Oh, Mr Porter! - Revision history

Kurt at 04:28, 9 February 2023

2023-02-09T04:28:12Z

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	~~{{Use dmy dates\|date=June 2016}}~~
	~~{{Use British English\|date=June 2016}}~~
	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	~~\| name = Oh, Mr Porter!~~
	\| image = Oh Mr Porter.jpg		\| image = Oh Mr Porter.jpg
	\| caption = (left to right) Graham Moffatt as Albert, Moore Marriott as Harbottle, and Will Hay as William Porter		\| caption = (left to right) Graham Moffatt as Albert, Moore Marriott as Harbottle, and Will Hay as William Porter

Kurt: /* External links */

2023-01-06T04:07:53Z

External links

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	* [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/media/stream.jsp?id=706244 Link to video clip of ''Oh, Mr Porter'']		* [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/media/stream.jsp?id=706244 Link to video clip of ''Oh, Mr Porter'']
	* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090416130828/http://web.ukonline.co.uk/cj.tolley/cjt-brhb.htm "''First Stop Buggleskelly''" – the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway]		* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090416130828/http://web.ukonline.co.uk/cj.tolley/cjt-brhb.htm "''First Stop Buggleskelly''" – the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway]

	~~{{Gainsborough Pictures}}~~
	~~{{Marcel Varnel}}~~
	~~{{Marriott Edgar}}~~
	~~{{Launder and Gilliat}}~~

	[[Category:1937 films]]		[[Category:1937 films]]

Kurt: /* Production */

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Production

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	==Production==		==Production==
			[[File:Terling Windmill - geograph.org.uk - 1318919.jpg\|thumb\|right\|[[w:Terling Windmill\|Terling Windmill]] where the windmill scene was filmed]]
	Despite the majority of the film being set in Northern Ireland, none of the filming took place there; the railway station at Buggleskelly was the disused [[Cliddesden railway station]] on the [[Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway]], which had closed to goods in 1936.<ref>Ray Seaton and Roy Martin, ''Good Morning, Boys: Will Hay Master of Comedy'' (1978)</ref> ''Oh, Mr.Porter!'' was filmed at Cliddesden between May and July 1937. All the interior shots were made at Gainsborough Studios, Shepherds Bush, during the August.<ref>{{cite book		Despite the majority of the film being set in Northern Ireland, none of the filming took place there; the railway station at Buggleskelly was the disused [[Cliddesden railway station]] on the [[Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway]], which had closed to goods in 1936.<ref>Ray Seaton and Roy Martin, ''Good Morning, Boys: Will Hay Master of Comedy'' (1978)</ref> ''Oh, Mr.Porter!'' was filmed at Cliddesden between May and July 1937. All the interior shots were made at Gainsborough Studios, Shepherds Bush, during the August.<ref>{{cite book
	\| last = Dean \| first = Martin		\| last = Dean \| first = Martin
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	\| title = The Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway		\| title = The Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway
	\| publisher = Crusader Press \| year = 1998		\| publisher = Crusader Press \| year = 1998
	\| pages = 76–81}}</ref> The [[Terling Windmill\|windmill]] in which Porter and his colleagues are trapped is located at [[Terling]], [[Essex]],<ref>{{Cite web \|url=http://homepage.mac.com/elliottday/willhay/moreohmrporter.html \|title=NTG Oh Mr Porter Trivia \|access-date=2 April 2007 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070401224343/http://homepage.mac.com/elliottday/willhay/moreohmrporter.html \|archive-date=1 April 2007 \|url-status=dead }}</ref> and "Gladstone", the ancient steam locomotive, was portrayed by No. 2 ''Northiam'' 2-4-0T built by [[Hawthorn Leslie and Company\|Hawthorn Leslie]] in 1899 and loaned by the [[Kent and East Sussex Railway]] to the film. The engine was returned to the company after completion of the film and remained in service until 1941, when it was scrapped.<ref>{{cite web		\| pages = 76–81}}</ref> The [[w:Terling Windmill\|windmill]] in which Porter and his colleagues are trapped is located at [[Terling]], [[Essex]],<ref>{{Cite web \|url=http://homepage.mac.com/elliottday/willhay/moreohmrporter.html \|title=NTG Oh Mr Porter Trivia \|access-date=2 April 2007 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070401224343/http://homepage.mac.com/elliottday/willhay/moreohmrporter.html \|archive-date=1 April 2007 \|url-status=dead }}</ref> and "Gladstone", the ancient steam locomotive, was portrayed by No. 2 ''Northiam'' 2-4-0T built by [[Hawthorn Leslie and Company\|Hawthorn Leslie]] in 1899 and loaned by the [[w:Kent and East Sussex Railway\|Kent and East Sussex Railway]] to the film. The engine was returned to the company after completion of the film and remained in service until 1941, when it was scrapped.<ref>{{cite web
	\|url=http://www.hfstephens-museum.org.uk/locomotives/new-locomotives.html		\|url=http://www.hfstephens-museum.org.uk/locomotives/new-locomotives.html
	\|title=Colonel Stephens' New Locomotives		\|title=Colonel Stephens' New Locomotives

