Also known as Barnacle Bill, this was the last of the revered Ealing Studios comedies of the 40s/50s era, appropriately starring Alec Guinness, who'd appeared in the best of them; like Kind Hearts & Coronets (1949), The Man in the White Suit (1951) and The Ladykillers (1956). Made in the wake of Guinness' great success in
David Lean’s The Bridge on the River Kwai
(1957), the film capitalized on the star briefly being one of the most
popular of all British actors. Though a
little passé even for its day, All at Sea is still a
charming and heartfelt film about the war between tradition and progress. It’s almost a companion piece to
Ronald Neame’s Tunes of Glory (1960) in which Guinness starred a couple years later; a more serious study of the
same issues also in a military milieu.
Guinness plays a naval officer who is comically prone to sea-sickness
and is therefore transferred to manage an amusement pier in a small seaside
resort town. The consummate
professional, Guinness gets everything ship shape in no time, realizing soon
enough that many in the community don’t welcome his innovations. The prologue is memorable, featuring Guinness
in various incarnations as his own ancestors; all of whom had misfortune in
dealing with the sea. A highlight is seeing Guinness dance a jig quite well in a scene following his decision to
welcome the town’s youth onto the pier in order to give them a place to dance.
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