CAST: Alec Guinness (Captain William Horatio Ambrose), Irene Browne (Mrs. Barrington), Maurice Denham (Crowley), Percy Herbert (Tommy), Victor Maddern (Figg), Allan Cuthbertson (Chailey), Harold Goodwin (Duckworth), Donald Pleasence (Cashier), Lloyd Lamble (Superintendent Browning), Harry Locke (Reporter). Directed by Charles Frend.
SYNOPSIS: William Horatio Ambrose comes from a long line of seafaring ancestors, but his own entry into the profession does not go smoothly because Ambrose is prone to bouts of sea sickness. After spending the war years doing secret trials for the British Navy testing antidotes for seasickness, Ambrose is promoted to captain and purchases a run-down amusement park on the water called Sandcastle Pier. But the pier is more run down than Ambrose expected; he also has to deal with lazy sailors and Mrs. Barrington, the town councilwoman who deems his amusement games as a form of gambling. Not to be deterred, Ambrose runs the pier like a vessel, making his sailors ship up, clean up the boardwalk, and even convince the local authorities to allow Ambrose to keep the amusement games. But at every turn, Mrs. Barrington is there, trying to prevent improvements and additions that Ambrose plans for the pier. When the mayor and his supporters decide to demolish the pier to make way for a new marine front, Mrs. Barrington at first is very pleased until she discovers that her bathing huts are also going to be razed. With no one to turn to for help, Mrs. Barrington is surprised to find Ambrose offering to assist her that makes her see the error of her ways. Together, they combine their ideas and make the pier their own pleasure craft called the Arabella. With the bathing huts combined with the pier and its amusements and music, the Arabella becomes a tremendous success, drawing in large crowds of visitors. Of course, the mayor and his supporters are not happy about the success of the Arabella, due to standing to make a lot of money from its demolition and the rebuilding of the marine front. This sets up a confrontation between the mayor, his cronies and his lawyers and Ambrose and Mrs. Barrington who are more than capable of taking on the corrupt town counsel.
COMMENTARY: Barnacle Bill, a.k.a. All at Sea, the US title and a reference to the Ambrose family motto, is a delightful comedy from famed Ealing Studios that began turning out comedies in 1947 with writer T.E.B. Clarke at the helm via his first comedy called Hue and Cry. Barnacle Bill would be the last of the Ealing Studios comedies and was also written by Clarke. What really makes this film such a success is its lead star Alec Guinness who first became noticed through his various hit comedies for the studio like Kind Hearts and the Coronets, The Lavender Hill Mob, and The Ladykillers. Guinness possessed not only a flair for witty and slapstick comedy but was also a master of the physical aspect of comedy. Scenes with Guinness dancing in the pier’s new dancehall and trying to pace back and forth in his quarters (a converted funhouse) are classic bits that highlight his varied comedic skills.
Donald Pleasence has a very small role in Barnacle Bill with only one line of dialog, not counting him singing along with the rest of the bankers at the conclusion. Playing a cashier at a bank, Pleasence’s scene is opposite Alec Guinness and is quite amusing. Ambrose marches into the bank with a canister of rum and a reporter writing his story in tow. Marching up to the cashier, Ambrose demands cups for the rum. Pleasence’s incredulous look is great when he tries to point out that they are in a bank, only to have Ambrose force him to hand over a cup from a first aid kit and a vase after emptying it of water and flowers which Ambrose leaves behind in the dumbfounded cashier’s hands.