been ideal for Cecil Parker Radford does well in the part. He plays it absolutely straight, he's a man just doing his duty as he sees it. Trouble is he just can't convince anyone else.
Another favorite in the screen in total sympathy with Radford's temperance crusade is Jean Cadell, a stern Scot's Presbyterian woman if there ever was one. Not even to break the Sabbath will she allow her grown son Gordon Jackson out to salvage the cargo. Jackson who is on leave after serving in North Africa is going against this formidable woman.
So it's Whiskey Galore for the lucky people here and Ealing Studios came up with a real winner in their comedy stable. Whiskey Galore holds up remarkably well today.
The film is based on a true wartime incident, but I doubt it was as much fun as this film was. -
Bregelad19 June 2002I have seen Whisky Galore so many times I lost count during the 'eighties. Most films so viewed tend to lose their sparkle somewhat. Not with this little gem - I laugh every time.
I have been promised that these strange happenings were based in fact, but I cannot believe that such a concatenation of hilarious happenstance could possibly have occurred, here in the British Isles, where the ridiculous is commonplace, or anywhere else. This film is full of the finest British character actors of the era, and a few acting 'non-entities' as well, who all give marvellous performances. The laughter doesn't stop, and the whisky keeps on flowing - I love it. I hope you get half as much out of Whisky Galore as I have - you'll be well pleased. -
Bill Hutchinson24 September 2001Whisky Galore AKA Tight Little Island is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. Alexander MacKendrick did a fantastic job in bringing Compton MacKenzie's book Whisky Galore to the big screen. MacKendrick keeps the pace going with plot twists that would cause one to "bust a gut." If you are looking for a truly enjoyable movie to lighten your mood, Whisky Galore is a must.
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planktonrules15 March 2006When 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.
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Spondonman9 April 2006Along with classical music Compton Mackenzie certainly knew his stuff when he wrote Whisky Galore, basing it on true events that happened in 1941. I always preferred the film. The quality of the video I made from UK BBC2 on 28th Dec 1988 was excellent, but there are budget editions out there so if interested best be careful. This is one of Ealing's handful of timeless first class classics, one that is always shown on TV and has passed into British movie folklore. Its depiction of the Sabbath-keeping Scottish islanders is only just passing into history as the inhabitants of the Outer Hebrides are only gradually establishing Sunday communications with the mainland.
Insular isolated island runs out of whisky but a cargo ship with 50,000 cases of the muck runs aground nearby. Happy times return, against all the efforts of Basil Radford as the local snooty (English) Home Guard Captain. Bruce Seton was actually a rather weather-beaten 40 to Joan Greenwood's 28 but they surely made a splendid non whisky drinking couple especially at the dance. Favourite bits: The church clock striking for the arrival of Monday morning and the consequent sudden activity; The group of men singing lustily and making hay with their first drink for ages; Hiding the muck from the Excise men, and so much more to watch and savour over and over again.
Ealing Studios went to Barra in summer 1948 and filmed this in 3 months for £80,000 - over-budget, too! When I think of the enormous pleasure that it's given me and so many others over the decades I would think that it was money very well spent, unlike any that might be spent on a pointless remake. -
AAdaSC28 July 2018We are on a remote island off the coast of Scotland and there is a crisis. No whisky. The islanders have run out. It is war-time and supplies are scarce. Prayers are said and God comes good. A ship crashes just off the coast of the island with a cargo of 50,000 cases of whisky. Happy days. However, we have a Captain Mainwaring figure in the form of Basil Radford who is leader of the island's Home Guard and he wants to make sure there is no pilfering of the cargo. Boo. The film is a cat and mouse game between the islanders and this jobsworth insistent on misery. It's a comedy and it does have funny moments. I'm not a fan of Ealing comedies but I'm keeping on to this film as it is an exception as it has actually got some comedy in it.
It's filmed on location which gives authenticity to the proceedings and thankfully, we don't get the usual Ealing comedy music - oom-pa-pa, oom-pa-pa, wah wah wah - soundtrack. It's based on actual events and this adds to the interest for me. You definitely root for the inhabitants over the officious do-gooder busy-body as represented by Radford. Let them have their whisky, for goodness sake. They're not bad people - they even don't allow themselves to get up to any mischief on a Sunday!
