High and Dry

source: High and Dry

This proto-Local Hero creation, and Wiskey Galore styled film has a perfect mix of ingredients like zany visual gags, class- humour, poking fun of Americans humour and at the English humour plus a dog-eared anti-hero and not to forget stunning Scottish scenery. There's also a tender moment with the singular Yankie character Marshall and a local girl as he reaches some accommodation with all the madness around him. The denouement is predicable on a human level but also has a little twist. Like the trip on the good ship Maggie itself though, it's not the destination or the course plotted that matters - it's the remarkable journey and the salt-of-the-earth ship's company.

THE 'MAGGIE' rehearses a theme highly familiar to most Ealing comedies, that of the powerful person being outwitted by ordinary citizens. The theme recurs time and again, notably in WHISKY GALORE! and PASSPORT TO PİMLICO (both 1949) and THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT (1953). In Alexander Mackendrick's droll comedy, the threatening force is personified by Calvin B. Marshal (Paul Douglas), a thickset American with an expensive camel-hair overcoat and domineering manner. He terrorizes hapless bureaucrat Pusey (Hubert Gregg) who obviously tries his best to do his job properly but proves highly unworthy of the task. Pitted against these two are the crew of the eponymous "Maggie," an aging "puffer" carrying Cargo along the Scottish waterways, even though its engine is clapped out, its metalwork falling apart, and its maximum speed is about six miles per hour. The skipper, a canny character if there was one (Alex Mackenzie) spends much of his time in local hostelries along the way, but proves more than a match for Marshal. The true source of the film's morality is provided by Dougie (Tommy Kearins) who looks after Marshal where needed, but doesn't shy away from criticizing the American where appropriate. Given the nature of the story, it's not surprising to find that the screenwriter is William Rose, an American also responsible for the huge hit GENEVIEVE (1953), another likable comedy that shows an old "puffer" - this time a vintage car - triumphing over adversity. THE MAGGIE is sensitively photographed by Gordon Dines, with a fine sense of the Highland landscape, and how it determines the way people lived at that time. Compared to Marshal's life, their sense of values might have seemed antiquated, but they possessed the kind of community and good fellowship that seems markedly absent from Marshal's world. THE MAGGIE is certainly a sentimental piece of work, especially at the end, but is nonetheless well worth looking at as an evocation of a long-lost world.

Here's another entertaining Ealing Comedy from the early 50's. The tale is simple, gruff but wealthy American Calvin B Thomson is desperate to get a minor flotilla of valuable goods to his fiancé on the out of the way island of Kilterra from the River Clyde in Glasgow. With no other boat available, he's inveigled by the crafty captain of an old sea puffer on its last legs to use his old boat for the trip in exchange for a much needed considerable fee. They all eventually get there, if not with the cargo, by a somewhat circuitous route, not without some hair-brained, hair-raising and hair-pulling-out happenings along the way, the journey symbolic of the relationship between the big-mouthed Yank and the couthy crew of the old "Maggie". From the start, Thomson, played with much personality by Paul Douglas, is sceptical and mistrusting of the laid-back captain, as happy with a drink in his hand as the drink beneath him, but they never quite come to the blows you expect them to and by the time of the delivery of the story's moral, something along the lines of "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em", something approaching grudging respect is fostered between them, although it needs the constant interference of the twinkle-eyed ship's boy to help them get that far. The humour is gentle, the photography very fine indeed and the acting by all is also very good. There's a nice interlude between Douglas and a bonnie Scots lass as they discuss matters of the heart, but the main thrust of the film is the canny contrariness of the down-at-heel locals pitted against the bombast of the cash-flashing American. The story is a bit episodic and I'm not sure I didn't have a lot of sympathy for the duped American, as he's continually gulled by his transporters plus I was waiting for a bigger finish than I think I got. Nevertheless, it was a sheer delight for me to see vintage film of two places where I have had homes, namely the River Clyde which I can see from my front window today and the Crinan Canal near where I lived for a couple of years some 25 years ago and which I revisited and walked around last year on my birthday. "The Maggie" may not be the best of the Ealing Comedies but it stays afloat throughout and gets to its ending in an acceptably ship-shape fashion.

