Brandy for the Parson

Watched on UK's Talking Pictures, a low budget channel who find gems like this film. The copy was a little dark and sound muffled but this film is a bit of a gem I have never seen before.

The insights into life in post war England are interesting (especially the cars). The story is perfectly acceptable for its time, surprisingly the actors include many British stalwarts from the era. The script, that could easily be brought up to date, is more light-hearted than comedy, without a gun, car chase, nudity or swearing that modern film-makers seemingly have to use. I would give it more stars if the character development were greater but the running time prevented this.

All in all a film I enjoyed and hope to see many more like it as Talking Pictures unearth them.

I was tempted to give this review the alternative summary heading of "Lights In The Water Again"."Lights" was the pet name given to Charles Herbert Lightoller" ("Titanic's" second officer) by his colleagues.Kenneth More who played this role in the film ended up in the drink in "A Night to Remember"(1958) and here again he ends up there after a holiday couple James Donald/Jean Lodge ram his boat which also sinks.However the overriding theme was a forerunner of "Carry On Films" hence my summary title with a whole lot of improbable characters and situations.In the early post war years Britain was a very grey place in which to live, with food rationing, rigid control of foreign exchange and the excise duties levied on wines & spirits & luxuries bought from the Contintent.

Film makers, being rather romantic people at heart, have their sympathy with the smugglers who were given a rather heroic role.Other reviewers have mentioned "Green Grow the Rushes" & "Whiskey Galore" as two post war films which harped on this theme of romantic smuggling; after all Britain had a mountainous post war debt to repay (mainly to the U.S.A. which was not actually repaid until 1986).UK authorities had draconian laws against excise duty evasion, much to the chagrin of the general public.

The boy who played a cub was "a sixer". I could tell because I was a "seconder" cub in the 1950s."Sixers" had two stars at the front of their cap and led their patrol while "seconders" were deputies of the sixer and had one star there.The older boy scouts also helped to unwittingly transport the illicit cargo on the basis of "Bob-a Job".I kept smiling when Charles Hawtrey appeared as a dim laundry driver and the whole film appeared a softer, low key version of the "Carry On" films.This film predates the first in the series, "Carry On Seargant" (1958) by 6 years.I briefly noticed Wensley Pithey who played Inspector Charlesworth a 1950/60s TV detective.When the circus ponies (used for transporting the brandy)rested in a field there was a musical snippet of "The Post Horn Gallop", but how the principal characters obtained permission from the circus owners of the ponies was never quite revealed.

As usual in a farce about smuggling the authorities are always one step behind the smugglers but as there was also a moral code in films of this vintage, James Donald, Jean Lodge, Charles Hawtrey, Kenneth More and a local farmer have their comeuppance in court.However who paid their court fine was not made clear!I voted 6/10.

"Brandy for the Parson" was the first film for Britains' Group 3, Ltd., set up to "encourage young film makers of talent and promise," and this lightweight comedy comes through via cast and crew on the "talent and promise" attributes, especially with the musical background written by John Addison.

Bill Harper (James Donald) and Petronilla Brand (Jean Lodge) are a young couple that, through a series of mishaps and accidents, get unintentionally involved in a brandy-smuggling (from France) racket.

Because of an accidental sinking of Tony Rackham's (Kenneth More)boat, Bill and Patricia take him across the Channel on their boat which, to their dismay, is soon filled with several kegs of brandy. It then evolves into a series of intentional and unintentional dodges trying to evade the Customs officials.

It is funny how once Ealing had produced an innovative comedy lesser producers came along with an attempt to ride on their shirtails.For example Passport to Pimlico beget the far lesser Green Grow The Rushes.In this instance Whiskey Galore was clearly the inspiration.The problem is that the producers didn't have the talented casts,director or writers and so what they ended up with was a woefully unfunny production littered with eccentric actors doing eccentric things in the hope that they might just light a spark.The leading players are just not cut out for playing this type of comedy.The writers and directors have clearly felt that if they piled one unusual incident on top of another then at least some may come to life.Well they don't and the stalwart character actors can do nothing to save this leaden farce which feels as if it is twice its brief running time.

James Donald, Kenneth More, and Jean Lodge are asked by a sailor with a foundering ship to head over to France and pick up something for him. It turns out to be brandy for smuggling. When they get it back to England, they find it's much in demand.... but somehow they can't get it off their hands.

It's a rather slow comedy, but that's because it's shot in the fields and towns and standing stones dotting the pleasant lands of the country, and the jokes punctuate the situations, rather than being the point of this amiable film.

It's a first starring role for Kenneth More, who's second-billed after James Donald. It was almost Audrey Hepburn's first lead, but delays in production ended with her replacement by Miss Lodge