Known as the film about the little Scottish island that ends up receiving an unexpected windfall of whisky, hence the title, Whisky Galore! holds a place in the hearts of many who have seen it in the intervening decades since it was first release. Like many other Ealing Studios films, it taps into a particularly sweet vein of Britishness, mixed with great comedy and a dash of pathos. But it also has a bunch of Scottish people doing whatever it takes to keep hold of a surprise "delivery" of precious whisky.
The small island of Todday doesn't have too much going on. That doesn't stop Captain Waggett (Basil Radford), commander of the local Home Guard, from trying to keep everything done by the letter of the law. Military maneuvres are practiced, and everyone needs to be ready to do their bit for the greater good. It turns out that Captain Waggett and the islanders have very different ideas of what conssitutes the greater good when a ship containing 50,000 cases of whisky crashes near the island. Waggett wants that cargo kept safe, but everyone else wants to enjoy drinking it.
Based on a real-life incident that happened on the island of Eriskay, Whisky Galore! benefits from a great cast, solid direction from Alexander Mackendrick, and a wonderfully warm and witty screenplay by Compton Mackenzie (adapting his own novel) and Angus MacPhail. It has a brief 82-minute runtime, and brilliantly establishes a large selection of main characters who all end up playing vital roles in the third act set-piece that shows people finding imaginative hiding places for their whisky bottles.
Although he's mainly the villain of the piece, Radford is quite a delight in the role of Waggett. He's all about the precision and standards, no matter how unpopular that makes him on the island. Wylie Watson is also very good as Joseph Macroon, the father of two daughters, Peggy (Joan Greenwood) and Catriona (Gabrielle Blunt), who have caught the hearts of Sergeant Odd (Bruce Seton) and George Campbell (Gordon Jackson), respectively. Greenwood and Blunt light up the screen, Seton gets to break away from the stiffness of his character as he sides with the islanders, due to being compromised by his feelings, and Jackson is fantastic as a man living in fear of his domineering mother (Jean Cadell, delivering one unforgettable matriarchal turn).
There's a wonderful score, an occasional blast of the bagpipes, some traditional dancing, and some trickery employed to try and make the sinking ship and precious cargo seem as real as possible. The comedy is gentle, but there's no real tension (although that may be down to familiarity with the material). It doesn't matter though. You get to spend time with a great assortment of characters that you want to see achieve a small, but meaningful, victory for "the little man". Sometimes you need one stroke of good luck to turn your fortunes around. Sometimes you need much more than that. And sometimes you just need a wee dram.
9/10
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