The Bargee

A beautifully made film mainly shot on location. I'm the first to admit that this isn't a movie for the person looking for big 'belly laughs', but for lovers of the English canal system and it's history who like wistful humour and some beautifully subtle moments and some classic lines, it's superb. Harry H Corbett is billed as the Casanova of the canals but his (Hemel Pike) first love affair is with 'the cut', his early line where he says "The only way you'll get me off the canal is to fill it in", will strike a chord with canal enthusiasts. So I can quite understand why people rate this film lower as it is slightly specialised. For those interested in film locations, Leg O' Mutton Lock, the main location in the film is in fact Marsworth top lock on the Grand Union canal and is almost exactly the same today as in 1963, lots more boats though! Corbett's portrayal as Hemel Pike is either a tribute to his research into the canal way of life or he had experience of it as all his actions are extremely accurate. If you love canals you'll love this film. If you are looking for big laughs and constant action you'll be disappointed. I love it. 10 out of 10.

Yes, it is nostalgic. Yes, it is slow, but canal boats can only cruise at 4 m.p.h. so perhaps it matches the storyline. Anyway, who says film has to be frenetic all the time? Harry H. Corbett is superb. It's a shame he never received more recognition for his talents during his life time. The film also was an early chance for Ronnie Barker to shine as Hemel's dim witted cousin. But my favourite supporting players are Eric Sykes' canal enthusiast energetically freewheeling through his scenes. He turns what are little more than vignettes into perfect sketches. Jo Rowbottom appears as one of Hemel's squeezes. Her brief appearance is actually quite touching- Hemel treats her badly, and she knows it.

If nothing else, Give it a try if you are a film buff! It's a 'spot the British character actor' film. Perfect rainy afternoon fare, except it has only been shown once on television in the last ten years.

The film is unique in that it attempts to portray working life on the English canals as it really was in the 1960s, without the affected prettification of most accounts.

The bargees are workmen, Hemel (Corbett) the ladies man trapped by a pretty girl, and propelled to the altar on the end of a shotgun, and Ronnie (Barker) his none too bright right hand man.

The film is set immediately before the end of the way of life that it portrays, as commercial narrowboat carrying came to an end on Britains waterways. At the time of its release, this was a very recent memory, the trade having been finally killed off by the severe winter of 1963.

The boats seen in the film are the genuine article, used in a film about the end of the trade, mere months after it ended. Within a very short time after the film, most of the craft had been destroyed, leaving only a few in preservation.

Mild light comedy concerning dam master (Griffith) whose impressionable daughter (Foster) conceives to barge operator and ladies' man (Corbett), much to Griffith's chagrin. Ronnie Barker co-stars as Corbett's cousin and fellow "bargee" (with somewhat less luck with the ladies), the two concerned also with the imminent extinction of the centuries old tradition, in favour of motorised vessels.

Solid cast includes veteran Griffith as the gruff, ill-tempered man of the waterways (and sporting a bird's nest that would make Francis De Wolff or Sebastian Cabot blush), Barker as the amiable sidekick and prominent supporting roles for Derek Nimmo, Richard Briers and Norman Bird as a cowardly administrator who attempts to confront Griffith after he's sabotaged the canal as retribution for his daughter's, "condition". Some viewers may also recognise Ed Devereaux pre-"Skippy".

Essentially it seemed to me to be a tale about the preservation of traditions, some of which are anachronisms to the present day, others worth conserving. Pleasant enough slapstick with some nice countryside exteriors and a delightful supporting cast, a modest and inoffensive time-filler.

Lovely scenery and color photography can't save this tedious and annoying film that's filled with irritating characters and bad pacing.

The film starts out well with Harry Corbett and Ronnie Barker taking a commercial load on their barge via the wondrous waterways (canals) to Birmingham. Despite Corbett's off-putting accent and speech impediment (he can't say his R's), it looks like it will be a picturesque comedy/drama set amid the English countryside. But as soon as Eric Syke's annoying character (the mariner), the week-end skipper who knows nothing about boats, shows up, the voyage goes off course.

Sykes is supposed to be the comic relief, but his character is too stupid to be funny. Anyway, Corbett plots his trip with "stop-overs" at various towns where he has a woman in each port. He finally makes it to where Julia Foster and her dad, Hugh Griffith, live. She's pregnant, and the story goes off in another direction with Griffith determined to find the guy who knocked her up.

This plot drags on and on with Griffith blocking the canal and causing all sorts of trouble until some government officials show up and they finally figure out who daddy is. Even after this resolution, the story drags on til its obvious conclusion.

Griffith, Foster, and Barker do what they can with one-dimensional characters. Sykes and Corbett are lost causes. Co-stars include Miriam Karlin as the boisterous Nellie, Norman Bird and Richard Briers as the government men, Derek Nimmo as the dumb doctor, and among the canal women, Rita Webb, Patricia Hayes, and Eileen Way.