Whiskey Galore! (1949)

Directed by: Alexander Mackendrick | 82 minutes | comedy | Actors: Basil Radford, Catherine Lacey, Bruce Seton, Joan Greenwood, Wylie Watson, Gabrielle Blunt, Gordon Jackson, Jean Cadell, James Robertson Justice, Morland Graham, John Gregson, James Woodburn, James Anderson, Jameson Clark, Duncan Macrae, Mary MacNeil Norman Macowan, Alastair Hunter, Henry Mollison, Compton MacKenzie, Finlay Currie, AE Matthews, Frank Webster

Along with ‘Passport to Pimlico’ and ‘Kind Hearts and Coronets’ came ‘Whisky Galore!’ created in 1949, the first year Sir Michael Balcon produced comedies for Britain’s Ealing Studios. This widely admired film determined the light-hearted, satirical tone of later comedic productions. The theme – the triumph of the common man over the mighty of the earth – also started to gain momentum. The main director of the silly Ealing comedies was Alexander Mackendrick (1912-1993), a man who specialized in dark-edged social satires early in his career. His skeptical view of the world and biting Scottish humor had an effect on the cozy world of the Ealing Studios like a knife in a pack of butter. Mackendrick provides a good example of this in his debut film ‘Whiskey Galore!’: the only honest man on the island where the story is set is cheated and destroyed by the ruthless, opportunistic local inhabitants. Because, as the director says, “There is a point, towards the end of certain types of comedy, where they should get mean.”

In ‘Whiskey Galore!’ Mackendrick puts that philosophy into practice. This comedy, shot on the Scottish island of Barra, centers on the clash between two cultures. The inhabitants of the tiny hamlet of Garryboo – mostly workers and fishermen – form a close-knit community. Also during World War II. But when it turns out that their stock of whiskey runs out and they can’t get a new one for a while, their true nature comes out. Impeccable British teetotaler, Captain Waggett (Basil Radford), rules the island during wartime. When a ship is wrecked off the coast with a huge cargo of malt whiskey on board, he goes in search of it. The drink was intended for the American market but has been taken by thirsty, war-impoverished islanders. They constantly outsmart the captain and his men. The story, based on a novel by Compton MacKenzie, was based on a true story: after the sinking of a freighter off the coast of the island of Eriskay, the cargo of fifty thousand barrels of whiskey ‘disappeared’ without a trace. Author and screenwriter MacKenzie can be seen in the film as the captain of the SS Cabinet Minister.

‘Whiskey Galore!’ seems more dated than some of the other comedies produced by Ealing, but the hilarious frenzy, the apt social observations, the authentic shots of life on the Scottish islands and the delightful acting of the actors are still convincing. The seductive Joan Greenwood stars as the flirtatious daughter of post office owner or bar owner Macroon (Wylie Watson) and Scottish actors James Robertson Justice, Gordon Jackson and narrator Finlay Currie also act superbly. The universal power of the subversive humor lies in the idealization of a remote village full of eccentrics, pretty girls and sober people who puncture the inflated pretensions of their bureaucratic opponents. The (American-born) Scot Mackendrick, who also directed the gems ‘The Man in the White Suit’ (1951) and ‘The Ladykillers’ (1955) for Ealing, would later in his career achieve success directing serious drama. For example, in 1957, when he had settled in the United States again, he made his masterpiece ‘Sweet Smell of Success’.

Mackendrick was a master of visual storytelling. ‘Whiskey Galore!’ may be his first film, with the brilliant deep focus photography and the beautiful play with light and shadows he immediately gives his business card. But ‘Whiskey Galore!’ is not only a showcase for the director, this is above all a fine example of British humour. Britons do not shy away from putting their own weaknesses into perspective. Here they make fun of their eternal thirst for alcohol. To the islanders, whiskey is a kind of miracle drink, a gift from God. Sick people get better because of it, shy people get more self-confidence. Without their beloved whiskey they just get lost. All with a big wink, of course. Moreover, the film underlines the sense of togetherness that had developed in Britain after the Second World War. ‘Whiskey Galore!’ may lack the melancholy of ‘Kind Hearts and Coronets’ and have to do without a star of the caliber of Sir Alec Guinness, this classic example of quintessential British humor still stands as rock!