Green Grow the Rushes

1951
1h 17m

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Richard Burton and Honor Blackman in Green Grow the Rushes (1951)

After their vessel runs aground during a storm and is impounded by the British authorities, local smugglers must find a way of disposing of their contraband brandy cargo before it's discover... Read allAfter their vessel runs aground during a storm and is impounded by the British authorities, local smugglers must find a way of disposing of their contraband brandy cargo before it's discovered by the Customs Officers.After their vessel runs aground during a storm and is impounded by the British authorities, local smugglers must find a way of disposing of their contraband brandy cargo before it's discovered by the Customs Officers.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.9/10

273

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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User reviews10

5.9273

Featured reviews

8morrisonhimself

These people don't deserve to be governed

Charming and light-hearted spoof of bureaucracy, "Green Grow the Rushes" gently shows how silly is the fascist welfare state, in this case that of Britain.

An extremely talented cast helps tell the story of a jurisdiction given some leeway by Henry III, one that is taken aback, is in fact downright insulted by three bureaucrats from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries who try to throw their weight around.

Historians and history majors might know the definition of Great Britain: A body of land surrounded by smugglers.

It's a proud tradition and one the people want to uphold.

The three bureaucrats find themselves at war with the entire citizenry, which happens to be in the middle of the celebration of King Henry the Third's proclamation for the town.

Richard Burton, in this early appearance, already shows the charisma that will make him a major star, and Honor Blackman gives only a hint of the beauty she will be known for later.

"Green Grow the Rushes" is a lot of fun. I recommend it for that reason and for the reason it shows even the perfidious Brits used to be in favor of self-rule and self-responsibility, before they became so totally dependent and under the thumb of their ubiquitous bureaucrats.

10phibes012000

Hilarious!

British comedy about a marsh community with a little secret. Some government snooties bounce into town to boss folks around, but the joke is on them. The entire community is involved with booze smuggling, and they're not about to give it up. Richard Burton and Honor Blackman are among the cast. Favorite part: the fate of the little clipper ship full of booze as it encounters a dangerous storm. What does the crew do when faced with being discovered with contraband? They drink it...and wreck the ship. The next morning the ship has been lifted over the sea wall into a farmer's meadow. A movie that makes me smile every time I think of it.

3HotToastyRag

Pretty Silly

If it can happen to Richard Burton, it can happen to anyone. It was early on in his career, so thankfully, everyone was able to forget about this one after he made My Cousin Rachel the following year. Green Grow the Rushes is a very silly movie, one that you wouldn't expect a Shakespearean actor to make.

A group of men try to smuggle brandy in through old smuggling ships, but a young female reporter tries to get in their way by sort of pretending she doesn't know what they're up to, but then admitting she knows and is going to write a newspaper article about it, but then forgets her plan altogether because Richard Burton flirts with her. It's a little confusing, but then again, you won't really care about the plot enough to really try to figure it out. It's very silly, and I wouldn't really recommend it.

Rik-19

Does anyone know how this song relates to the movie?

Is there any documentation on the story of this movie. In other words, how does this derive from the 18th-century English folk song "Green Grow the Rushes" (?) Those words are sung in the second line of each verse. The first verse is, I'll sing you one O. Green grow the rushes O. and so on until the song reaches I'll sing you twelve O... it's a counting song, similar to "The Twelve Days of Christmas." In Kent, the movie's setting, some of the locals are "Lily White," though no reason is given by the movie as to how anyone earns that designation. In the song, each verse (after the first) has the line, "Two, two, the lily-white boys, clothed all in green O." But the original meaning of that is now a matter of speculation.

5planktonrules

A comedy with very few laughs

"Green Grow the Rushes" reminds me of the comedy "Whisky Galore!"...though with far fewer laughs. It has the basics that SHOULD have resulted in a great film but it sure left me cold.

The film is set on the southern English coast. The 'villains' in the film are government officials and they are trying to stop the influx of smuggled contraband--though most of the locals know about the brandy being brought in but don't want this to stop. However, after a big storm, the smugglers' ship is tossed ashore and they are in danger of being caught by a variety of government sources.

The problem is the script. It has some nice ideas but the laughs just weren't there...and should have been. Not a bad film but one which manages to make the least of a potentially funny situation.

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Trivia
This was the first film of A.C.T, Films Ltd. (Trade union Cooperative ser up by director Derek Twist, producer John Gossage and ex producer Phil Samuel) backed financially by the National Film Finance Corp. The Romney Marsh area was checked for locations and while New Romney was perfect for the town of Portenoy the snag was that the marshes were too well drained to use for the duck hunting scenes so these were shot on and around Hickling Broad in Norfolk. By drastic pruning and reducing the schedule by a week the budget was accepted. Fred Pusey was brought in as art director and the cast was picked on ability to give the right performance not on 'name'. A deal was made to use A.B.P.C. Studios at Elstree. Filming started 6th June 1950 in the High Street , New Romney. During the period at Romney there were only 3 days when exteriors couldn't be shot but these weren't wasted as due to Harry Waxman (cinematographer) and 'Dickie' Bird (sound) they were able to film in the local pub, the historic court and the town hall. The unit then moved to Hickling Broad and St Bennett's Abbey in Norfolk for the 'duck shooting' sequence then to Elstree Studios on July 1st for 4 weeks filming on a full sized set of a trawler and a farmer's cottage. It was just as well that 'time was no object' as the camera couldn't be on the studio floor. Instead each change of set up meant building rostrums for the camera, lining up the crane and moving the backing, etc. Shooting went one day over schedule with an average daily screen time of 2 minutes. Next to shoot was the storm sequences. During the 4th week Pinewood's travelling matte process with a 'split beam' camera was used for 5 major sequences and 2 small sections. The film was completed 2 days over schedule but under budget.