The 'Maggie'

I feel extremely fortunate to have finally caught up with this beguiling little film. Good enough to rank among Ealing's best works, it has undoubtedly improved with age, giving us a snapshot of a time before technology shrank and homogenized our world.

It's worth noting that this film is the work of screenwriter William Rose, who had created the delightful Genevieve a year earlier, and would go on, amazingly, to pen It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World some ten years later, and win an Oscar for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner a few years after that.

It's unfortunate that movie fans track actors and directors so much more closely than writers. The Maggie, no less than his other works, proves that Rose deserves to be remembered one of the great geniuses of film comedy.

I don't recollect seeing any mention of it in the credits of the film nor in any of the comments on this site however "The Maggie" is very obviously based on "The Vital Spark".

Neil Munro wrote "The Vital Spark" in 1906, the collected tales of Master Mariner Para Handy and his Clyde puffer The Vital Spark which he had previously had published as articles in the Looker On column of the Glasgow Evening News. On board were McPhail the engineer, Dougie the deck hand and Sunny Jim the cabin boy. Neil Munro went on to write more columns and collated these into two further books detailing Para Handy's exploits and misdeeds while travelling the coastline of Scotland. Much later writer Stuart Donald took up the baton and wrote three further volumes of Para Handy's tales, a brave thing to do considering the place in Scottish popular culture.

The BBC Scotland made a small run of TV programmes in the late 1960's and early 1970's which were revisited in 1994 by Gregor Fisher (Rab C Nesbitt and the Baldy Man) in the two series of "The Tales of Para Handy".

Anyone familiar with Neil Munro's work would recognise the characters on board The Maggie in an instant. They may have different names but the characters are identical.

Despite not starring studio stalwart, Alec Guinness; The Maggie is a charming comedy film that fully adheres to the classic Ealing style. Through a simple plot, characters that are easy to get along with and some good laughs, The Maggie succeeds as a lovely little comedy film. It's unfortunate that this film isn't better known, as while not as good as other studio efforts such as Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Ladykillers; it's successful for the same reason as many other bigger successes for the studio. The plot is brilliantly farcical, and follows an American trying to charter a ship to carry a precious cargo to Glasgow. However, he gets conned into hiring a 'puffer' (coal ship) captained by Captain Mactaggart; and finds himself in a world of trouble as he tries to track his cargo. The Scottish locations help to ensure the relaxed feel of the picture, while the actions of the captain and his crew always provide some laughs. Standout sequences include the destruction of a harbour, a poaching 'adventure' and the scene in which the Harbour Master learns of Captain Mactaggart's bluff! The dialogue is well written and often very funny, and the film benefits from the assured direction of experienced director Alexander Mackendrick. Recommended to fans of classic comedy!

Despite its age this was an excellent old film. It can't fail to entertain virtually everyone.

It's about a dying way of life, with different pace and priorities, but a life they love. This old way of life clashes with a newer way of life with a different pace and priorities.

The often drunken and flawed captain and crew drift through life enjoying themselves, but usually on the wrong side of the law. Ironically often looked after by the youngest member of the crew; the wee boy.

As a result of desperation and deviousness they pick up a cargo from an American tycoon, which they hope will save their little ship for another day. The story centres around trying to deliver the cargo and their battles and clashes with the American.

As well as being an excellent film, the social history is excellent also.

At 5th July 2001. Further to my previous review of "The Maggie" Tommy Kearins, Dougie the wee boy in the film, is alive and well and living in retirement in Scotland at age 63. He tells me that he was selected for the role after being spotted in the Scouts "Gang Show" working backstage. After being interviewed by Ealing he spent 3 months making the film in 1953 and recalls he was paid over 3 times what his father made in the Clyde shipyards. He still takes a keen interest in the old "puffers" like "The Maggie" and hopes to attend a get- together of enthusiasts at the crinan canal in a few weeks time. The Maggie was actually two boats in the film, the "Boer" and the "Inca". Phil Hatfield.