Member review

I love Ealing Studio Movies of the 1940's and 50's (The Ladykillers and Kind Hearts and Coronets are really good black comedies) This is a pure comedy and is probably one of the Ealing collection's best, as there are some funny bits that everyone can understand.

The main plot is that it is WW2 and there is restrictions on rationing on a small Scottish island in the highlands there are a lot of men who believe (as the film says) that "A life without whisky is a life not worth living" this is where everything starts going silly as they have no whisky and they have a tax on alcohol so when you add a shipwreck with over 50,000 cases of whisky and a bumbling Detective/Customs Officer you get hilarious hijinks for the whole family.

The reason the detective is after them is that he smells something fishy when the Island's inhabitants countdown the minutes until the Sabbath ends so they can row to the shipwreck to "help". Then suddenly everyone on the Island is very Merry...

All the town's adults behave like a gang of naughty children and it's really joyful.

As an example of the humour; a funny part is they have to hide the whisky and after running out of hiding places one Father stuffs a bottle underneath a sleeping baby's blanket. Another amusing character is the Detective's second in command who is in his late 20's but is grounded by his overbearing Mum and has to sneak out to do his job!