High and Dry (1954)
"The Maggie" (original title)

An American businessman in Scotland is conned into shipping a valuable load of cargo to a Scottish island via a coal powered boat.

Director:

Alexander Mackendrick

Writers:

Alexander Mackendrick (story), William Rose

Stars:

Paul Douglas, Alex Mackenzie, James Copeland

Nominated for 3 BAFTA Film Awards.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Paul Douglas	...	Calvin B. Marshall, the American
Alex Mackenzie	...	Mactaggart, the skipper
James Copeland	...	Mate
Abe Barker	...	Engineer
Tommy Kearins	...	Dougie, the wee boy
Hubert Gregg	...	Pusey
Geoffrey Keen	...	Campbell
Dorothy Alison	...	Miss Peters
Andrew Keir	...	Reporter
Meg Buchanan	...	Sarah
Mark Dignam	...	The Laird
Jameson Clark	...	Dirty Dan, the publican
Moultrie Kelsall	...	C.S.S. skipper
Fiona Clyne	...	Sheena
Sheila Shand Gibbs	...	Barmaid

Storyline

The skipper of a tatty coastal 'puffer' boat cons an American into letting "The Maggie" carry a cargo to a Scottish island. The American soon realises he's been conned but can he stop them ?

---

Plot Keywords:

cargo | vessel | scotland | centenarian | glasgow scotland | 

---

Taglines:

A Scotch Mist...A Girl Never Kissed...A Yank Who Missed...and Landed HIGH AND DRY

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

February 1954 (UK)

Also Known As:

High and Dry

Filming Locations:

Crinan, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Michael Balcon Productions, Ealing Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Maggie was played by two boats in the film, the Boer and the Inca.

---

Quotes

Calvin B. Marshall, the American: [Looking at a picture of MacTaggart] Is that MacTaggart? Well. he;s a crafty-looking buzzard, all right! No wonder he was able to put one over on Pusey.
Campbell: If I may say so, Mr. Marshall, I don't think a man need be very quick to leave Mr. Pusey behind.

---

Connections

Featured in Best of British: Ealing Comedies (1993)

---

Soundtracks

"Wife She Brewed It"
(uncredited)
Traditional
Arranged by Dock Mathieson

User Reviews

Classic Ealing, Classic Writer

I feel extremely fortunate to have finally caught up with this beguiling little film. Good enough to rank among Ealing's best works, it has undoubtedly improved with age, giving us a snapshot of a time before technology shrank and homogenized our world.

It's worth noting that this film is the work of screenwriter William Rose, who had created the delightful Genevieve a year earlier, and would go on, amazingly, to pen It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World some ten years later, and win an Oscar for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner a few years after that.

It's unfortunate that movie fans track actors and directors so much more closely than writers. The Maggie, no less than his other works, proves that Rose deserves to be remembered one of the great geniuses of film comedy.