Up the Creek (1958 film)

Last updated

Up the Creek
"Up the Creek" (1958).jpeg
Directed by Val Guest
Written by Val Guest
Len Heath
John Warren
Produced byHenry Halstead
Starring David Tomlinson
Peter Sellers
Wilfrid Hyde-White
Cinematography Arthur Grant
Moray Grant
Edited by Helen Wiggins
Music byTony Fones
Tony Lowry
Production
company
Byron Film Production
Distributed by Warner Bros
Release date
  • 13 May 1958 (1958-05-13)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Up the Creek is a 1958 British comedy film written and directed by Val Guest and starring David Tomlinson, Peter Sellers, Wilfrid Hyde-White, David Lodge and Lionel Jeffries. [1]

Contents

Plot

Lieutenant Humphrey Fairweather, a well-meaning but accident-prone naval officer with a passion for rockets, is posted where he can (so the navy hopes) cause no further damage. He is given command of a mothballed Royal Navy vessel, HMS Berkeley, which has had no commanding officer for several years. She is moored at a wharf on the Suffolk coast near the (fictional) village of Meadows End.

He discovers that the ship is woefully under strength and is forced to contend with the schemes of his bosun, Chief Petty Officer Doherty. He and the crew are running several profitable businesses, including a same-day laundry, selling naval rum and cigarettes to the local pub, the Pig and Whistle, and making pies and pastries for sale to the villagers. They also keep pigs and hens. After the naive Fairweather is innocently drawn into the enterprises, he is politely blackmailed into covering for them.

But when an admiral makes a surprise inspection, the story eventually comes out. Whilst angrily haranguing them, Admiral Foley accidentally launches Fairweather's experimental rocket, and the ship is sunk. Because of Fairweather's impeccable connections at the Admiralty, and because the Berkeley was Admiral Foley's first command, Fairwather is not court-martialed. Instead, he is promoted to lieutenant-commander and posted to Woomera to continue his rocketry research, accompanied by Susanne, the attractive French girl he met at the pub. The ship's crew are posted to another ship, HMS Incorruptible.

Cast

Production

The original script was written by two writers and was rewritten by Val Guest. [2]

Much of the film was shot at Thomas Ward Ship Breakers, Grays, Essex. The ship, although referred to by a character in the film as a sloop, was ex-Castle-class corvette, HMS Berkeley Castle. [3]

According to an interview with Val Guest (included on the DVD issue of the film), Up the Creek was the first starring film role for Sellers, at the time known only for radio, short television sketches and film supporting roles. Guest was only able to obtain his services by also including established comedy film star David Tomlinson.

A sequel Further Up the Creek was released later in the same year (1958), with Frankie Howerd replacing Peter Sellers.

Reception

Box office

Kine Weekly listed it as being "in the money" at the British box office in 1958. [4] Guest says the film was "an absolute smash". [2]

Critical reception

Kine Weekly said "Breezy naval comedy.  ... New and time-honoured gags are vigorously mixed by a popular and shrewdly chosen team and slickly served against agreeable and appropriate backgrounds. ... The picture puts many of its eggs in one basket – much of its action takes place on the Berkeley – but even so there is no lack of variety or pace. David Tomlinson contributes a characteristic performance as the nervous, befuddled, yet ingratiauing. Humphrey. Peter Sellers displays versatility as the artful bosun, Wilfred Hyde White scores as the wily old Admiral Foley, Liliane Sottane makes a promising debut as Susanne, and the supporting types,stock, but thoroughly dusted, are neatly deployed." [5]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "good", writing: "Broad but funny traditional farce; could have done with lighter handling." [6]

Leslie Halliwell said: "Cheeky remake of Oh Mr Porter . Jokes fair, atmosphere cheerful and easy-going." [7]

The New York Times called the film "an amiable jest that is diverting and spasmodically amusing, if not precisely unuproarious." [8]

TV Guide said, "it is a surprise that Up the Creek is as fresh and amusing as it is ... Sellers, in one of his earliest roles, steals the show." [9]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "Veteran writer/director Val Guest and an experienced cast of farceurs enliven this British naval farce with its timeworn story of an incompetent officer pitted against the wily lower ranks. Silly, accident-prone David Tomlinson is given the command of an ancient destroyer, where Peter Sellers controls the rackets. The chaos when admiral Wilfrid Hyde White arrives for an inspection is extremely funny. The film's success inspired a sequel, Further up the Creek [1958]." [10]