Top tip - head over to remote areas of Scotland. A large gold nugget worth £50,000 has recently been found there but authorities are not saying where. You may even come across some stray whisky. -
rnwaite4 April 2002A Canadian friend turned me on to this film. Prior to that - about 10 years ago - I had never heard of it. I managed to find a video and watched it. This was, without question, one of the funniest flicks I had ever seen. Filmed in glorious black & white and mostly at night, it boasted some incredible character actors and a non-stop action plot involving whiskey. LOTS of whiskey. Some great cinematography and sets, moody typical-English fog-laden atmosphere and a giant A for effort what the townsfolk went thru to hold on to that liquor! Very funny, non-violent movie just for laughs. I strongly suggest you see it.
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ackstasis7 December 2007The villagers on the quaint Scottish island of Todday are a simple, friendly people. Living a peaceful existence in relative isolation, the islanders keep their morales up via a healthy consumption of that life-giving liquid known as whisky. However, in 1943, at the peak of World War II, whisky supplies suddenly dried up a disaster of unspeakable magnitude and so the grizzled men of Todday waste away their days in debilitating bouts of extreme depression. Just imagine, then, these men's reactions when a wayward freighter, the S.S. Cabinet Minister, shipwrecks off the coast of the island, its cargo consisting of 50,000 cases of whisky. What do these parched men do? Do they immediately rush out in boats to claim the alcohol for themselves? The answer is no; the day is the Sabbath, and so they can do nothing. 'Whisky Galore!' remains one of Ealing Studio's most fondly-remembered films, and was the debut directorial effort of the great Alexander Mackendrick, who would go on to direct such classics as 'The Man in the White Suit (1951)' and 'The Ladykillers (1955).'
The film was based on Compton MacKenzie's 1947 novel of the same name, which was itself inspired by a real-life incident in 1941, when the SS Politician ran aground off the Hebridean island of Eriskay, and was locally raided for its cargo of 24,000 cases of whisky {as well as, allegedly, nearly 290,000 ten shilling notes}. The tone is typical for the Ealing comedies of the 1940s and early 1950s, celebrating the ingenuity of the "common man" when pitted against authority. In the film's funniest and most imaginative sequence, the villagers have a very short amount of time to hide a very large amount of whisky, having been forewarned that a rigorous police inspection was imminent. In an inspired bid of desperation, the drunken men stow bottles of alcohol in every nook and cranny that nobody would think to look, hiding them in buckets of water, in their houses' guttering, under a sleeping baby and even inside a pie. In one amusing sequence, an obviously-intoxicated man scolds his mother for trying to pour the precious liquid down the kitchen sink, and so downs the remainder of the two bottles just in time for the investigators' arrival.
Though there are definitely moments when comedic genius simply sparkles from the screen, there were a couple of things about 'Whisky Galore' that kept me from absolutely loving it. First of all, a lot of the film's events take place at night, and I often found it extremely difficult to make out what was actually happening. Since I was watching the film at night in complete darkness, thus ruling out any troublesome glare, and the DVD featured an otherwise crisp print, I can only assume that the nighttime sequences have always been rather difficult to discern. The acting in 'Whisky Galore' is adequate, though the film is lacking the strong central performance that Alec Guinness could usually be relied upon to deliver; if only he'd been in this one! Basil Radford did, however, give an enjoyable performance as Captain Paul Waggett, the commander of the local Home Guard, who considers it his sworn duty to reclaim as many bottles of stolen whisky as he possibly can, understandably making him an unpopular figure on the island. Unsurprisingly, amid the community of Scottish residents, this bumbling spoilsport is, in fact, an Englishman. -
hitchcockthelegend20 December 2011Out of Ealing Studios, Whisky Galore! is directed by Alexander Mackendrick and adapted to screenplay by Compton Mackenzie (novel also) and Angus MacPhail. It stars Basil Radford, Wylie Watson, Catherine Lacey, Bruce Seton, Joan Greenwood and Gabrielle Blunt. Music is by Ernest Irving and cinematography by Gerald Gibbs.
When a ship with a cargo of 50,000 bottles of whisky is shipwrecked near the Outer Hebrides island of Todday, the villagers, out of their whisky rations, set about pillaging as much of it as they can before the authorities take control.
Of the many thematic successes that Ealing Studios worked from, one of the highlights was the theme of a community rallying together to thwart an oppressive force. Reference Passport to Pimlico, The Titfield Thunderbolt and Whisky Galore! The latter of which was worked from a true story. In 1941 the cargo ship SS Politician was shipwrecked near the island of Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides, its main cargo of whisky and Jamaican shilling notes was mostly salvaged by the islanders. Ealing's take on the general story is condensed down to being an ode to anti authoritarianism and drink! With joyous results.
