Oh, Mr. Porter!

I saw this film in 1937 when I was 10. I am now 76 and can remember almost the entire plot. I would list this amongst my top 10 films together with The Quiet Man, Dr. Strangelove, Random Harvest and a few others including The Grapes of Wrath.

This is a bit of trivia for the benefit of all train spotters out there. Presumably as a result of the film being made on Southern Railway, several miles to the north of Southampton, the credits incorporate a few unacknowledged shots of Southampton. Most obviously, the station that's shown on emerging from a tunnel is the old Southampton West station, now Southampton Central, in the form it took before Hermann Goering radically reshaped it. Perhaps the shots were intended as part of the final reel. If so, they count as outtakes, recycled in the credits.

Say something about the film, must I? Well, of course, it's sheer genius. Surely that doesn't need saying. I can't wait for the day that Quentin Tarantino discovers it.

One of my all-time favourites.

Silly characters, silly plot.

Supposedly set in Ireland, it was actually filmed on the moribund Basingstoke and Alton Railway in Southern England (note 'Southern' on the tender of the express engine!) I suppose, for its day, it was probably quite innovative with a lot of camera tricks, even though some of the footage is shown in reverse! See the opening credits for instance - British railways drive on the left!

Hay, Marriott and Moffatt are hilariously funny, trotting out well established characters and routines, but no less funny for that, my favourite scene being the one involving Gladstone and the shunting of the carriage - priceless.

If you see it around, watch it, and then check out some of their other films. This was their best but plenty of the others are very funny.

This is quite possibly the greatest British comedy film made. The humour still stands up today and the scenes are as clever as any modern work. Unfortunatly, the film's star Will Hay, has almost been forgotten by the comedy industry and little is spoken about him. This film is a classic example of British comedy and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys and a good laugh and occasional scare. Classic.

It's very difficult to describe the comedy of Will Hay . He was very popular in Britain in the thirties, on radio, the music hall and in film. He looked shabby, seedy and shifty and usually played not very pleasant characters who can only be described as failed con artists, but funny he was. This is probably his best movie and it holds up very well. The plot owns something to that British classic of the theater THE GHOST TRAIN.

Interesting trivia point. This and many of these very British comedies, including some of the George Formbies were directed by a Frenchman Marcel Varnel.