Review of Whisky Galore! (1949) by James Joseph L — 29 Mar 2012

Ealing Studios go 750 miles north to the Outer Hebrides to produce a great comedy based on a true event - the sinking of the SS Politician off the Isle of Eriskay in 1941.

This true event was the inspiration for the comical short story by Scottish novelist Compton McKenzie (who owned a house on the Island of Barra where the film was shot). Ealing liked the premise of the film and before you could say "lang may yer lum reek," McKenzie wrote the screenplay with the help of Angus McPhail and the rest is British comedy history.

Essentially this is a tale of the little man v the establishment. It's set during World War II and the Islanders have an "English" occupation in the form of the British army/Home Guard. There's lots of play on the cultural differences between the Scots and English.

The plot runs as per the true event. A ship is wrecked off the (fictional) Scottish Island of Todday. On board is a cargo of 50,000 cases of whisky. The race is on for the locals who have been deprived of their local/national drink because of the war rationing and the authorities HM Customs and Excise who want to recover as much of the drink as possible.

This is a film of great charm and captures 1950's life on the remote Scottish islands where electricity, TV and phone lines were non-existent. It was a simple life for the locals who lived by their Presbyterian beliefs, their basic diet of porridge, fish and homegrown vegetables and the occasional wee dram - the word Whisky in Scots Gaelic means "water of life".

It's this "water of life" or lack of, that drives the locals to the brink of greed as they row out to the shipwreck to recover the cargo.

There's a lot of Scottish in jokes and irony going on in this movie for example the name of the Island is Todday - a hot toddy is a traditional remedy with whisky in it to help fight flu.

It's an amazing debut for director Alexander McKendrick who would later go on to direct the noir classic - The Sweet Smell of Success starring Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster.

Hard to believe that McKendrick went to the same school in Glasgow as actors Gordon Jackson (who is in Whisky Galore) and David McCallum (of Man from Uncle/Great Escape fame) and was raised less than a mile from Billy Connolly and from where Stan Laurel made is stage debut. There certainly was something going on in Glasgow's West End back then.

This is sterling Ealing and a must see for comedy gold lovers. Enjoy it and afterwards have a wee dram of Whisky or even an Irn Bru.

Footnote: Whisky is the correct spelling. This site spells it Whiskey which is the English/Irish spelling.