Tre uomini in barca

The DVD for "Three Men in a Boat" has no captioning. So, if you are hard of hearing or have difficulty with the accents, then you are screwed.

The first thing I noticed about this film is the odd casting decision for the leads. While Jimmy Edwards and David Tomlinson seem like natural choices for a comedy, I cannot understand casting Laurence Harvey as the third lead. After all, he had all the comic flair of a mortician and he was simply too pretty to be believable as the friend of the two idiots, Tomlinson and Edwards. Perhaps this odd casting choice can be explained, just a bit, because Harvey still hadn't established much of a screen persona, as his best films were ahead of him.

The film is a very slight comedy involving three male friends who decide to spend their holiday punting down the Thames (for non-Brits, this is 'boating down river'). They are definitely roughing it--camping out and cooking in the great (and often wet) outdoors. Such a vacation seems completely miserable but the three have some adventures (and, now that I think about it, this is practically the same plot as "Deliverance").

What bothered me about this film (aside from the casting) was the obviousness of the comedy. This is not to be confused with a sparkling Ealing comedy, as pratfalls and occasionally silly sound effects are the norm for "Three Men in a Boat". Oddly, however, despite this, the film often was very, very mundane--a very strange combination to say the least. As a result, I found the film tedious and unfunny.

The Victorian era seemed like the good old days in the fifties, so the time was right for this Eastman Colour exercise in nostalgia with an agreeable score by John Addison; the Thames and Hampton Court Maze lending themselves well to the CinemaScope format and when national treasures A. E. Matthews, Earnest Thesiger & Miles Malleson put in an appearance lined up horizontally across the screen.

Shirley Eaton, Lisa Gastoni & Jill Ireland are much too modern as the young gentlemen's lady loves and Lawrence Harvey as George seems seriously out of place amidst the general levity, particularly strumming a ukulele; his presence in the cast being accounted for by the influential friend he then had at Romulus Films.

When I saw this film advertised on Talking Pictures, I just had to watch it. I think I saw it as a child many years ago; but in the meantime I had read the book and wanted to compare the interpretation. To be honest, I didn't find the book that funny despite the opinion of many critics down the years. I had an interest because I'm from Walsall, Jerome K Jerome's home town (didn't his parents have any imagination!). Anyhow, as mentioned elsewhere, the film has little in common with the book. Some of the scenarios used e.g. the picnic, are related as happening to acquaintances rather than the main characters themselves. Having said that, the tin of pineapples scene was pretty faithfully rendered. So far as casting goes, I think they got it about right. I had no problems with Laurence Harvey as George, and thought he was an effective counter to David Tomlinson's bumbling and Jimmy Edward's bull-in-a-china shop approach. Although the slapstick episodes did become tedious.The females were of course window dressing. Jill Ireland played her vacant self, and Shirley Eaton was a bit too modern for the era. Particularly in the bath scene! Strangely, Lisa Gastoni was the only one who convinced (what happened to her?) Martita Hunt, never a beauty, but always a beautiful performance, gave us her usual character; the matriarch. And I wonder if she was ever in anything other than period costume dramas? The Hampton Court Maze scene was the best, with a host of British character actors running around wildly trying to get out. In all it wasn't a bad movie. Like the book, it sought to convey a picture of an idyllic England, long-since vanished. Although in reality, such a vision only ever existed for the privileged few. A true representation of the book would be difficult to reproduce, and probably wouldn't be half as interesting. Coincidentally, when I worked at a college some years ago, three students retraced the journey down the Thames in a boat one summer vac. Like in the film, it apparently rained a lot!

This film is one of many that stick out from my childhood, unlike many children I always found my laughs in old films from the 50's, and 60s rather than the many poor cartoons available to kids in the 80's. This was one that my parents had recorded, that I watched over and over laughing as hard at the next viewing as I had from the previous. Upon reading the book many years later I discovered it hardly follows the story closely, but that doesn't matter because its a great film nonetheless. The cast are delightful in their comic turns, which even use slapstick to rather amusing consequences (my favourite scene involving a tin of pineapple slices). The story following 3 gents in the 1920's as they attempt to have a relaxing holiday on the river Thames, despite the distractions of women and the English weather - it's delightful to see how society didn't allow women of standing to simply meet men without a formal introduction first. There's no real point to the film but its nice to see great traditional comedy without the swearing and sex that is poured into films these days... A timeless film that I shall always treasure.