Related Research Articles

<i>Two-Way Stretch</i> 1960 British film by Robert Day

Two-Way Stretch, also known as Nothing Barred, is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Robert Day and starring Peter Sellers, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Lionel Jeffries and Bernard Cribbins. The screenplay is by Vivian Cox, John Warren and Len Heath. A group of prisoners plan to break out of jail, commit a robbery, and then break back into their jail again, thus giving them the perfect alibi – that they were behind bars when the robbery occurred. However, their plans are disrupted by the arrival of a strict new Chief Prison Officer.

<i>The League of Gentlemen</i> (film) 1960 British film by Basil Dearden

The League of Gentlemen is a 1960 British heist action comedy film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Jack Hawkins, Nigel Patrick, Roger Livesey and Richard Attenborough. It is based on John Boland's 1958 novel of the same name, and features a screenplay written by Bryan Forbes, who also co-starred in the film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Tomlinson</span> English actor (1917–2000)

David Cecil MacAlister Tomlinson was an English stage, film, and television actor, singer and comedian. Having been described as both a leading man and a character actor, he is primarily remembered for his roles with The Walt Disney Company as authority figure George Banks in Mary Poppins, fraudulent magician Professor Emelius Browne in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and as hapless antagonist Peter Thorndyke in The Love Bug. Tomlinson was posthumously inducted as a Disney Legend in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Val Guest</span> British director and screenwriter (1911–2006)

Val Guest was an English film director and screenwriter. Beginning as a writer of comedy films, he is best known for his work for Hammer, for whom he directed 14 films, and for his science fiction films. He enjoyed a long career in the film industry from the early 1930s until the early 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilfrid Hyde-White</span> British actor (1903–1991)

Wilfrid Hyde-White was an English actor. Described by Philip French as a "classic British film archetype", Hyde-White often portrayed droll and urbane upper-class characters. He had an extensive stage and screen career in both the United Kingdom and the United States, and portrayed over 160 film and television roles between 1935 and 1987. He was twice nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play, in 1957 for The Reluctant Debutante and in 1973 for The Jockey Club Stakes.

<i>H.M.S. Defiant</i> 1962 British film

H.M.S. Defiant is a British naval war CinemaScope and Technicolor film from 1962 starring Alec Guinness and Dirk Bogarde. It tells the story of a mutiny aboard the fictitious title ship at around the time of the Spithead mutiny in 1797. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert with a screenplay by Nigel Kneale from Frank Tilsley's novel Mutiny (1958). The film's world premiere occurred at the Odeon Leicester Square in London's West End on 22 February 1962.

<i>Hell Is a City</i> 1960 British film by Val Guest

Hell Is a City is a 1960 British crime thriller film directed by Val Guest and starring Stanley Baker, John Crawford and Donald Pleasence. It was written by Guest based on the 1954 novel of the same title by Maurice Procter, and made by British studio Hammer Film Productions on location in Manchester. It was partly inspired by the British New Wave films and resembles American film noir.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Lodge (actor)</span> British actor (1921–2003)

David William Frederick Lodge was an English character actor.

<i>The Silent Enemy</i> (1958 film) 1958 British action film by William Fairchild

The Silent Enemy is a black and white 1958 British action film directed by William Fairchild and starring Laurence Harvey, Dawn Addams, Michael Craig and John Clements. Based on Marshall Pugh's 1956 book Commander Crabb, the film follows the publicity created by Lionel Crabb's mysterious disappearance and likely death during a Cold War incident 2 years earlier .The film depicts events in Gibraltar harbour during the World War II Italian frogman and manned torpedo attacks, although the film's depiction of the events is highly fictionalised. It was the first Universal Pictures film in SuperScope.

