Green Grow the Rushes

1951
1h 17m

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YOUR RATING

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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5.9273

Featured reviews

5malcolmgsw

Sub Ealing farce falls flat on its face

This film was the first venture of ACT Films,a company set up by the technicians union to provide more employment for its members.they were aided with government money through the NFFC.They did have problems getting this and their other films distributed with the result that the venture was a short lived affair.If the other films were of a similar quality to this then it is little surprise.It is a clear copy of Whiskey galore and Passport To Pimlico only without the originality and humour of the original.Instead of humour slapstick takes its place often with woeful results.the climax is just plain awful.What makes it worse is that the cast is good.Roger Livesey on his way down to character parts and a very young Honor Blackman and Richard Burton.Shame this talent is wasted on this dismal farce.

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.

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.

8skinner_douglas

A movie about Little England?

I believe it was G. K. Chesterton who described himself as a "Little Englander." To those of us born after WWII, it is hard to fully grasp what he had in mind; which is the reason why I like Green Grow the Rushes, because I think it gives some idea of what Chesterton meant. It is ostensibly about a boat that became stranded with a load of brandy. But the subtext involves the conflict between officials of the British national government and the locals and their local officials who attempt to thwart the government by invoking laws and immunities dating back to feudal times. In this sense it is a libertarian classic which reminds us that so-called feudal Europe was in fact a complex tapestry of autonomous localities, fiefdoms, principalities, etc., under a relatively weak (by today's standards) central state. The movie manages to convey a sense of nostalgia for a type of little England with its absurdly dressed officials and independent-minded locals who stand in contrast to and are suspicious of the suited technocrats who descend upon them to change their customs and plan their lives.

7bkoganbing

Since The Time of Henry III.....................

I'm guessing, but I'm probably on firm ground that with the success of the Ealing Studios Whiskey Galore two years earlier, it was felt that Green Grow The Rushes with a similar subject would have a built in audience. Though Green Grow The Rushes is not quite as good as Whiskey Galore, it's certainly an amusing enough comedy about a village and the marsh territory surrounding it determined to maintain their independence and way of living even in the modern times of the post World War II United Kingdom.

One thing that Green Grow The Rushes does have is a young Richard Burton in one of his earliest screen appearances. He plays a young fisherman who has a more lucrative sideline in smuggling. In fact it's the cottage industry of this coastal town. Which is a source of some amusement to Burton when reporter Honor Blackman of the town paper acts all innocent like she doesn't know.

In fact this place has prized it's independence for several hundred years since Henry III granted them a charter of home rule way back when that sort of thing wasn't done. However three officious bureaucrats from various ministries show up with a plan for what we in America might term urban renewal and the town springs to action. Every wile and stratagem they can think of and liberal use of the home rule charter granted them thwarts these bureaucrats at every turn. It's all led by Roger Livesey who is the captain of one of the smuggling ships.

Green Grow The Rushes is a bright and amusing comedy, but I honestly don't think anyone would have predicted the enormously successful career of Richard Burton from seeing it though.

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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.