It was when I saw a 2006 documentary about three friends taking a boat trip on the Thames River to emulate Jerome K. Jerome's story of Three Men in a Boat, that I realized I'd never seen this movie. I recalled hearing about it from my youth but simply never had the opportunity – until recently when I got a DVD from my library.

Now, I've not read the actual book but, I understand from other reviews I've read elsewhere, the film narrative bears little relationship to the story that Jerome penned – one reviewer even going so far to say that the author would be turning in his grave. No doubt stories from other authors have fared the same or worse.

So, if you have read the story then you may be disappointed. However, as an example of well-produced British humour from the 1950s, it stands the test of time as a light-hearted, albeit cliché-ridden, romp with Jimmy Edwards as Harris, Laurence Harvey as George and the very dapper David Tomlinson as J – the surrogate Jerome. For the love interest encountered along the way, the three men meet up with Shirley Eaton as Sophie, Lisa Gastoni as Primose and Jill Ireland as Bluebell.

The story is filmed, essentially, as a series of set pieces, beginning with the Preparations to Take a Trip – during which the three are shown for the bumbling idiots they are with a hilarious, but predictable, catastrophic attempts to package up all their supplies, all ending in shambles at the bottom of stairs, with a similar situation as they load it onto the boat, almost capsizing.

However, off they row, and their first port of call is Hampden Court where they decide to experience the Largest Maze in Europe (or so we're told) and, naturally, they get confused and confuse everyone else in the maze with their efforts to lead them out which, naturally, leads to more slapstick humour.

Later that evening, there is Making Camp for the Night, which, being England, is wet, very wet – and an occasion for more misery for the trio, and much hilarity for the viewer as they go through all of the mistakes that many people make when erecting tents, building fires, and so forth. During the course of that day, however, they meet up with the three young women and begin the flirtations.

The next day could be captioned the Photo Op whereby, coming upon a large boating fraternity all waiting to get through a lock, and with a local photographer on hand, our intrepid three make further advances towards the women – but simply end up on their bums, legs in the air, and their boat in danger of being swamped. Only the quick action of Bluebell saves them by using a boat hook to prevent disaster, thereby enhancing the budding relationships. The three men, however, are caught on camera, much to their chagrin.

In succession, then, there is the Evening Dance, followed by the funniest attempts I've seen to Open a Can of Pineapple at their camp and which has almost the same level of madcap humour as that greatest of all – when Basil Fawlty (John Cleese of TV's Fawlty Towers) beats up his Austin car, with a tree branch, for refusing to start. If you've seen that, you know what I mean. Now I wonder if Cleese was influenced by the can of pineapple that wouldn't open?

The next morning, they Take a Dip in the river – but skinny-dipping. All goes well, sort of, until a group of women and children decide to have a picnic nearby. Ah, watch how they finally get back on board their boat while retaining modesty. Priceless...

After that, the three manage to Ruin a Racing Eights Race when they cross the river in their boat to reach the women on the other bank; numerous eights are left in shambles with entangled oars, the three blissfully unaware of their transgression. And, the film ends with the old standby: The Cricket Match (only in England, of course) where the three reduce that to chaos, totally, with the help of J's pet dog. I nearly fell off my chair.

Sure, it's a total farce, but that's what the Brits are good at – well, in those times, anyway. The acting is top-notch, as you would expect, although I think Laurence Harvey, to be kind, was more suited to dark dramas like Room at the Top (1959), A walk on the wild side (1962), A dandy in aspic (1968) and so on. Comedy seemed a bit of a strain for him. Not so Tomlinson and Edwards, of course.

The script is very funny also, alive with cracking good one-liners, double entendre and heavy irony. The Eastman colour is vibrant, to put it mildly, but it does enhance the scenery and the idyllic settings. The women act well, although they don't share the same amount of screen time as the men. Jill Ireland, of course, went on to appear in Robbery Under Arms (1957) and met her future husband, Charles Bronson, in the process. The film was directed by Ken Annakin, who went on to direct Nor the Moon by Night (1958), Third man on the mountain (1959), co-director on The Longest Day (1962), and followed that by directing The Battle of the Bulge (1965) and others.

Three Men is suitable for all ages, and good for family viewing. Recommended for those who like English humour of the fifties and sixties.