Kurt at 22:13, 25 January 2023

2023-01-25T22:13:11Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:13, 25 January 2023
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	~~{{EngvarB\|date=September 2013}}~~
	~~{{Use dmy dates\|date=September 2013}}~~
	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = Barnacle Bill		\| name = Barnacle Bill
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	===Box office===		===Box office===
	According to MGM records above, the film cost $659,000 to make (see budget note 1 above) and earned $405,000 in the US and Canada, plus $545,000 elsewhere, ($950,000 in total, see note 1 above) resulting in a [[return on investment]] of 44%, and a profit of $291,000.<ref name="Mannix"/>		According to MGM records above, the film cost $659,000 to make (see budget note 1 above) and earned $405,000 in the US and Canada, plus $545,000 elsewhere, ($950,000 in total, see note 1 above) resulting in a [[return on investment]] of 44%, and a profit of $291,000.<ref name="Mannix"/>

	~~==See also==~~
	* [[List of British films of 1957]]

	==References==		==References==
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	*{{tcmdb title\|1856\|Barnacle Bill}}		*{{tcmdb title\|1856\|Barnacle Bill}}
	* {{IMDb title\|0050168\|Barnacle Bill}}		* {{IMDb title\|0050168\|Barnacle Bill}}

	~~{{Charles Frend}}~~
	~~{{Michael Balcon}}~~

	[[Category:1957 films]]		[[Category:1957 films]]
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	[[Category:1950s English-language films]]		[[Category:1950s English-language films]]
	[[Category:1950s British films]]		[[Category:1950s British films]]
			[[Category:British maritime comedy films]]

Kurt: 1 revision imported

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en>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: add Category:1950s British films

2022-09-03T17:54:45Z

add Category:1950s British films

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{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Barnacle Bill
| image = Barnacle Bill (1957 film).jpg
| caption = American poster
| producer = [[Michael Balcon]]
| director = [[Charles Frend]]
| writer = [[T. E. B. Clarke]]
| starring = [[Alec Guinness]]
| music = [[John Addison]]
| cinematography = [[Douglas Slocombe]]
| editing = [[Jack Harris (film editor)|Jack Harris]]
| studio = [[Ealing Studios]]
| distributor = [[Metro Goldwyn Mayer]]
| released = {{Film date|df=y|1957|12|11}}<ref name="Art & Hue">{{cite web|url=http://artandhue.com/jackie/|title=Art & Hue presents Jackie Collins |work=Art & Hue |date=2019 |access-date=11 April 2019}}</ref>
| runtime = 87 minutes
| budget =$659,000<ref name="Mannix">{{Citation | title = The Eddie Mannix Ledger | publisher = Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study | place = Los Angeles}}.</ref>
|gross = $950,000<ref name="Mannix"/>
| language = English
| country = United Kingdom
}}

'''''Barnacle Bill''''' (released in the US as '''''All at Sea''''') is a 1957 [[Ealing Studios]] [[comedy film]], starring [[Alec Guinness]]. He plays an unsuccessful [[Royal Navy]] officer and six of his maritime ancestors. This was the final [[Ealing comedy]] (although some sources list ''[[Davy (film)|Davy]]'' as the last), and the last film Guinness made for [[Ealing Studios]]. His first Ealing success was in ''[[Kind Hearts and Coronets]]'' (1949), in which he also played multiple roles.<ref>Guinness 2001, p. 224.</ref> The film was written by the screenwriter of ''[[Passport to Pimlico]]''.<ref name="McGee"/>

==Plot==
William Horatio Ambrose wants desperately to live up to the proud family tradition; the Ambroses have always been mariners (even if not distinguished ones), hence their family motto, "''Omnes per Mare''" ("All at Sea"). In humorous vignettes, Guinness portrays six of his ancestors, starting with a confused [[caveman]] rowing in circles in his [[coracle]], and ending with his own father's ignominious demise at the [[Battle of Jutland]]. Ambrose has a debilitating problem however: he suffers from violent [[seasickness]]. As a result, his contribution to the Second World War consists of testing cures for the malady.

When he retires from the [[Royal Navy]] as a captain, he purchases a dilapidated late Victorian era [[Pier#Pleasure piers|amusement pier]] (the closest thing to a command of his own) with his life savings. The workers are an apathetic bunch, led by an insolent Figg, who quits as soon as the new owner begins imposing some semblance of discipline. With the assistance of his new second-in-command, a former RN rating named Tommy, and much hard work with help by a group of bored local teenagers, Ambrose soon has the pier repaired.

Then he has to deal with the local town council, headed by the crooked Mayor Crowley and the hostile Arabella Barrington, who mistakes him for a [[Voyeurism|Peeping Tom]] when they first meet. Every time he comes up with an ingenious way to make his business profitable, they see to it that the council outlaws it. When Crowley decides to confiscate and demolish Ambrose's pier and Barrington's [[Beach hut|bathing hut]]s (under [[compulsory purchase]]) to further his own business interests, she resigns from the council and informs Ambrose. He counters by registering his property as a "foreign" naval vessel (christened the ''Arabella''), under the [[flag of convenience]] of the easygoing country of "Liberama", which puts it outside the town's jurisdiction. He soon attracts many happy, paying passengers for his stationary inaugural "cruise".

Thwarted, Crowley hires Figg to take his [[dredger]] and demolish the structure late at night. Using a seasickness remedy suggested by Barrington, Ambrose is able to take to sea and foil the scheme (with his ghostly ancestors watching approvingly), but in the process, part of the pier becomes detached and floats away. He remains aboard to prevent [[Marine salvage|salvagers]] from claiming it and drifts over to France, where he is hailed as a naval hero.

