Whiskey Galore

WHISKEY GALORE (CINEMA)
Optimum Home Entertainment / Ealing Studios

Release date: July 29th, 2011
Certificate (UK): U
Running time: 83 minutes

Year of production: 1949

Director: Alexander MacKendrick
Writers: Compton Mackenzie, Angus MacPhai
Composer: Ernest Irving

Cast: Basil Radford, Joan Greenwood, James Robertson Justice, Jean Cadell, Gordon Jackson, Gabrielle Blunt, Morland Graham, John Gregson, Catherine Lacey

We all enjoy a bit of the occasional tipple, some a bit more than others perhaps. But who can envisage the day when that tipple runs dry? And what would become of us if it did?

Whiskey Galore is set in 1943 in the Northwest of Scotland, on the broad expanse of the Atlantic where lies the lovely island of the Outer Hebrides. It’s a place that has been relatively unaffected by wartime rations and the islanders go about their day in their usual bustling manner.

That’s until a disaster overwhelms them, the whiskey has run out! With nothing left to drink, the men plunge into a deep depression, unable to work and with no desire to even get out of bed, life on the Outer Hebrides comes to a complete halt.

Their plight lessens when they hear about a ship, the S.S. Cabinet Minister, that’s run aground due to heavy fog during the night. On board are 50,000 cases of whiskey and with the ship slowly going under, they have no choice of course but to start unloading it as fast as they can.

In the midst of all of this is Captain Paul Waggett (Basil Radford), a by-the-book English commander of the local Home Guard who is at his wits end as he tries to control the islanders and keep order. The thirst for whiskey is no match for him.

For non-drinking schoolteacher George Campbell (Gordon Jackson), a bit of whiskey might just be thing he needs to deal with his domineering mother (Jean Cadell) who’s trying to stop his marriage to a local shopkeeper’s daughter, Catriona (Gabrielle Blunt).

Funnily enough, Whiskey Galore is based on a true story. On the night of February 5th, 1941, the S/S Politician sank outside Eriskay on its way to Jamaica from Liverpool carrying 250,000 bottles of whisky. Naturally, the locals grabbaed as many bottles as possible before the authorities arrived and to this day now, bottles are still found in the sea or washed up on the shore.

Whiskey Galore is a funny and poignant little film. While the comedy of the situation comes across very well in the writing and performances from its cast, there’s a moral to the story too which leaves us to reflect on what it is we really get out of these little vices in life.

Patrick Samuel

The founder of Static Mass Emporium and one of its Editors in Chief is a composer and music producer with a philosophy degree. Static Mass is where he lives his passion for film and writing about it. A fan of film classics, documentaries and World Cinema, Patrick prefers films with an impeccable way of storytelling that reflect on the human condition.

You can find his music on Soundcloud .

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