The Navy Lark (1959)
Directed by Gordon Parry

Film Review

The first series of the BBC radio show The Navy Lark (broadcast in the spring of 1959) was such a success that film producer Herbert Wilcox immediately went out and bought the rights to a big screen adaptation.  With Lawrie Wyman, the creator and writer of the original series, on board to help write the script Wilcox should have had a sure-fire hit on his hands, but the film made the fatal mistake of replacing almost all of the cast of the radio show with more experienced film actors.  So out went Jon Pertwee and Ronnie Barker (whose funny voices were proving to be the show's main asset), and in came Cecil Parker and Ronald Shiner.  Leslie Phillips was the only member of the original cast to appear in the film.  Future Carry On star Hattie Jacques makes a brief appearance as a fortune teller and a winsome Wanda Ventham shows up for duty at the start of her long and illustrious career. Although (thanks mainly to the unfortunate re-casting) the film version of The Navy Lark is quite a different beast to the radio show (which ended up running for another 25 years) it is still an entertaining romp which comes tantalisingly close to capturing something of the anarchic fun of the original series.

Film Synopsis

Situated in the English Channel 55.5 miles from Portsmouth, the Isle of Boozney is home to a naval detachment which is supposedly engaged on minesweeping operations.  In reality, there appears to be a severe dearth of mines needing to be swept and so the staff of the naval base have a cushy life.  Seeing that the base no longer serves any useful purpose, Captain Povey resolves to have it closed down, but  he has not reckoned with the determination of the base's staff to keep it open.  After various delaying tactics fail to have the desired result a full-scale revolution is orchestrated, with the island's inhabitants apparently demanding home rule from Britain...