All at Sea (AKA Barnacle Bill)
Directed by Charles Frend
Written by T.E.B. Clarke
1957/UK
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Ealing Studios
First viewing/Amazon Instant
The Royal Navy of England hath ever been its greatest defense and ornament; it is its ancient and natural strength; the floating bulwark of the island. — William Blackstone
I would have watched this just to see Alec Guinness jitterbug but it’s not a bad light comedy either.
As the film begins, Capt. William Horatio Ambrose (Guinness) is receiving an award from Lloyds of London for rescuing his sinking vessel and saving its contents. He repairs with a reporter to a bar where he tells his unlikely story.
Ambrose came from a long line of navy men. Unfortunately, he himself was cursed with sea sickness and spent the entire war testing remedies, none of which worked on him.
After retirement from the navy, Ambrose spends all his money purchasing a ramshackle amusement pier in the seaside resort of Sandcastle. He proceeds to run it on strictly naval principles. He needs to make money though and pursues the idea of opening a dance hall (this is where the jitterbugging comes in) and a pub on the premises. The strictly moral City Council blocks his every move. Secretly, they plot to condemn the pier and build a seaside promenade profiting mightily in the process. Ambrose gets the best of them by cutting the pier from its moorings and drifting off to sea.
This is a pleasant light comedy. There is quite a bit of physical humor, at which Guinness excels as he does at everything else.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT3o3CXZRHg
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