Filmed on location close to Eriskay at Barra, the production had to overcome creative differences and awful weather to become the wonderful finished product. In fact the production went well over budget, a big no no on Ealing terms. Creative difference came between co-producer Monja Danischewsky and rookie director Mackendrick, where the former was firmly on the side of the islanders' pillage tactics, and the latter siding with Home Guard Captain Waggett's (Radford) feeble attempt to keep order. Danischewsky won out, where in spite of a code enforced epilogue, film plays out rooting for the islanders, gaining much humour from Waggett being an Englishman who is completely at odds with what he sees as the Scottish islanders anarchic behaviour.
The Water Of Life.
The community of Todday is bound by its love of whisky, makers extract quality mirth by presenting the sorrow brought about by the whisky running dry, only to then have the islanders lives perked up by the stricken fate of the ship carrying "the water of life". How the people react to the news of the ships cargo, how they set about purloining said cargo and how they hide said cargo from the authorities, is what brings the joy to Whisky Galore! Rarely has a cinematic treatment to larceny been so sweet and deftly handled as it is here. There's even an aside to class distinction, a nod to religious conformity and two lightly (unobtrusive) portrayed romances within the story. And with a cast bang on form, notably Radford, Watson and the gorgeous Greenwood, it rounds out as one of Ealing's most smartest and joyous comedies.
It gladdened the hearts of many back on release as Britain continued to rebuild after the war, that it still entertains new observers even today is testament to Whisky Galore's lasting appeal. 9.5/10 -
slokes2 June 2005This charming little postcard of a comedy is pleasant enough to spend time with; amiable, diverting, and offering nice streaks of ambiance here and there. Yet it achieves its goal of being a light comedy almost too well, becoming margarine-soft and forgettable.
This British comedy from legendary Ealing Studios features an island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, Todday, that enjoys its relative isolation from modern life until World War II supply cutbacks deprive them of their whisky shipments. Salvation arrives in the form of a freighter that gets wrecked just offshore, carrying 7,000 cases of the blessed "uisge beatha" just waiting to be plucked to safety.
"Whisky Galore!" gives us a chance to see recognizable actors such as Basil Radford of "The Lady Vanishes," James Robertson Justice from "The Guns of Navarone," and especially the sultry Joan Greenwood from "Kind Hearts And Coronets" in the sort of film that paid their rents while they awaited more significant work. Also on offer are impressive, on-location shots by director Alexander Mackendrick and cinematographer Gerald Gibbs that foreshadow "The Quiet Man" and "Local Hero" in the way they boldly present the windswept beauty of gorse and fescue against a rocky shore.
It's really Radford's film in that he has the main role, that of a martinet British Home Guard officer named Waggett who takes his work way too seriously. When he learns of the foundered ship, he realizes its cargo will be the target of pilfering from the thirsty islanders, and decides to make it his business the whisky either is lost with the ship or is taken away by proper authorities so as not to cost the Crown any lost excise tax revenue.
"Would it be so terrible if the people here did get a few bottles?" asks his wife. "I mean, if it's all going down to the bottom of the sea..."
"That's a very dangerous argument, darling," counters Waggett. "Once people take the law into their own hands, it's anarchy!"
For someone who has had the displeasure of working for a Waggett-type character, it's fun to watch him come to grief trying to be a killjoy for everyone else. Yet he's also the only really distinctive character here. The only other role with any meat on it is Bruce Seton's, an Army sergeant home from Africa who is sympathetic to the Todday citizenry but somewhat bland. The others are just bland outright. Mostly they are tweedy codgers differentiated only by their beard lengths and degrees of desire for a drop of the hard stuff. Oh, and one strict Calvinist mother from hell so you don't think drinkers are the only Scottish stereotype on offer here.
Even Greenwood, the most notable screen presence in the cast with her trademark (and non-Scottish) husky voice, is wasted as one of two young island sisters being eyed for marriage (in Greenwood's case, by Seton). There's much running around as Waggett tries to uncover caches of purloined liquor, but it seems more frantic than clever.
There are some chuckle-worthy lines, some with a clever touch of whimsical darkness about them: (Learning a neighbor has given birth to twins, one laments: "Two souls - What a calamity!") And there's a fine cinematic moment when whisky returns to Todday and we are treated to a scene of the drinkers merrily humming away some unintelligible tune, their alight eyes telling the tale.
