Scotland At The Movies

20 March 2009, 15:50

Whisky Galore! was a 1949 Ealing comedy film based on the novel of the same name by Compton MacKenzie. Both the movie and the novel are based on the real-life 1941 shipwreck of the S.S. Politician and the unauthorized taking of its cargo of whisky.

What’s it all about?

The inhabitants of the isolated (and fictional) Scottish island of Todday in the Outer Hebrides are largely unaffected by wartime rationing. Well, at least until the supply of whisky runs out in 1943, when gloom descends on the dejected natives.

However, when by chance a ship is sunk with a cargo of 50,000 cases of whisky, they see their salvation. But first they must outwit the English Home Guard commander who is determined to protect the cargo at all costs...

Cast

Basil Radford  - Captain Paul Waggett
Catherine Lacey - Mrs Waggett
Bruce Seton  - Sergeant Odd
Joan Greenwood  - Peggy Macroon
Wylie Watson  - Joseph Macroon
Gabrielle Blunt  - Catriona Macroon
Gordon Jackson  - George Campbell
Jean Cadell  - Mrs Campbell
James Robertson Justice  - Dr Maclaren
Morland Graham  - The Biffer
John Gregson  - Sammy MacCodrun
James Woodburn  - Roderick MacRurie
James Anderson  - Old Hector
Jameson Clark  - Constable Macrae
Duncan Macrae - Angus McCormac

Trivia

Producer Monja Danischewsky called the film "the longest un-sponsored advertisement ever to reach cinema screens the world over."

Despite a difficult production beset by often appalling weather, and a slow start at the box-office, it became a worldwide hit and Ealing's most profitable film.

When's it on?

Whisky Galore! is on STV on April 26.

Last updated: 05 June 2009, 16:34