Kurt: /* Cast */

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Cast

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	*[[Frank Atkinson (actor)\|Frank Atkinson]] as Irishman in bar		*[[Frank Atkinson (actor)\|Frank Atkinson]] as Irishman in bar
	* [[Betty Jardine]] as Secretary		* [[Betty Jardine]] as Secretary

	~~[[File:Terling Windmill - geograph.org.uk - 1318919.jpg\|thumb\|190px\|[[Terling Windmill]] where the windmill scene was filmed]]~~

	==Production==		==Production==

Kurt: /* Plot */

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Plot

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	==Plot==		==Plot==
	~~{{Long plot\|date=February 2022}}~~
	William Porter ([[Will Hay]]) is an inept railway worker who – due to family connections – is given the job of [[stationmaster]] at a remote and ramshackle rural [[Northern Ireland\|Northern Irish]] [[railway station]] in the (fictitious) town of Buggleskelly, situated on the border with the then [[Irish Free State]].		William Porter ([[Will Hay]]) is an inept railway worker who – due to family connections – is given the job of [[stationmaster]] at a remote and ramshackle rural [[Northern Ireland\|Northern Irish]] [[railway station]] in the (fictitious) town of Buggleskelly, situated on the border with the then [[Irish Free State]].

Kurt at 17:50, 20 September 2022

2022-09-20T17:50:30Z

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	~~{{About\|the film\|music hall song\|Oh! Mr Porter}}~~
	{{Use dmy dates\|date=June 2016}}		{{Use dmy dates\|date=June 2016}}
	{{Use British English\|date=June 2016}}		{{Use British English\|date=June 2016}}

Kurt: 1 revision imported

2022-09-20T17:11:53Z

1 revision imported

← Older revision	Revision as of 12:11, 20 September 2022
(No difference)

en>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: /* External links */add Category:1930s British films

2022-09-03T05:46:36Z

External links: add Category:1930s British films

New page

{{About|the film|music hall song|Oh! Mr Porter}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Oh, Mr Porter!
| image = Oh Mr Porter.jpg
| caption = (left to right) Graham Moffatt as Albert, Moore Marriott as Harbottle, and Will Hay as William Porter
| director = [[Marcel Varnel]]
| producer = [[Edward Black (producer)|Edward Black]]
| writer = [[J. O. C. Orton]] [[Marriott Edgar]] [[Val Guest]]
| based_on = story by [[Frank Launder]] [[Arnold Ridley]] (play)
| starring = [[Will Hay]] [[Graham Moffatt]] [[Moore Marriott]]
| music = [[Louis Levy]] [[Jack Beaver]]
| cinematography = [[Arthur Crabtree]]
| editing = [[R. E. Dearing]] [[Alfred Roome]]
| distributor = [[Gainsborough Pictures]]
| released = {{Film date|1937|10|05}}
| runtime = 85 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
}}
'''''Oh, Mr Porter!''''' is a 1937 British [[comedy film]] starring [[Will Hay]] with [[Moore Marriott]] and [[Graham Moffatt]] and directed by [[Marcel Varnel]]. While not Hay's commercially most successful (although it grossed £500,000 at the box office – equal to about £34,000,000 at 2020 value), it is probably his best-known film to modern audiences. It is widely acclaimed as the best of Hay's work, and a classic of its genre. The film had its first public showing in November 1937 and went on general release on 3 January 1938.
The plot of ''Oh, Mr Porter'' was loosely based on the [[Arnold Ridley]] play ''[[The Ghost Train (play)|The Ghost Train]]''. The title was taken from ''[[Oh! Mr Porter]]'', a [[music hall]] song.

