The Navy Lark | |
---|---|
Directed by | Gordon Parry |
Written by | Lawrie Wyman Sid Colin |
Produced by | Herbert Wilcox |
Starring | Cecil Parker Ronald Shiner Leslie Phillips |
Cinematography | Gordon Dines |
Edited by | Basil Warren |
Music by | Tommy Reilly |
Distributed by | Twentieth Century-Fox |
Release date |
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Running time | 78 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
The Navy Lark is a 1959 British comedy film directed by Gordon Parry and starring Cecil Parker, Ronald Shiner and Leslie Phillips, Gordon Jackson and Hattie Jacques. [1] It was based on The Navy Lark radio series broadcast on the BBC Light Programme. [2]
Captain Povey has built a reputation for shutting down redundant naval bases, and now has his eye on the minesweeping detachment on Boonsey (a fictional Channel Island, 55 mi (89 km) off Portsmouth). Arriving on inspection, he is told tales of finding many mines in the sea there and, not believing them, goes out in the minesweeper HMS Compton (played by HMS Reedham ). The crew were supposed to find "Bessy", a mine-shaped object used to collect Lifeboat funds but found a real mine instead, which Pouter bashes about in an effort to take it apart. Released, it explodes nearby and this convinces Povey that the incompetents there are not up to the job and he decides on using a competent crew to do the job.
Chief Petty Officer Banyard uses his "Pullson's Fulminator Mark III" trick (it does not exist) to delay their decommissioning and what started off as a thin folder goes around the military offices and comes back to Povey's office as a mountain of paper work. He sees through it and goes back to the island only to be told there has been an outbreak of "Yellow Fever" there. He is taken in and leaves but decides to return and the trick is revealed as life is back to normal there. Now more than ever he is determined to shut them all down.
Gaston Higgins, a Frenchman, owns the local bar and when he gets drunk he talks of revolution and kicking the British off the island. They decide to use him and say they are under siege from revolutionaries. Povey knows this is another trick and officially gives them three days to leave the island, but his bosses and the government believe the story when they get reports from a reporter, Lieutenant Binns, who was sent there to take photographs. Questions are asked by the British and French governments and Povey's career is on the line as he is told to sort this out as the British do not run from the French.
Povey goes to the island and a fake attack on Gaston and his men is launched but Povey finds out it was all a hoax. Ready to hand out courts-martial all round, Povey is confronted with a picture Binns took of him leading an all-out attack on what is now known to be a hoax, which will be front-page news across the world tomorrow. Stanton talks him into seeing sense and Povey, with his career in tatters if it gets out, tears up his report. He leaves and life goes back to normal on the island. On the way back to Portsmouth, their boat hits another real sea mine and Povey, Binns and the others are left to swim back to base.
It was filmed mainly at West Bay, Bridport, Dorset. The film was produced at Walton-on-Thames.
Only Phillips had appeared on the radio version – all other parts were recast. [3]
The character name Admiral Troutbridge is a nod to the radio series where the ship is called HMS Troutbridge, the ship being named after the Admiral.
According to Jon Pertwee's co-written memoir, published shortly after his death in 1996, the film was also supposed to star Pertwee and Dennis Price, both of whom were key members of the cast in the original radio series. However, according to Pertwee this did not happen as the film's producer Herbert Wilcox refused to employ Price "because he was gay." Pertwee stated that he was among those who objected to Price not being in the film and believed that this contributed to his own replacement in the cast by Shiner. Pertwee noted that the film "bombed" and believed that this was due to the fact that audiences did not consider the film to be The Navy Lark due to the absence of himself, Price and fellow radio series cast member Stephen Murray. [4] A nod to the radio series appears during the fake revolution in the news headlines of The Daily Telegraph referring to "Admiral Troutbridge". The plot has similarities to the episode "The Multiple Mine" (Series 1, Episode 9).
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The usual farcical situations are tamely explored; there are the usual weary jokes ('How did you get through Dartmouth? – I turned left at Lyme Regis.'); and a marked absence of gusto makes the transition from half-hour radio programme to feature-length film seem a rather wearisome business." [5]
John Devon Roland Pertwee, known professionally as Jon Pertwee, was an English actor. Born into a theatrical family, he became known as a comedy actor, playing Chief Petty Officer Pertwee in the BBC Radio sitcom The Navy Lark (1959–1977) and appearing in four films in the Carry On series (1964–1992).