<i>The Magic Christian</i> (film) 1969 British film by Joseph McGrath

The Magic Christian is a 1969 British satirical farce black comedy film directed by Joseph McGrath and starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, with appearances by John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Raquel Welch, Spike Milligan, Christopher Lee, Richard Attenborough and Roman Polanski. It was loosely adapted from the 1959 comic novel The Magic Christian by the American author Terry Southern, who co-wrote the screenplay adaptation with McGrath. The film also features pre-Monty Python appearances of John Cleese (credited) and an uncredited Graham Chapman, who had jointly written an earlier version of the film script. It also features an uncredited appearance by Yul Brynner performing “Mad About the Boy” as a drag artist.

<i>The Sandwich Man</i> (1966 film) 1966 British film by Robert Hartford-Davis

The Sandwich Man is a 1966 British comedy film directed by Robert Hartford-Davis starring Michael Bentine, with support from a cast of British character actors including Dora Bryan, Harry H. Corbett, Bernard Cribbins, Diana Dors, Norman Wisdom, Terry-Thomas and Ian Hendry. It was written by Hartford-Davis and Bentine.

<i>Our Girl Friday</i> 1953 British film

Our Girl Friday is a 1953 British comedy film starring Joan Collins, George Cole, Kenneth More and Robertson Hare. It is about a woman who is shipwrecked with three men on a deserted island.

<i>Carry On Admiral</i> 1957 British comedy film by Val Guest

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.

<i>Destroyer</i> (1943 film) 1943 war film directed by William A. Seiter

Destroyer is a 1943 American war film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Edward G. Robinson.

<i>Further Up the Creek</i> 1958 British film by Val Guest

Further Up the Creek is a 1958 British comedy film written and directed by Val Guest and starring David Tomlinson, Frankie Howerd, Shirley Eaton, Thora Hird and Lionel Jeffries. It served as a follow-up to Up the Creek (1958), with Peter Sellers not reprising his role because it clashed with the filming of The Mouse That Roared (1959). Frankie Howerd replaced him.

<i>Petticoat Pirates</i> 1961 British film by David MacDonald

Petticoat Pirates is a 1961 British comedy film directed by David MacDonald and starring Charlie Drake, Anne Heywood, Cecil Parker, John Turner and Thorley Walters. The film had its premiere on 30 November 1961 at the Warner Theatre in London's West End.

<i>Mister Drakes Duck</i> 1951 British film by Val Guest

Mister Drake's Duck is a 1951 British science-fiction comedy film directed by Val Guest and starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Yolande Donlan, Jon Pertwee, Wilfrid Hyde-White and Reginald Beckwith. The screenplay concerns a farmer who discovers that one of his ducks has started laying radioactive eggs.

<i>Girls at Sea</i> (1958 film) 1958 British film by Gilbert Gunn

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.

<i>See How They Run</i> (1955 film) 1955 British film by Leslie Arliss

See How They Run is a 1955 British comedy film directed by Leslie Arliss and starring Ronald Shiner, Greta Gynt, James Hayter and Wilfrid Hyde-White. It was written by Arliss, Philip King, Roy Miller and Val Valentine, based on the King's 1944 play of the same name. It was produced by Bill Luckwell and Derek Winn for Winwell.

<i>His and Hers</i> (film) 1961 British film by Brian Desmond Hurst

His and Hers is a 1961 British comedy film directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Terry-Thomas, Janette Scott and Wilfrid Hyde-White. The film follows an eccentric author who tries to impose his lifestyle on his reluctant wife.

References

  1. ↑ "Up the Creek". British Film Institute. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  2. 1 2 Fowler, Roy (1988). "Interview with Val Guest". British Entertainment History Project.
  3. ↑ "Corvettes – World War 2 | Harwich & Dovercourt | History, Facts & Photos of Harwich".
  4. ↑ Billings, Josh (18 December 1958). "Others in the Money". Kinematograph Weekly. p. 7.
  5. ↑ "Up the Creek". Kine Weekly . 492 (2645): 18. 24 April 1958 – via ProQuest.
  6. ↑ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 395. ISBN   0-7134-1874-5.
  7. ↑ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 1072. ISBN   0586088946.
  8. ↑ A. H. Weiler. (11 November 1958). "Movie Review – Up the Creek – Up the Creek' at 55th". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
  9. ↑ "Up The Creek Review". Movies.tvguide.com. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
  10. ↑ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 982. ISBN   9780992936440.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.