==Plot==
{{Long plot|date=February 2022}}
William Porter ([[Will Hay]]) is an inept railway worker who – due to family connections – is given the job of [[stationmaster]] at a remote and ramshackle rural [[Northern Ireland|Northern Irish]] [[railway station]] in the (fictitious) town of Buggleskelly, situated on the border with the then [[Irish Free State]].

After taking the ferry from England to Northern Ireland, Porter is aghast when he discovers how isolated the station is. It is situated out in the countryside, two miles cross-country from the nearest bus stop. To make matters worse, local legend has it that the ghost of One-Eyed Joe the Miller haunts the line and, as a result, no-one will go near the station after dark.

Porter's co-workers at the station are the elderly deputy stationmaster, Harbottle ([[Moore Marriott]]), and an overweight, insolent young porter, Albert ([[Graham Moffatt]]), who make a living by stealing goods in transit and swapping railway tickets for food. They welcome Porter to his new job by regaling him with tales of the deaths and disappearances of previous stationmasters – each apparently the victim of the curse of One-Eyed Joe.

From the beginning, the station is run very unprofessionally. Porter is woken up by a cow sticking its head through the window of the old railway carriage he is sleeping in (the cow has been lost in transit and is being milked by Harbottle), and the team's breakfast consists of bacon made from a litter of piglets which the railway is supposed to be looking after for a local farmer.

Determined to shake things up (particularly after he is forced to deal with the irate farmer when he comes to collect his pigs), Stationmaster Porter tries to renovate the station in several ways, most sensibly by painting the entire station, but also by less conventional means – including stopping the passing express and organising an [[excursion train|excursion]] to [[Connemara]].

Porter attempts to drum up business among the local people in the pub by offering tickets to this excursion, but as the locals begin to argue about where the excursion should go a fight breaks out. Porter crawls to safety in the landlord's rooms next door, where he meets a one-eyed man who introduces himself as Joe and offers to buy all of the tickets for an away game that the village football team, the Buggleskelly Wednesday, are playing the following day.

But Porter is unaware that he has really agreed to transport a group of criminals who are involved in [[Gunrunning|running guns]] to the [[Republic of Ireland|Irish Free State]]. The 'football' train leaves at six a.m. the following morning, rather than the scheduled ten a.m., at the insistence of Joe and although Porter questions some of the odd packages being loaded onto the train, he accepts Joe's claim that these are in fact [[goalposts]] for the game.

The train disappears as the smugglers divert it down a disused [[branch line]] near the border, and with everybody claiming that Porter has lost his mind (there is no such team as Buggleskelly Wednesday, and Harbottle points out that the local team wouldn't leave without him as he is their centre forward). Unfortunately this huge misunderstanding causes Porter to lose his job, since no one has seen the train. Then after his co-workers talk about a tunnel on a nearby disused branch line, Porter decides to head off to track down the errant engine (in hopes of getting his job back).

The trio find the missing train inside a derelict railway tunnel, underneath a supposedly haunted [[Terling Windmill|windmill]]. They investigate and are briefly captured by the gun runners, but escape and climb progressively higher up the windmill until eventually they are trapped at the top.

Using the windmill sails, they contrive to get down where they hatch a plan to capture the gun runners. Coupling the carriages containing the criminals and their guns to their own engine, ''Gladstone'', they carry them away from the border at full speed, burning everything from Harbottle's underwear to level crossing gates they smash through in order to keep up steam. To keep the criminals quiet, Albert climbs on top of the carriage and hits anyone who sticks their head out with a large shovel.

Porter writes a note explaining the situation and places it in Harbottle's empty 'medicine' bottle. When they pass a large station, he throws the bottle through the window of the stationmaster's office, alerting the authorities to their plight. The entire railway goes into action, with lines being closed and other trains re-routed so that Gladstone can finally crash into a siding where the waiting police force arrest the gun runners.

After a short-lived celebration, in which Harbottle points out that ''Gladstone'' is ninety years old and Porter claims it is good for another ninety, the engine explodes after its hectic journey, and Porter, Harbottle and Albert lower their hats in respect.

