I watched this film on Talking Pictures this morning and it brought back many happy memories.
I remember my Mother and Father taking me to see this film when I was 7 years old, not long after it was made. David Tomlinson and Ronald Shiner seemed to turn up in a lot of British films in those days. At 7 years old, I was not old enough to recognise the names to some of the actors that I saw at the cinema. I can only say that my naïve child's mind was sometimes curious about the way the same men turned up in different films playing different characters. It was very confusing - I used to think that they just looked like each other.
Incidentally, this was the third time that I had seen David Tomlinson donning the uniform of an officer in the Royal Navy. The other two films were "Up the Creek" and "Further Up The Creek.
Although not too well known, the film is interesting inasmuch as nearly all the supporting and uncredited roles are played by well-known actors. Familiar faces like, Joan Sims, Joan Hickson, Alfie Bass, and the ubiquitous Sam Kydd, all made the film worth watching. It almost ran like a potted history of British Cinema of the 1950s and '60s.
I also enjoyed seeing Eunice Gayson, looking just as lovely as she did in the first two James Bond films, Doctor No and From Russia With Love, where she played the casino croupier, Sylvia Trench.
Some of the scenes were shot in and around Portsmouth. As a man who served in the Royal Navy and having lived and served in Portsmouth for most of my working life, I recognised some of the locations, especially the area that stood in for the "Harbour Hotel".
In the background I could see the seating area of Spice Island - a lovely part of Portsmouth which has not changed very much since 1957. Although, I think The Union Hotel, has possibly changed names many times since this film was made. The view of Spice Island suggested that the hotel might have been The Coal Exchange, which is next to the Still and West public house.
I was a bit confused about the other locations in Portsmouth, but I think they may have been distorted for security reasons, as with the name of the warship.
Ever since William Shakespeare penned his immortal lines in such plays as Twelfth Night and Midsummer Night's Dream, cases of mistaken identity have always been a good formula for comedy.
As an ex-Navy man, myself, who has lived in Portsmouth for most of his life, there are a lot of flaws in the storyline that I could pick out, but why bother? It was a very funny film and it passed an hour and a half this morning while my wife was doing the hoovering.