Unless you're an alcoholic, you'll enjoy one shot of "Whisky Galore!" But even hearty drinkers may find themselves agreeing one is enough. -
thehumanduvet23 February 2001A lovely bit of nostalgia here, one of the greats of British comedy. The isle of Toddy becomes for a while at least a true paradise when the islanders find themselves rescuing part of the cargo of a wrecked ship carrying precious whisky, despite the efforts of the sassenach jobsworth running the local home guard. A wealth of wonderful moments, a softly-spoken gentleness that has always characterised this kind of movie (and lives on in such modern works as Hear My Song and Waking Ned), and a kind but firm lack of respect for bureaucratic authority soaked throughout the entire film make this a delight and a joy every time.
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adamscastlevania24 March 2015(55%) A super cosy little British comedy that has grown to become a national favourite mainly owing to its bags of charm and almost time capsule likened look at Britain's wartime past. For me this is more quaint than funny, but watching it is like being wrapped in a winter warming blanket. The performances are fine with the almost ever present in films from this ere Gordon Jackson, while Joan Greenwood is almost hypnotic in her memorable performance as the love interest. After the ship is plundered the movie becomes much more fun and entertaining to watch, with its two fingered salute to the rules and the people who make them. Fans of classic British comedy that haven't already seen this should without doubt track it down.
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gavin69429 December 2013Scottish islanders try to plunder 50,000 cases of whiskey from a stranded ship.
This was Alexander Mackendrick's directorial debut, and a solid one at that. There is humor, to be sure, and something of a dark humor at that. Apparently, Scotland is a dreary place when whiskey and cigarettes are scarce.
But although I liked it, I think I missed something, because it did not jump out at me as anything much beyond the average films of the day. I guess maybe I should watch it again or in the context of Mackendrick's career, but oh well. -
treagan-222 November 2002When I hear the phrase-"Celtic Twilight"-not so much in use now--I've come to think of this film. The meaning of "Celtic Twilight" might be summarized as the sense that history has passed by Ireland and other Celtic peoples in Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, etc., and what we see now is a sort of a cultural endgame, leading to its long and inevitable death throes.
Whiskey Galore, about a wartime whiskey-starved island in the Outer Hebrides, displays these kinds of characters: a full-grown man afraid of telling his mother he wants to marry a local girl, and his intolerant domineering crone of a mother; a gossipy telephone operator; an out-of-it ferry captain, unaware of the rising sexual tension his daughters are undergoing; and dozens of mischievous, winking, alcohol-craving townspeople who are dying to loot an abandoned ship full of their beloved whiskey but afraid to do it on the Sabbath!
One more character, played by Basil Radford, is the stuffy, self-important head of the local militia, out of step with the other residents, sworn to uphold the law. Apparently the director, Alexander Makendrick, objected to the character's silly and ineffectual pomposity.
This is truly one of the great, charming Ealing comedies, very remindful to me of the Irish-American citizens of my mother's home town, Brasher Falls, New York. A gem in its sly humor--although the video copies I've seen are of a murky quality. -
Leofwine_draca25 August 2016WHISKY GALORE! is one of the films that helped to cement Ealing Studios's reputation as a fine leading purveyor of British comedies. It's a memorable production that was of course based on the true story of a cargo ship becoming wrecked off the coast of Scotland and shedding its cargo of whisky bottles to the delight of the local populace.
What plays out is straightforward stuff indeed; there's not a great deal of narrative structure or plot here as this is for the most part a character piece. The viewer sits back and watches how each of the characters reacts to the unusual situation as the officials try to retrieve the stolen whisky while the locals try to hide their ill-gotten games. It's the sort of film that can write itself, if I'm honest, but the cast make it work.
Basil Radford (without his comic partner Naunton Wayne for a change) is fine as the stressed-out captain tasked with retrieving the cargo. A youthful Gordon Jackson is all smiles and James Robertson Justice typically larger than life as the doctor. Joan Greenwood in particular makes an impact as the wife of one of the islanders. WHISKY GALORE! is a farce that works thanks to a fast pace and plenty of little twists in the narrative to keep you watching, and crucially it's also funny in the dated, genteel English way. -
One of the great joys of British cinema, "Whisky Galore" heralded the emergence of a great new talent in its director, Alexander Mackendrick and it's still one of the highlights in the Ealing canon. It was based on Compton MacKenzie's comic novel about a Scottish island that has run dry of 'the water of life', aka whisky, who suddenly finds itself blessed when a ship whose sole cargo is whisky runs aground off the island.