==Cast==
*[[Will Hay]] as William Porter
*[[Moore Marriott]] as Jeremiah Harbottle
*[[Graham Moffatt]] as Albert Brown
*[[Percy Walsh]] as Superintendent
*[[Dave O'Toole]] as Postman
*[[Sebastian Smith]] as Mr Trimbletow
*[[Agnes Lauchlan]] as Mrs Trimbletow
*[[Dennis Wyndham]] as Grogan/One-Eyed Joe
*[[Frederick Piper]] as Ledbetter
*[[Frederick Lloyd (actor)|Frederick Lloyd]] as Minister
*[[Frank Atkinson (actor)|Frank Atkinson]] as Irishman in bar
* [[Betty Jardine]] as Secretary

[[File:Terling Windmill - geograph.org.uk - 1318919.jpg|thumb|190px|[[Terling Windmill]] where the windmill scene was filmed]]

==Production==
Despite the majority of the film being set in Northern Ireland, none of the filming took place there; the railway station at Buggleskelly was the disused [[Cliddesden railway station]] on the [[Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway]], which had closed to goods in 1936.<ref>Ray Seaton and Roy Martin, ''Good Morning, Boys: Will Hay Master of Comedy'' (1978)</ref> ''Oh, Mr.Porter!'' was filmed at Cliddesden between May and July 1937. All the interior shots were made at Gainsborough Studios, Shepherds Bush, during the August.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Dean | first = Martin
|author2=Kevin Robertson |author3=Roger Simmonds
| title = The Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway
| publisher = Crusader Press | year = 1998
| pages = 76–81}}</ref> The [[Terling Windmill|windmill]] in which Porter and his colleagues are trapped is located at [[Terling]], [[Essex]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://homepage.mac.com/elliottday/willhay/moreohmrporter.html |title=NTG Oh Mr Porter Trivia |access-date=2 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070401224343/http://homepage.mac.com/elliottday/willhay/moreohmrporter.html |archive-date=1 April 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and "Gladstone", the ancient steam locomotive, was portrayed by No. 2 ''Northiam'' 2-4-0T built by [[Hawthorn Leslie and Company|Hawthorn Leslie]] in 1899 and loaned by the [[Kent and East Sussex Railway]] to the film. The engine was returned to the company after completion of the film and remained in service until 1941, when it was scrapped.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.hfstephens-museum.org.uk/locomotives/new-locomotives.html
|title=Colonel Stephens' New Locomotives
|publisher=The Colonel Stephens Railway Museum, Tenterden, Kent
|access-date=2011-05-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.portisheadweb.org.uk/wcpr/Northiam.html
|title=Northiam
|publisher=Weston Clevedon and Portishead Railway
|access-date=2011-05-13
|last=Gregory
|first=Paul
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318170921/http://www.portisheadweb.org.uk/wcpr/Northiam.html
|archive-date=18 March 2012
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>

The title sequence uses scenes shot at a variety of locations on the [[London Waterloo railway station|Waterloo]] to [[Southampton]] railway line and also between Maze Hill and Greenwich in south-east London. According to [[John Huntley (film historian)|John Huntley]] in his book ''Railways on Screen'', "[t]he editor reversed his negative at one stage in preparing the title backgrounds, causing them to come out reversed on the final print".<ref>John Huntley, ''Railways on Screen'' (1993)</ref> The scene in which Porter travels to Buggleskelly by bus, while being warned of a terrible danger by locals, parodies that of the [[Tod Browning]] film, ''[[Dracula (1931 English-language film)|Dracula]]'' (1931).<ref>[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/444280/index.html screenonline: Oh, Mr Porter! (1937)]</ref>

The Southern Railway of Northern Ireland that Porter works for is fictitious. In reality, from the route chosen on the map, the line would have belonged to the [[Great Northern Railway (Ireland)]], with Buggleskelly being close to the real town of [[Lisnaskea]]. In addition, the Irish border on the map portrayed in the film is inaccurate, placing the border too far east, and roughly along the eastern coast of [[Lough Erne]] rather than the border of [[County Fermanagh]].

==Reception==
The film has been very well received over time.

