Bath FIlm Festival Day 3

"Whisky Galore!"

"Whisky Galore!" is based on the famous tale about a group of Scots living on the island of Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides, who raided a ship wrecked off the coast during World War II to plunder its hold of 250,000 bottles of quality whisky. As soon as the ship sunk, many boats set upon the wreck and relieved it of 7,000 cases. The premise is a stereotypical image of the Scots, trapped on their island desperate for "a wee drain" of whisky and, lo and behold, their prayers are answered.

For the film and novel version, the scene is relocated to the fictional island of Todday, and a pompous (of course) English Home Commander Captain named Paul Waggett (Basil Radford of 1938's “The Lady Vanishes” ) is installed to protect the whisky from the desperate islanders. When the SS Cabinet Minister gets into difficulty offshore, he commands Sergeant Odd (Bruce Seton, of 1959's “The 39 Steps“) to guard the ship due to its precious cargo of high-quality whisky. Unfortunately for Waggett, Odd is persuaded by storekeeper Joseph Macroon (Wylie Watson of 1947's “Brighton Rock“) to let them take a few cases away before the ship sinks. A cat-and-mouse game of "hide the whisky" ensures.

Filmed at Ealing Studios in 1949, this is one of the classic Ealing Comedies. And despite the awful weather during production and a slow start at the box office, it has became a worldwide hit. Director Alexander Mackendrick, although born in Boston, moved back to Scotland with his grandfather and spent much of his life in Glasgow and then London. After the Second World War ended, he set up Merlin Productions with writer Roger MacDougall but, due to poor success, went to Ealing Studios to make “Whisky Galore!” and 1955's “The Ladykillers." His career in directing petered out when Ealing closed, and he was free to move his talents to Hollywood but had very little success. The films he made at Ealing represent his best work despite disliking how much control the studio had over him.