I posted about I'm Alright Jack when it was the subject of one of Sky Arts Classic Movies. See post 23rd November.2023. This was an early film role for Peter Sellers and he makes the most of his time on screen. This is a post war state of the nation film produced by Roy Boulting and directed by his brother John. Ian Carmichael appears in a type of role for which he became famous, as the upper class buffoon. It was supposed to be funny, and maybe it was in 1959. It is more of a satire on the clash of the workers and management.

I remembered the Doris Day song of the title, but never before seen the movie. She appears with James Garner ( famous in our house when I was young for starring in Maverick). But I preferred his mother played by Thelma Ritter. Some witty lines that made us laugh, great sets and clothes all in sparkling colour. 

From Ealing Studios came this 1949 comedy based on the novel by Compton Mackenzie. Produced by Michael Balcon  and directed by Alexander Mackendrick, the Scottish island of Barra stands in for the fictional Todday. During the second world war he inhabitants have run out of their most important commodity, whisky. The war has left them abandoned, until the SS Cabinet Minister runs aground with 50,000 cases of the stuff on board. In fog, their captain had spoken the immortal words "We're nowhere near an island ...... (crash!)". The crew come ashore and are quickly removed to the mainland. 

It' s the pompous Mr Waggett (captain of the home guard) who organises the guard of the ship, but the islanders have other ideas. Here are some wonderful characters including two romantic sub-plots. And why does James Robertson Justice always plays the doctor? The film was explored in detail in Sky Arts Classic Movies that I reviewed here on 18th September 2024.