The [[British Film Institute]] included the film in its 360 Classic Feature Films list;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/aaronbcaldwell/dimbfi.html |title=Top 100 Movie Lists – BFI's 360 Classic Feature Films |access-date=16 March 2007 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027094228/http://www.geocities.com/aaronbcaldwell/dimbfi.html |archive-date=27 October 2009 }}</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' magazine described the movie as "amusing, if over-long", noting that there was "<nowiki>[n]</nowiki>o love interest to mar the comedy";<ref name=variety>{{cite news
|url = http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117793667.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0
|work = Variety
|title = Oh, Mr. Porter! Movie Review
|date = 1 January 1937
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071024092854/http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117793667.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0
|archive-date = 24 October 2007
|df = dmy-all
}}</ref> and the cult website [[TV Cream]] listed it at number 41 in its list of cinema's Top 100 Films.<ref name="tvcream">[http://www.tv.cream.org/extras/top100films/topfilms5041.htm TV Cream's Top 100 Films]</ref>

The [[film critic]] [[Barry Norman]] included it among his 100 best films of all time, and fellow critic [[Derek Malcolm]] also included the film in his ''Century of Films'', describing it as "perfectly representing a certain type of bumbling British humour",<ref>[http://film.guardian.co.uk/Century_Of_Films/Story/0,,347664,00.html Marcel Varnel: Oh, Mr Porter! | Features | Guardian Unlimited Film]</ref> despite being directed by a Parisian director.

The director Marcel Varnel considered the film as among his best work,<ref>''So You Want To Be In Pictures: The Autobiography of Val Guest''</ref> and it was described in 2006, by ''[[The Times]]'' in its obituary for writer [[Val Guest]], as "a comic masterpiece of the British cinema".<ref>The Times, 16 May 2006</ref> [[Jimmy Perry]], in his autobiography, wrote that the trio of [[Captain Mainwaring]], [[Corporal Jones]] and [[Private Pike]] in ''[[Dad's Army]]'' was inspired by watching ''Oh, Mr Porter!''<ref>James Perry, ''A Stupid Boy'' (2002), p. 100</ref>

== Legacy ==
The Will Hay Appreciation Society unveiled a memorial bench to Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt in October 2018, in [[Cliddesden]], [[Hampshire]], the filming location for Buggleskelly. The bench was unveiled by [[Pete Waterman]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/news/16988533.mr-porter-returns-to-cliddesden-with-guests-in-tow/|title=Mr Porter returns to Cliddesden with guests in tow|website=Basingstoke Gazette|language=en|access-date=2019-06-19}}</ref>

==Reviews==

===Modern reviews===
*{{cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=106679 |title=Archive of Channel 4 Review (UK) |access-date=16 March 2007 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050829073803/http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=106679 |archive-date=29 August 2005 }}
*[http://www.thespinningimage.co.uk/cultfilms/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=1114 Spinning Image Review]
*[https://www.filmthreat.com/index.php?section=features&Id=1803 Bootleg Files Review]
*[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/444280/index.html Screenonline Review]

===Contemporary reviews===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071024092854/http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117793667.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0 Variety Magazine Review, 1937]
*[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/media/mfb/999445/index.html BFI Monthly Film Bulletin Review, October 1937]

==Parody==
The film was parodied in the [[Harry Enfield]] [[Parody|spoof]] [[Documentary film|documentary]] ''[[Norbert Smith - a Life]]'', as ''Oh, Mr Bank Robber!'' starring "Will Silly".<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/n/norbertsmithali_66601340.shtml BBC – Comedy – Shows A-Z Index]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|id=0029335|title=Oh, Mr Porter!}}
* [http://www.musicsmiles.com/oh_mr_porter!.htm Article on the song, with a sound file of the tune]
* [http://film.guardian.co.uk/Century_Of_Films/Story/0,4135,347664,00.html Guardian article on the film]
* [http://www.missinglinkclassichorror.co.uk/train.htm "''Full Steam Ahead''"]
* [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/media/stream.jsp?id=706244 Link to video clip of ''Oh, Mr Porter'']
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090416130828/http://web.ukonline.co.uk/cj.tolley/cjt-brhb.htm "''First Stop Buggleskelly''" – the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway]

{{Gainsborough Pictures}}
{{Marcel Varnel}}
{{Marriott Edgar}}
{{Launder and Gilliat}}

[[Category:1937 films]]
[[Category:1937 comedy films]]
[[Category:British black-and-white films]]
[[Category:British comedy films]]
[[Category:1930s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Marcel Varnel]]
[[Category:Gainsborough Pictures films]]
[[Category:Rail transport films]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Marriott Edgar]]
[[Category:Films set in Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:Films scored by Jack Beaver]]
[[Category:1930s British films]]