Boasting excellent location photography by Harry Waxman, "Green Grow the Rushes" is a droll British comedy never released theatrically in America. Unlike so many mid-Atlantic style British exports (many of which over the years were actually funded by Hollywood) its lack of more universal appeal is evident, though not fatal to enjoying the artifact seven decades later.
Story is simple: a small rural community of Portenoy has considered itself independent since the time of King Henry III, who granted them a special charter, and the humor here arises from the conflict that occurs when UK government officials begin snooping around and annoying the provincial population. The fishing trade locally has long since given way to smuggling (we see a trade in contraband liquor from France), with sailors like Richard Burton only pretending to be honest fishermen. Lead role goes to his boss, the ever entertaining Roger Livesey.
Livesey's odd manner of speech is another roadblock to getting into the story, as he speaks of himself always in the third person, and his first scene with Burton has him using the term "lily-white" dozens of times. Its meaning here is apparently an old English colloquialism meaning "pure", so as to describe straight folk who do not resort to crime as a profession, such as smuggling, and is meant to be condescending.
The romantic relationship here between and intrepid reporter Honor Blackman is effective, not only because of the two actors' tremendous magnetism but because of their subsequent fame, she of "Goldfinger" and TV's "The Avengers" stardom, and he of such an iconic stage and movie career a decade later. Without them and Livesey, the movie would seem merely quaint and totally ephemeral.
