High and Dry

I don't recollect seeing any mention of it in the credits of the film nor in any of the comments on this site however "The Maggie" is very obviously based on "The Vital Spark".

Neil Munro wrote "The Vital Spark" in 1906, the collected tales of Master Mariner Para Handy and his Clyde puffer The Vital Spark which he had previously had published as articles in the Looker On column of the Glasgow Evening News. On board were McPhail the engineer, Dougie the deck hand and Sunny Jim the cabin boy. Neil Munro went on to write more columns and collated these into two further books detailing Para Handy's exploits and misdeeds while travelling the coastline of Scotland. Much later writer Stuart Donald took up the baton and wrote three further volumes of Para Handy's tales, a brave thing to do considering the place in Scottish popular culture.

The BBC Scotland made a small run of TV programmes in the late 1960's and early 1970's which were revisited in 1994 by Gregor Fisher (Rab C Nesbitt and the Baldy Man) in the two series of "The Tales of Para Handy".

Anyone familiar with Neil Munro's work would recognise the characters on board The Maggie in an instant. They may have different names but the characters are identical.

An American businessman hires a boat to take some cargo to a remote part of Scotland.

I enjoyed this Ealing comedy for its simple story, beautiful cinematography and culture clash moments.

The plot is fairly entertaining as we see a fish out of water situation of the American businessman in remote Scotland and also a David v Goliath story of the small-time puffer boat Captain take on the authorities. It is all quite character driven with the focus heavily on the arc of Calvin B Marshall and for contrast on Captain MacTaggart. Marshall is wealthy and powerful symbol of American individualism, whereas MacTaggart is struggling financially but part of a tight knit community that survives in the coastal areas of Western Scotland.

There are many great scenes that capture the era and locations. I loved the 100th birthday party plus all the coastal landscapes. The cinematography is beautiful and the editing keeps everything interesting for the duration.

All performances are solid such as Alex MacKenzie and Paul Douglas as the above mentioned characters. I particularly enjoyed Tommy Kearins who is excellent as Dougie, the 'wee boy', who seems to confidently portray a youngster with wisdom beyond his years.

The Maggie is worth watching as a follow up to Whiskey Galore as it contains a similar sentiment but has more focus on specific characters.

For me it is a 7.5/10 but I round upwards.

Here's another entertaining Ealing Comedy from the early 50's. The tale is simple, gruff but wealthy American Calvin B Thomson is desperate to get a minor flotilla of valuable goods to his fiancé on the out of the way island of Kilterra from the River Clyde in Glasgow. With no other boat available, he's inveigled by the crafty captain of an old sea puffer on its last legs to use his old boat for the trip in exchange for a much needed considerable fee.

They all eventually get there, if not with the cargo, by a somewhat circuitous route, not without some hair-brained, hair-raising and hair-pulling-out happenings along the way, the journey symbolic of the relationship between the big-mouthed Yank and the couthy crew of the old "Maggie". From the start, Thomson, played with much personality by Paul Douglas, is sceptical and mistrusting of the laid-back captain, as happy with a drink in his hand as the drink beneath him, but they never quite come to the blows you expect them to and by the time of the delivery of the story's moral, something along the lines of "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em", something approaching grudging respect is fostered between them, although it needs the constant interference of the twinkle-eyed ship's boy to help them get that far.

The humour is gentle, the photography very fine indeed and the acting by all is also very good. There's a nice interlude between Douglas and a bonnie Scots lass as they discuss matters of the heart, but the main thrust of the film is the canny contrariness of the down-at-heel locals pitted against the bombast of the cash-flashing American. The story is a bit episodic and I'm not sure I didn't have a lot of sympathy for the duped American, as he's continually gulled by his transporters plus I was waiting for a bigger finish than I think I got.

Nevertheless, it was a sheer delight for me to see vintage film of two places where I have had homes, namely the River Clyde which I can see from my front window today and the Crinan Canal near where I lived for a couple of years some 25 years ago and which I revisited and walked around last year on my birthday. "The Maggie" may not be the best of the Ealing Comedies but it stays afloat throughout and gets to its ending in an acceptably ship-shape fashion.

The Maggie. An underrated, gentle little comedy, the sort of which Ealing are associated with. The storyline packs quite a punch on American capitalism as a tycoon gets to believe that, after cutting corners and underestimating the crew of the 'Maggie', he can buy out his mistake with dollars alone.

Great cast that play a Clydeside crew, that quietly and cannily let things gently take their course. The scenery is more Whisky Galore than the East-end that is the more usual home of Ealing and the nice black and white photography suits the subject well. Pacing is a far cry from the frenetic of The Lavender Hill Mob and lets it story breathe quietly.

It's one of my favourite Ealings. If you haven't seen it, give it a try, you might add it to yours, too!

Despite not starring studio stalwart, Alec Guinness; The Maggie is a charming comedy film that fully adheres to the classic Ealing style. Through a simple plot, characters that are easy to get along with and some good laughs, The Maggie succeeds as a lovely little comedy film. It's unfortunate that this film isn't better known, as while not as good as other studio efforts such as Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Ladykillers; it's successful for the same reason as many other bigger successes for the studio. The plot is brilliantly farcical, and follows an American trying to charter a ship to carry a precious cargo to Glasgow. However, he gets conned into hiring a 'puffer' (coal ship) captained by Captain Mactaggart; and finds himself in a world of trouble as he tries to track his cargo. The Scottish locations help to ensure the relaxed feel of the picture, while the actions of the captain and his crew always provide some laughs. Standout sequences include the destruction of a harbour, a poaching 'adventure' and the scene in which the Harbour Master learns of Captain Mactaggart's bluff! The dialogue is well written and often very funny, and the film benefits from the assured direction of experienced director Alexander Mackendrick. Recommended to fans of classic comedy!