MacKenzie actually based his story on a real incident and Mackendrick filmed it on the island of Barra so it certainly looks authentic. It's also got a killer cast of some of the finest character actors in the movies headed by Basil Radford, Joan Greenwood, Gordon Jackson, Jean Cadell, (superb as Jackson's dragon of a mother), James Robertson Justice and 'Mr. Memory' himself, Wylie Watson. It was a huge hit, both here and in America where it was rechristened "Tight Little Island". Clearly influenced by Powell and Pressburger's "I Know Where I'm Going" and, in turn, a great influence on Bill Forsyth's "Local Hero". The recent remake isn't in the same class. -
Much whisky washes up on a Scottish island to the delight of the islanders who won't have to pay duty on the booze. Of course there are those to whom rules is rules.
I cam very late to this Ealing comedy and, to be frank, I was a little disappointed. Yes, it was good to see the location work, the xast of British stalwarts, and the prototype Captain Mainwaring. But, notwithstanding that is based on something which actually happened, the joke is very slight and, too me, was too insubstatial to sustain the film over its entire length.
I enjoyed it, but I felt its reputation wasn't entirely deserved, and I have no great wish to see it again. -
Prismark1019 January 2015Whisky Galore! is generally regarded as the typical charming and whimsical Ealing comedy pitting the common people against the forces of bureaucracy and high mindedness.
Directed by the American Alexander Mackendrick who had a sly eye for such waggish stories. When a cargo of whisky is shipwrecked near a small Outer Hebrides island, the local villagers, already out of whisky rations set about taking as much of the stock from the stricken ship before the authorities get wind.
Basil Radford plays the Home Guard's Captain Waggett, an Englishman who tries to keep order from what he sees as anarchy and find the stolen whisky which by now is cunningly hidden by the villagers.
The villagers just want to have fun during wartime rationing and rally together by sticking two fingers at the face of authority. A classic case of Ealing's anti establishment streak which works well in a remote island community which by the way still strictly observes Sunday. Of course Gordon Jackson is in it, a young man with a domineering mother.
Although the tale is amiable, it is also modest. It is more of a culture clash comedy as Captain Waggett behaves in an arch way and not trying to understand the locals. -
Film Dog25 April 1999A little town on a Scottish Isle suffers the most horrifying predicament, of which the outbreak of WWII in hindsight seemed to be an omen: they're out of whiskey! Everyone goes into an almost catatonic state until fortune takes a turn for the better: a ship is wrecked on a reef. The cargo: 50,000 cases of whiskey. But there's one do-gooder, the local militia leader, who just can't allow the cargo to be put to use. That, he says would lead to anarchy. Many well defined characters, good plot.
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henry8-316 June 2019A ship containing 50,000 cases of whisky crashes on a remote Scottish island which has run out of the stuff.
Witty Ealing comedy about the god fearing locals who will do anything to get the whisky and keep it hidden from the customs. I'd be surprised if any other film had such aged cast. -
clanciai17 July 2019Alexander Mackendrick had a very special knack for visualizing humanity on screen, that is, for making humanity appear in its most human aspects. Here his talents in combination with Compton Mackenzie's glorious account celebrate triumphs, as a story like this couldn't possibly fail under any circumstances, but Mackendrick's special view of humanity enhances the unforgettably sympathetic impression. Even Basil Radford as the formalistic bureaucrat insisting on his pedantry at any cost ultimately appears as likeable in spite of all in all his pathetic crushing defeat. The local people carry the weight of the film, though, with leaders like Gordon Jackson and Joan Greenwood (in one of her most delicate performances as the suave telephone operator), and as it is a basically true story, the sensitive filming endows the entire film with an almost documentary character. All characters seem authentic, they are all true, and this is one of those classic comedies you could actually watch any number of times in any decade, giving pleasure every time.
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niall_wallace1 February 2006A Toddy is a traditional cold cure which can be made with Whisky The story plays on the strict Presbyterian adherence found even now in the outer islands.
There are lots of little jokes
When the Home Guard Captain calls to report the theft of the cargo he asks for number 666
And if you read it as a joke, the number of children that run out the house at the start when the narrator tells us that the islanders enjoy but simple pleasures.
A similar story was used for a Scotch whisky advert in the late 1980s -
paul2001sw-116 January 2021'Whisky Galore!' is one of the slightest of the Ealing comedies, a short tale of canny Scottish Highlanders running rings around pompous officialdom in order to get their hands of a cargo of illicit spirit. There are some laughs, the best at the expense of the local puritans, but it's a minor tale, and the concluding joke feels like something tacked on in the edit. Better to watch 'Kind Hearts and Coronets', released in the same year, a film of far greater cinematic inventiveness.