Until last night, I had seen all of the Ealing-Michael Balcon comedies but this one, of which I knew nothing until just a few days ago. I found the first 15-20 minutes so boring and anything but amusing that I nearly stopped watching it there, but then the "subway" sequence got a few laughs out of me and so I decided to go along. Even if this film does not stand among the funniest ones in the series it really had me laughing my head off at a few scenes: the poaching, Pusey being locked up at the police station, and the Maggie's crew discussing where to set course for after being spotted by Marshall from the air. I didn't know Paul Douglas before, and at first I thought I had missed a second or two in the opening titles because he looks like Herbert Marshall. I much liked his performance and totally sympathised with him at his misfortunes caused by that bunch of bumbling idiots from the boat. The cabin boy is the only member of the idiotic crew who has a bit of sense and wits about himself, although I have to admit that I felt pity of the skipper when Marshall tells him he has bought out the Maggie and will see her to a scrapyard after the voyage is over. That moment touched me because even if the skipper is an idiot the Maggie is his means of livelihood and it also is all he has in the world. Marshall's decision of losing his cargo in order to save the Maggie at the end stands out of credibility though, since the man has been losing loads of money ever since the crazy voyage began and saving the ship will gain him nothing. The skipper had already taken some cash in advance for the job and he had just accepted the fact that the boat was lost to the ravages of the sea. Why should Marshall then sacrifice his cargo like that after hating the skipper's guts all along? He could just save his cargo like the skipper tells him and then pay the man the rest of the money so he could buy himself a new boat. But despite of the improbable ending, I enjoyed this nice little comedy.

Paul Douglas came as rather a surprise in this film. First of all, he's as alien among these Gaelic Islanders as Raymond Burr was among the Japanese of "Godzilla." Second of all, after a series of contretemps he must change into a woolly pullover and, although he has the face of a pudgy man, we see that he's not overweight, only a little bulky and lacking in neck. Douglas is Mr. Marshall, the owner of some expensive cargo that has been accidentally shipped to an island via the old and delapidated Scottish puffer called the Maggie. The captain and crew of the Maggie need desperately to get the cargo to its destination so they can collect the payment they need to get the broken-down boat into a shape good enough for it to pass inspection and be relicensed. (Which it is not now.) Essentially the story is a battle of wits between Douglas and the crew of the Maggie. Douglas is a very wealthy American businessman, but not the blustering brutish junkman he was on Broadway in "Born Yesterday." Instead he's a polite, efficient materialist, keenly clever. More clever than the Maggie's crew, or so he thinks. Douglas has a heck of a time tracking down the boat once it sails out of Glasgow with its cargo. He hires an airplane to find it and finally intercepts it at one of the many small fishing villages at which it stops for fuel or other reasons, such as the 100th birthday party of an old man who speaks only Gaelic. Boy, does this ring bells. All peasants on the screen must be a little whimsical and fun loving, when they're not casually getting the job done. It doesn't matter whether they're Greek ("Zorba") or Irish ("The Luck of the Irish") or Okinawan ("The Teahouse of the August Moon"). And the earnest, uptight American or English businessman must learn from them that the law must be interpreted leniently and life is nothing to get particularly upset about. The direction, by Alexander MacKendrick, is functional and the editing just about flawless. The acting is at a professional level. There are no major misjudgments on display. But it's not a zany laff riot either. The pace is generally slow, the slapstick sparse, and the humor is not mean spirited. Oh, the Maggie's crew may be on the right philosophical track okay, but Douglas isn't exactly a heavy. He's not so much angry as frustrated at losing every contest. And at the end, when he decides to jettison his precious cargo, it must come finally as a big relief to him. I'll bet his systolic blood pressure dropped thirty points. There are certainly funnier Ealing comedies: "The Man in the White Suit," "The Ladykillers." But this quiet little film really shouldn't be missed, especially if you're concerned about ulcers or blood pressure.

Despite its age this was an excellent old film. It can't fail to entertain virtually everyone. It's about a dying way of life, with different pace and priorities, but a life they love. This old way of life clashes with a newer way of life with a different pace and priorities. The often drunken and flawed captain and crew drift through life enjoying themselves, but usually on the wrong side of the law. Ironically often looked after by the youngest member of the crew; the wee boy. As a result of desperation and deviousness they pick up a cargo from an American tycoon, which they hope will save their little ship for another day. The story centres around trying to deliver the cargo and their battles and clashes with the American. As well as being an excellent film, the social history is excellent also.

