The music for Whisky Galore! was composed by Ernest Irving, who had been involved in several other productions for Ealing Studios. His score incorporated adaptations of themes from Scottish folk music to include in his compositions, [38] and used the Scotch snap musical form to reinforce the theme. [39] The musicologist Kate Daubney writes that Irving's score "Seems positively lush with its expansive seascapes and emotive expressions of anxiety in the community". [40] The opening music to the film begins with English brass notes, but this changes to Scottish melodies; Daubney describes how the "balance of material evokes the English-Scottish relationship which will emerge in the film's story". [41] Scottish folk music is used for the accompaniment of the eightsome reel, which is danced at the rèiteach. According to the music historian Rosemary Coupe, the dance and music are "a vibrant expression of the Scottish spirit, second only to the ' water of life' itself". [45] Themes [ edit ] Clark, Gregory (2018). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth . Retrieved 30 January 2018. Aldgate, Anthony; Richards, Jeffrey (1999). Best of British: Cinema and Society from 1930 to Present. London: I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-1-86064-288-3.

I love many of those little British comedies of the '50s and early '60s, and I know this is regarded as a classic and one of the first of its breed. But this film really frustrated me. The premise of an isolated, unhappily "dry" island suddenly finding itself with a motherlode of contraband alcohol is so wonderful, but the execution just doesn't pay off like it should.

Stay Informed

Some may baulk at the Scottish clichés on display, but fun is poked equally – even at the English. In the end the good humour and craft win the day in what is a thoroughly enjoyable production. The SS Politician was an 8000-tonne cargo ship which left Liverpool on the 3rd February 1941 laden with amongst other things 260,000 bottles of whisky, bound for Kingston in Jamaica and New Orleans. The whisky was for the American market and therefore no duty had been paid. She sailed up past the Isle of Man towards the Hebrides where the winds increased to gale force. Two previous films from Ealing, Saraband for Dead Lovers and Scott of the Antarctic (both 1948) had been expensive to produce and neither had a good return at the box office. [29] On 26 April at Lochmaddy Sheriff Court a group of men from Barra pleaded guilty to theft and were charged between three and five pounds. Mr McColl was furious at the leniency of the men’s sentences, but the police, being mainly locals themselves, were tired of the bothering the locals who had not, in their minds, done such a bad thing. However, Mr McColl continued his crusade against these illegal salvagers and some of the men were sentenced to up to six weeks in prison in Inverness and Peterhead.

Calum Philp, Ellie Cannon, Allan Munro and Kelly Edie impress as the two pairs of young lovers who find obstacles in their way. Special mention also to Jess Howie as young Ailsa, whose appearances boast excellent timing. In 2009 Whisky Galore! was adapted for the stage as a musical; under the direction of Ken Alexander, it was performed at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre. [88] In June 2016 a remake of the film was premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival; Eddie Izzard played Waggett and Gregor Fisher took the role of Macroon. [89] The critic Guy Lodge, writing for Variety, thought it an "innocuous, unmemorable remake" and that there was "little reason for it to exist". [90] In contrast, Kate Muir, writing in The Times thought "the gentle, subversive wit of the 1949 version has been left intact". [91] See also [ edit ] Warning: Some might say this review contains spoilers, though I personally wouldn't have minded reading any of these comments beforehand.]

Whisky Auctions

By 1943, the notes had turned up in London, across the south of England, in Stoke-on-Trent and in the north of Scotland. Unlike the gentle comedy of Passport to Pimlico, Whisky Galore!'s humour has an often cruel bite, most of it at the expense of the pompous English Home Guard commander, Waggett ( Radford), whose efforts to frustrate the islanders' pursuit of whisky result only in his own undoing. At first, the authorities were not hugely concerned. The eight cases containing the money were first reported to be covered in fuel and water; then presumed swept away by the seas. At one point, the head of the salvage operation was said to have given a few away as souvenirs. something special, too, about this fascinating book ... All in all, this is the real thing - a single malt of a book - a lovely and loving read'