==Cast==
As appearing in ''Barnacle Bill'', (main roles and screen credits identified):<ref name= "credits">[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050168/ "Credits: All at Sea (1957)."] ''IMDb.'' Retrieved: 3 August 2013.</ref>
*[[Alec Guinness]] as Captain William Horatio Ambrose.{{#tag:ref|Guinness actually served in the Royal Navy in the Second World War.<ref>Houterman, J.N.[http://www.unithistories.com/officers/RNVR_officersC.html "Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) Officers 1939–1945."] ''Unithistories.com.'' Retrieved: 3 August 2013.</ref>|group=N}}
*[[Irene Browne]] as Mrs Barrington
*[[Maurice Denham]] as Mayor Crowley
*[[Percy Herbert (actor)|Percy Herbert]] as Tommy
*[[Victor Maddern]] as Figg
*[[Allan Cuthbertson]] as Chailey
*[[Donald Pleasence]] as Cashier
*[[Harold Goodwin (English actor)|Harold Goodwin]] as Duckworth
*[[Richard Wattis]] as Registrar of Shipping
*[[Lionel Jeffries]] as Garrod
*[[George Rose (actor)|George Rose]] as Bullen
*[[Lloyd Lamble]] as Superintendent Browning
*[[Harry Locke]] as Reporter
*[[Jackie Collins]] as June
*[[Eric Pohlmann]] as Liberamanian Consul
*[[Joan Hickson]] as Mrs Kent
*[[Charles Cullum]] as Major Kent
*[[Miles Malleson]] as Angler
*[[Charles Lloyd-Pack]] as Tritton
*[[Warren Mitchell]] as Artie White
*[[Elsie Wagstaff]] as Mrs Gray
* [[Sam Kydd]] as Frogman, "Davy Jones"

==Production==
Guinness appeared in the film as a favour to the director. In later years, he recalled it as "wretched, (a film) ... I never wanted to do and only did out of friendship to Charley Frend."<ref>Read 2005, p. 301.</ref> Although ''Barnacle Bill'' was the last Ealing comedy, it was shot at [[Hunstanton]] Pier<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.edp24.co.uk/lifestyle/heritage/remember-when-hunstanton-became-a-hollywood-film-set-8794996 |title=Remembering when Hollywood arrived in a Norfolk seaside town |first=Derek |last=James |date=5 April 2022 |newspaper=[[Eastern Daily Press]]}}</ref> and [[MGM-British Studios|Elstree Studios]], as [[Ealing Studios]] had closed and was sold to the [[BBC]] for television production.<ref name="McGee">McGee, Scott. [http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/85853%7C0/All-at-Sea.html "This Month: All at Sea."] ''Turner Classic Movies.'' Retrieved: 3 August 2013.</ref>

==Reception==
''Barnacle Bill'' opened at the Empire Cinema in London on the 11 December 1957<ref name="Art & Hue">{{cite web|url=http://artandhue.com/jackie/|title=Art & Hue presents Jackie Collins |work=Art & Hue |date=2019 |access-date=11 April 2019}}</ref> and was released under the title ''All At Sea'' in the United States.

''Barnacle Bill'' (as ''All at Sea'') was reviewed in ''[[The New York Times]]'' by [[Bosley Crowther]]. His review was sympathetic to the failings of the film and script but he did see redeeming qualities in Guinness's performance. "Mr. Clarke's whimsical notion doesn't sail quite the untroubled sea that Mr. Guinness' pier does. It runs into roughness, now and then, which requires rather diligent overacting and farcical behavior by all hands. But Mr. Guinness, who has made an art of underplaying, never goes too far overboard ..."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B02E7D91131E63ABC4B51DFB467838C649EDE |title=The Screen: 'All at Sea'; Guinness Is Starred in T.E.B. Clarke script |first=Bosley |last=Crowther |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=23 December 1957}}</ref>

===Box office===
According to MGM records above, the film cost $659,000 to make (see budget note 1 above) and earned $405,000 in the US and Canada, plus $545,000 elsewhere, ($950,000 in total, see note 1 above) resulting in a [[return on investment]] of 44%, and a profit of $291,000.<ref name="Mannix"/>

==See also==
* [[List of British films of 1957]]

==References==

===Notes===
{{Reflist|group=N}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin}}
* Guinness, Alec. ''A Positively Final Appearance: A Journal, 1996–1998.'' London: Penguin Books, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-14-029964-9}}.
* Read, Piers Paul. ''Alec Guinness: The Authorised Biography.'' New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005. {{ISBN|978-0-7432-4498-5}}.
{{Refend}}

==External links==
*{{tcmdb title|1856|Barnacle Bill}}
* {{IMDb title|0050168|Barnacle Bill}}

{{Charles Frend}}
{{Michael Balcon}}

[[Category:1957 films]]
[[Category:1957 comedy films]]
[[Category:British comedy films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Charles Frend]]
[[Category:Films produced by Michael Balcon]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by T. E. B. Clarke]]
[[Category:Films scored by John Addison]]
[[Category:Ealing Studios films]]
[[Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films]]
[[Category:Films about cavemen]]
[[Category:Films shot at MGM-British Studios]]
[[Category:1950s English-language films]]
[[Category:1950s British films]]

Barnacle Bill (1957 film) - Revision history

Kurt at 22:13, 25 January 2023

Kurt: 1 revision imported

en>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: add Category:1950s British films