Oh, Mr. Porter!

'Oh, Mr Porter!' is seen as possible the most popular of the many films made staring Wil Hay. The team of three (Graham Moffat, Moore Marriot and Hay) seem to fit together well leading each other to witty and well perform punchlines that capture the spirit of the early black and white comedy genre. The tale, based on the placement of a lack lustre station manager at a sleepy backwater station in Ireland, is the perfect setting for Hay to act out his famous role as the bumbling but likable head of operations. Assisted by Marriot and Moffat the three find themselves embroiled in a gun running plot and the ghost of the old miller. Great fun and a reflection of an era long gone.

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.

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.

An absolutely classic comedy on every frontier, the chemistry between the three leads is perfect, with each actor pulling his own weight to deliver in this comedy gem that has often been hailed as one of the best British comedies of all time. The jokes are not only funny but charming too most of the time, and although the plot and characters are quite silly, they are all well written for their purpose. The film's technical side is quite impressive too, in particular considering its age, with some great cinematography, a perfectly creaky set design and effective dissolve editing. The special effects and stunt work is also worth marveling at, and the overall film is largely enjoyable. It is not deep, and it is rather silly, but if those qualities can be overlooked, a fun, funny and generally well made film awaits.

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.