I've watched and enjoyed most of Ealing's classic comedies several times over the years but, along with THE MAGNET (1950), the film under review was one which had eluded me thus far. The main reason for this, perhaps, is the fact that THE MAGGIE is hardly ever discussed when the studio's golden age is mentioned which is even more remarkable when one realizes that the film was nominated for 3 major British Film Awards in its day; having now caught up with it, all I can say is that it has been unjustly neglected for far too long. This amiably droll little film, full of the typically wry but gentle humor found in British comedies of its time, deals with a wealthy American businessman (an ideally-cast Paul Douglas) who is tricked by a group of old Scottish seamen (headed by a terrific Alex Mackenzie, whose first film this was, as the skipper) into chartering their ramshackle boat to carry a cargo of valuable furniture to his new summer residence in the British isles which he purchased as a surprise to his wife. The trouble is that Douglas, forever expecting promptness and efficiency from his subordinates, is hardly equipped to cope with the devious plans of the wily Scots who treasure their own jolly company and a good stiff drink above everything else…as the various detours they take along the way - poaching, pub-hopping, a 100-year birthday party, visits to nearby cousins, etc. - prove only too well to the increasingly exasperated Yankee. The cast is rounded out by some old reliables like Geoffrey Keen and an unrecognizably young Andrew Keir and valuable contributions are also provided by Hubert Clegg (as Douglas' befuddled secretary) and the child Tommy Kearins (as Mackenzie's fiercely loyal cabin boy). Ultimately, while perhaps not among Ealing's or director Alexander Mackendrick's very best, THE MAGGIE is certainly very enjoyable in itself and can now be seen as not only a worthy companion piece to Ealing's WHISKY GALORE! (1949) - also directed by Mackendrick and dealing with the crafty Sots, not to mention my own personal favorite among the Ealing comedies - but also another of those fondly-remembered British comedies dealing with motor vehicles of some kind like Ealing's own THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT (1953; trains) and GENEVIEVE (1953; motor cars). Once more, Optimum Releasing included a short featurette with film historian George Perry and, unfortunately, as had been the case with IT ALWAYS RAINS ON Sunday (1947), I again encountered some playback problems during the course of the film on my Pioneer DVD player but, as usual, my cheap HB model came to the rescue.

Despite not starring studio stalwart, Alec Guinness; The Maggie is a charming comedy film that fully adheres to the classic Ealing style. Through a simple plot, characters that are easy to get along with and some good laughs, The Maggie succeeds as a lovely little comedy film. It's unfortunate that this film isn't better known, as while not as good as other studio efforts such as Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Ladykillers; it's successful for the same reason as many other bigger successes for the studio. The plot is brilliantly farcical, and follows an American trying to charter a ship to carry a precious cargo to Glasgow. However, he gets conned into hiring a 'puffer' (coal ship) captained by Captain Mactaggart; and finds himself in a world of trouble as he tries to track his cargo. The Scottish locations help to ensure the relaxed feel of the picture, while the actions of the captain and his crew always provide some laughs. Standout sequences include the destruction of a harbour, a poaching 'adventure' and the scene in which the Harbour Master learns of Captain Mactaggart's bluff! The dialogue is well written and often very funny, and the film benefits from the assured direction of experienced director Alexander Mackendrick. Recommended to fans of classic comedy!

"The Maggie" represents the best of the gentle scots comedies of the 50s. In my opinion it is a better film than "Whisky Galore" by the same Director. Many of the locations in the film are little changed such as the splendid crinan canal in Argyll, scotland and the island of Islay. Most of the cast are no more but Mr Pusey, the lawyer, played by Hubert Gregg hosts Thanks for the Memory, a show on British Radio 2 for afficianados of music from the 20s-40s. Hubert Gregg is an octogenerian! Of the other cast members Tommy Kearins "the wee boy" may still be alive but I have been unable to trace details. Another film in this favourite format is "Laxdale Hall" filmed at Applecross village, scotland.