An Alligator Named Daisy

My Grandmothers Cousin, Maurice Johnson, looked after the alligator 'Daisy' at his home in Parkstone (near Bournemouth). The alligator was really male. I believe he was a theatrical agent. He was also a friend of naturalist Gerald Durrell. The alligator grew bigger and eventually went to Jersey Zoo. I know that many of the animals that eventually went to Jersey Zoo in the late fifties were kept at the boarding house of Gerald's sister, Margaret Durrell, in Bournemouth. I too have always wondered about the safety issues and how many real alligators were used, especially during the pool scene. The film is a quirky mix of slapstick comedy and odd musical numbers. However it is brimming over with famous faces which adds to it's quaint charm to make it just about a success.

With a cast of stalwart British character actors and pleasing photography of 1950s Britain, I had hoped and expected to be more entertained by this film. Unfortunately I found myself glued to it for the wrong reasons - I couldn't quite believe how awful it was. I must have watched thousands of old films and am always ready to make allowances for them being products of their time, but this was really hard going.

As others have noted, a major problem is that it doesn't seem to know what it wants to be: a gentle romantic comedy, a slapstick comedy or a musical. I was a bit gobsmacked when Jeannie Carson suddenly broke into song about 15 minutes in! It's not believable on any level, either the storyline itself or the fact that Daisy never appears to have an ounce of menace in her at any time. Other aspects which defied credibility included the casting of suave Donald Sinden as a songwriter (a songwriter for God's sake!), the fact he has Diana Dors for a fiancée and doesn't appear to have the slightest interest in her (I mean, Diana Dors! Come on!) and a ludicrous scene in a song publisher's office. The whole thing's silly in the worst possible way.

If I had to pick a favourite scene it would be the one at the very beginning with that wonderful actor Wilfred Lawson - after that everything went downhill in a big way.

I suppose my viewing pleasure of this film is spoiled by the fact I had a neighbor who had all kinds of exotic pets. He called it Albert and occasionakky took it for an outside airing. I kepy at least 3 feet from Albert when I saw him outside.

In An Alligator Named Daisy aspiring songwriter Donald Sinden gets stuck with a female alligator named Daisy who's as tame as a dog providing it's not a Doberman. The alligator causes a lot of trouble between Sinden and his intended Diana Dors, but she does bring Sinden together with animal lover and zoo employee Jeanie Carson.

A lot of familiar British character players are in the spporting cast in roles that are suited to them. The cimax isa bit unreal. In real life a lot of the British uppercrust would have been fine dining for the reptiles.

One thing more. As Daisy is identified as being from Brazil originally she would be properly referred to as a caiman. But why quibble.

Amusing British comedy.

I was wondering about the alligators... how did they get so many to be around people and were they really as friendly as they looked? I thought all reptiles, alligators and crocodiles, were a dangerous species and are harmful to humans! Did all those people and alligators swim safely together in the pool towards the end of the movie? Back in the 1950's ,was the film industry careful about harming animals or in this case hurting people? Did "Daisy" really have a lead on a get walked around? They were rather decent sized alligators, one snap and you are seriously bitten... was anyone actually hurt during the filing with these creatures?

Rank International made some pretty odd films in their time, and in this semi-comedy, semi-musical, they don't quite seem to know where this one is going. Donald Sinden plays a music shop assistant, Peter, who gets lumbered with Daisy the alligator on his trip home from holiday, during which time he has met Irish zoo employee Moira. Moira has a few musical numbers which seem a little misplaced. Back home is Peter's girlfriend, Vanessa (Diana Dors), obviously from a rich family (her overbearing father has a huge house), and his parents and grandfather (Stanley Holloway). There's also a dotty pet shop owner who 'talks' to animals by breathing down their noses, and several small or cameo parts for the likes of Frankie Howerd, Jimmy Edwards, Joan Hickson, and Gilbert Harding, plus an early showy role for Stephen Boyd in the last bit of the film. Daisy is sometimes a real alligator, and sometimes clearly not ... when she is real she does the usual things that animals do to disrupt people, before everything is fixed to everyone's advantage at the end.