Trois hommes dans un bateau

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.

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.

I recall seeing this movie when I was young and being a fan of the book (the 'tin of pineapple chunks' scene is still the funniest bit of writing I've ever read) but having just watched it again, I am sorely disappointed. The slapstick is completely at odds with JKJ's gentlemanly humour. However the location scenery on the Thames helps to make up for the poor direction and dialogue. I always liked Jimmy Edwards' style on TV, but it doesn't translate well after 50 years. Laurence Harvey made a big mistake with this, he is not a comedian but as usual David Tomlinson provides a solid performance. Jill Ireland, Shirley Eaton and Lisa Gastoni as the female interest are much much better than the boys

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.

I watched this film for the first time last night and was quite disappointed by it. As someone you has read the book on many occasions I found this film to be a very poor adaption of it. I suppose if you were not trying to compare it with the book it was a fairly decent comedy from the fifties. I did not think think that the casting of Laurence Harvey as George was right though Jimmy Edwards and David Tomlinson seemed to fit into the light hearted romp very well. I think to be fair to the film I was expecting it to be much closer to the book then in fact it was but still it was a good representation of British Cinema from that era.