Leslie Samuel Phillips was an English actor. He achieved prominence in the 1950s, playing smooth, upper-class comic roles utilising his "Ding dong" and "Hello" catchphrases. He appeared in the Carry On and Doctor in the House film series as well as the long-running BBC radio comedy series The Navy Lark. In his later career, Phillips took on dramatic parts including a BAFTA-nominated role alongside Peter O'Toole in Venus (2006). He provided the voice of the Sorting Hat in three of the Harry Potter films.
John "Jack" Aubrey, is a fictional character in the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian. The series of novels portrays his rise from lieutenant to rear admiral in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The twenty -book series encompasses Aubrey's adventures and various commands along his course to flying a rear admiral's flag.
Vice Admiral John Hunter was an officer of the Royal Navy, who succeeded Arthur Phillip as the second Governor of New South Wales, serving from 1795 to 1800.
The Navy Lark is a radio sitcom about life aboard a British Royal Navy frigate named HMS Troutbridge based in HMNB Portsmouth. In series 1 and 2, the ship and crew were stationed offshore at an unnamed location known simply as "The Island". In series 2 this island was revealed to be owned by Lt. Cdr. Stanton.
Sir James John Gordon Bremer was a British Royal Navy officer. He served in the Napoleonic Wars against France, the First Anglo-Burmese War in Burma, and the First Opium War in China.
Walter Tenniel Evans was a British actor.
The Embassy Lark is a radio comedy series broadcast from 1966 to 1968 as a spin-off from The Navy Lark. It was written by Lawrie Wyman and starred Frank Thornton and Derek Francis. It was produced by Alastair Scott Johnston. Three series, of 13, 14 and 15 episodes, were made.
Admiral Sir Tom Spencer Vaughan Phillips, was a Royal Navy officer who served during the First and Second World Wars. He was nicknamed "Tom Thumb", due to his short stature. He is best known for his command of Force Z during the Japanese invasion of Malaya, where he went down with his flagship, the battleship HMS Prince of Wales. Phillips was one of the highest ranking Allied officers killed in battle during the Second World War.
Henry Lidgbird Ball was a Rear-Admiral in the Royal Navy of the British Empire. While Ball was best known as the commander of the First Fleet's HMS Supply, he was also notable for the exploration and the establishment of colonies around what is now Australia and New Zealand. Specifically, Ball explored the area around Port Jackson and Broken Bay, helped establish the Norfolk Island penal settlement, and discovered and named Lord Howe Island.
Walter Fitzgerald Bond was an English character actor.
HMS Cambridge was an 80-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, designed by Sir Joseph Allin and built at Deptford Dockyard by Adam Hayes to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment as amended in 1750, and launched on 21 October 1755.
Ronald Alfred Shiner was a British stand-up comedian and comedy actor whose career encompassed film, West End theatre and music hall.
Carry on Admiral is a 1957 British comedy film directed by Val Guest and featuring David Tomlinson and Ronald Shiner. Joan Hickson also made an appearance in this film and a few films in the Carry On series. It was based on the 1947 stage play Off the Record, written by Ian Hay.
Watch Your Stern is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Gerald Thomas and starring Kenneth Connor, Eric Barker and Leslie Phillips. It was based on the play Something About a Sailor by Earle Couttie.
Patricia Elvira Hake, known as Elvi Hale, is a British retired actress. She played Anne of Cleves in The Six Wives of Henry VIII, broadcast in 1970.
Girls At Sea is a 1958 British comedy film directed by Gilbert Gunn and starring Guy Rolfe, Ronald Shiner, Alan White, Michael Hordern and Anne Kimbell. It was based on the 1930 play The Middle Watch by Ian Hay and Stephen King-Hall, previously filmed as The Middle Watch in 1930 and under the same title in 1940.
HMS Paradise is a British comedy television series which originally aired on ITV between 1964 and 1965. It is set at a Royal Navy station on an island off the Dorset coast where very little actual work takes place. The show bore strong similarities to The Navy Lark, a popular radio series. All episodes are now considered to be lost.
Lawrence Caulfield Wyman was a British comedy scriptwriter.