Scottish islanders try to plunder 50,000 cases of whisky from a stranded ship.Scottish islanders try to plunder 50,000 cases of whisky from a stranded ship.Scottish islanders try to plunder 50,000 cases of whisky from a stranded ship.
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
- 1 win & 1 nomination total
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAmerican censors of the day insisted on a coda being inserted at the end of the film stating that the stolen whisky brought nothing but unhappiness to the islanders, although in real life quite the opposite was true.
- GoofsHad there really been whisky (or anything except air) in those wooden crates piled as high as a person on the rowboats the villagers use to loot the cargo ship, those boats would have capsized or sunk by the sheer weight of the crates.
- Crazy creditsOpening credits prologue: By a strange coincidence the S.S. Cabinet Minister was wrecked off the Island of Todday [in the movie] two years after the S.S. Politician, with a similar cargo, was wrecked [in real life] off the Island of Eriskay. But the coincidence stops there, for our story and the characters in it are pure fiction.
- SoundtracksBrochan Lom, Tana Lom
(uncredited)
Traditional
Sung when the whisky is first being shared out
Featured review
When I hear the phrase-"Celtic Twilight"-not so much in use now--I've come to think of this film. The meaning of "Celtic Twilight" might be summarized as the sense that history has passed by Ireland and other Celtic peoples in Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, etc., and what we see now is a sort of a cultural endgame, leading to its long and inevitable death throes.
Whiskey Galore, about a wartime whiskey-starved island in the Outer Hebrides, displays these kinds of characters: a full-grown man afraid of telling his mother he wants to marry a local girl, and his intolerant domineering crone of a mother; a gossipy telephone operator; an out-of-it ferry captain, unaware of the rising sexual tension his daughters are undergoing; and dozens of mischievous, winking, alcohol-craving townspeople who are dying to loot an abandoned ship full of their beloved whiskey but afraid to do it on the Sabbath!
One more character, played by Basil Radford, is the stuffy, self-important head of the local militia, out of step with the other residents, sworn to uphold the law. Apparently the director, Alexander Makendrick, objected to the character's silly and ineffectual pomposity.
This is truly one of the great, charming Ealing comedies, very remindful to me of the Irish-American citizens of my mother's home town, Brasher Falls, New York. A gem in its sly humor--although the video copies I've seen are of a murky quality.
Whiskey Galore, about a wartime whiskey-starved island in the Outer Hebrides, displays these kinds of characters: a full-grown man afraid of telling his mother he wants to marry a local girl, and his intolerant domineering crone of a mother; a gossipy telephone operator; an out-of-it ferry captain, unaware of the rising sexual tension his daughters are undergoing; and dozens of mischievous, winking, alcohol-craving townspeople who are dying to loot an abandoned ship full of their beloved whiskey but afraid to do it on the Sabbath!
One more character, played by Basil Radford, is the stuffy, self-important head of the local militia, out of step with the other residents, sworn to uphold the law. Apparently the director, Alexander Makendrick, objected to the character's silly and ineffectual pomposity.
This is truly one of the great, charming Ealing comedies, very remindful to me of the Irish-American citizens of my mother's home town, Brasher Falls, New York. A gem in its sly humor--although the video copies I've seen are of a murky quality.
- How long is Whisky Galore!?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $11,444
- Runtime1 hour 22 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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