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WHISKY GALORE! Send This Review to a Friend
Reaching back to a 1949 classic, director Gillies Mackinnon’s adaptation from a screenplay by Peter McDougall is a so-so film set in 1943 on a Scottish island where the war has left the people starved for the whisky that has run out. The original was released in the United States under the title “Tight Little Island.”
The new version is an example of films taking place in Scotland that could use subtitles for American audiences who may find it hard to penetrate the accents. Apart from that, the film is amiable but doesn’t soar as comedy.
The plot involves a stricken vessel offshore and the discovery that it has a huge cargo of whisky-—50,000 cases. A scheme develops to steal the booze, and suddenly there is the joy of drinking again. One of the most amusing performances is by Eddie Izzard as an army commander who is being deceived by the wily islanders. Izzard gets the right combination of bluster and bewilderment.
Various personal stories and characters are followed, but although pleasant enough and on occasion amusing, they are not very involving, although the excellent actors try hard. Give the film a mild toast. An Arrow Films release. Reviewed May 12, 2017.
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