The best and funniest of all Will Hay's comedies, Oh, Mr. Porter! still stands as one
of the all-time classics of British cinema, a joyous anarchic romp that
can never fail to send an audience into hysterics of unbridled
laughter. Once again, Hay is cast as the pompous authority figure
whose Grade A ineptitude proves to be the catalyst for a series of
comic disasters of escalating hilarity. Although he has the
demeanour of a surly schoolmaster and the aptitude of a man who can't
toast a slice of bread without incinerating his entire neighbourhood,
Will Hay's comedy persona is every bit as engaging as that of the other
comedy giants of his era.
Oh, Mr. Porter! serves up a well-stacked
compendium of some of the funniest jokes you will find in any British
film - quick-fire dialogue (which moves at the pace of a souped-up express train)
and inventive visual gags that rival anything that Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin
came up with. The wagons which accidentally
get shunted over the side of a precipice... The three
protagonists spinning helplessly around on the sails of a
windmill... And throughout all this mayhem, Will Hay's self-important character
is unflummoxed and unflustered, totally unaware that he is the
instigator of the chaos that surrounds him. (Admit it, we've all
worked for people like that at some time.) There can be no better
introduction to the work of this now sadly neglected comic genius than
this totally inspired and irresistibly funny comedy masterpiece.
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Film Synopsis
After having failed in virtually every other job going, railway employee William
Porter finally feels he has found his metier as a wheel-tapper, but his
sister decides that this is too lowly a position for him. She tells
her husband, who just happens to be the man who runs the railways, that
unless he finds William a more respectable job, she will invite him to
live in their house. Mr Porter's sudden promotion takes him to
Northern Ireland, where he will be the stationmaster at a remote
country station in the backwater town of Buggleskelly. To Mr
Porter's dismay, the station is in a derelict state, trains hardly ever
stop there, and the locals are so afraid of a ghost that is reputed to
haunt the area that they never venture outdoors after dark. As if
all this was not enough, his deputy and porter survive by stealing goods
from passing trains and swapping tickets for food. Mr Porter is
the latest in a long line of station masters who either went
to an early grave or bought a one-way ticket to the funny farm within a few
weeks of starting work at the station. Determined to make a
change for the better, Mr Porter has the station redecorated and sets
about arranging excursions to nearby towns. Just how long will it
be before the curse of Buggleskelly claims its next victim...?
Script: Frank Launder (story),
J.O.C. Orton,
Val Guest,
Marriott Edgar
Cinematographer: Arthur Crabtree
Music: Charles Williams
Cast: Will Hay (William Porter),
Moore Marriott (Jeremiah Harbottle),
Graham Moffatt (Albert),
Sebastian Smith (Mr. Trimbletow),
Agnes Lauchlan (Mrs. Trimbletow),
Percy Walsh (Superintendent),
Dennis Wyndham (Grogan),
Dave O'Toole (The Postman),
Frank Atkinson (Irate Irishman in Barney's Bar),
Bryan Herbert (Express Train Guard),
Frederick Lloyd (Official at Ceremony),
Frederick Piper (Mr. Leadbetter),
Charles Rolfe (Express Train Driver),
Beatrice Varley (Barney's Bar Landlady),
Betty Jardine
Country: UK
Language: English
Support: Black and White
Runtime: 85 min
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