Whisky Galore is based on the book of the same name by Compton MacKenzie, which in turn is based on a true story of the theft of several thousand crates of whisky from a shipwrecked boat, just off the shore of Scotland. In 1941, the locals of a Scottish village, called Eriskay, looted the S.S. Politician of its cargo of whisky after the village's supply had run out, due to war time rationing. Eventually, many of the men accused of pilfering the cargo from the boats were put on trial, sentenced and given punishments of several weeks in jail. The film, however, is set later, in 1943 to be exact, and according to the disclaimer at the beginning, was only loosely inspired by the events of 1941, which I doubt anyone watching today would believe for a second, but still.
To begin, I think what is most important to get across in this plot synopsis is that there is really not a plot as such, more a collection of sub-plots which are all connected with the looting of the boat. Captain Paul Waggett (Basil Radford), the closest thing to the lead, is a stuffy, English commander of the local Home Guard, and is determined to stop the pilfering Scots and make sure justice is upheld. Other notable subplots include English Sergeant Odd (Bruce Seton), who has come to the village to court shop girl, Peggy (Joan Greenwood), daughter of the shopkeeper Joseph Macroon (Wylie Watson). Meanwhile, Macroon's other daughter, Catriona (Gabrielle Blunt), has just become engaged to weak-willed George Campbell (Gordon Jackson), who lives under the thumb of his domineering mother (Jean Cadell).
That is more or less it, in terms of plot, but that honestly is not an issue considering just how sharp and breezy the humour is, which is to be expected since it was distributed by Ealing Studios. While Whisky Galore is far from the funniest of the comedy films released by Ealing during the 1940s and 50s, it is still an amusing film with several standout scenes. For me, if there are flaws with the film, they are flaws that are only seen in hindsight. To elaborate, while I can hardly blame the film for this, films such as Whisky Galore and Brigadoon can be partly blamed for the stereotypical view of Scottish people in the media that exists today. For example, this weekend in American cinemas, Pixar's Brave opens, which depicts the Scottish warriors with red hair and wearing kilts. Of course, this is not Whisky Galore's fault, but watching it today, I did notice how much films such as this have to answer for.
What did impress me the most is how competent the film is on a technical front, especially considering that practical effects were not as sophisticated in the late 1940s as they are today. For example, when the shipwrecked boat is being looted, the villagers travel to it by rowing boat. Eventually, the ship starts capsizing as one of the rowing boats, and its passenger, is still left attached to the cargo ship. I still have no idea how they accomplished this, which is commendable. Although, having said that, the film overuses a particular practical effect referred to as, "day-for-night", which is the cinematographic technique of using a darker lens filter, or turning down the camera exposure, to make daytime pass as night. Unfortunately, it never looks natural as they use this technique for pretty much every scene set at night. This is a hindrance when one considers that much of the story is set near or on the sea, meaning that no matter how much darker the shots look, the sun is always going to be reflected in the water’s surface.
I only mention these minor drawbacks because this really is a funny, sweet natured movie. Admittedly, it is a little inessential in Ealing’s cannon, and it certainly is not on the level of classics released by the same studio released later, such as The Ladykillers or The Lavender Hill mob. Also, while Ealing's films are usually fairly dark, in terms of humour, this has more of cheeky sense of humour, shall we say. Most of the jokes revolve around sneaking crates of whisky under the nose of the law, who in turn get snootier every time someone sneaks past them. It is lightweight, and fairly frothy, but it is fun.
A good example would be the character George Campbell, who becomes spineless whenever he confronts his mother, who in turn informs him not to marry Catriona, otherwise he will go to hell. Eventually, as George gets a taste for whisky, suddenly he is brave and plays bagpipes loudly in the house to annoy her, who announces the devil himself his got into poor George. Authority figures are punished, but punished lightly. This is the tone throughout most of the film, although there is a slight tonal shift about half way through the film. The film's director, Alexander Mackendrick, reportedly began sympathising with the stuffy, pompous Captain Waggett, claiming: "I began to realise that the most Scottish character in Whisky Galore! is Waggett the Englishman. He is the only Calvinist, puritan figure - and all the other characters aren't Scottish at all: they're Irish!"
The xenophobia of this statement aside, he has a point, at least in terms of characterisation. One has to remember that this was released only four years after the end of the Second World War, and men such as Waggett were defending Britain's last hope for survival, by organising and running The Home Guard, regardless of how pompous they were. Several times throughout the film, the Scots disrupt the Home Guard's training to get their whiskey, and while Waggett was pompous, he seemed to care about his duties. Comparatively speaking, this is similar to Michael Powell and Emmerich Pressburger's portrayal of General Clive Candy in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, who, again, was pompous, but cared for his country and believed in the work of The Home Guard. Although, it seems Mackendrick stumbled upon this revelation too late in the filmmaking process, as it is not until about two-thirds through the film that there seems to be a shift in how sympathetically he is portrayed. However, it does help that he is played by Basil Radford, a terrific actor, who was especially equipped at playing such characters.
In conclusion, one could do a lot worse than renting or buying this, as it is the perfect introduction to Ealing Studios’ comedy films. It is funny, smart, and at an hour-and-a-half it is fairly briskly paced.
7/10
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