Barnacle Bill
Sir Alec Guinness only made this movie as a favor for his friend, director Charles Frend. He later referred to this movie as "wretched".,When Captain Ambrose arrives in France, a close-up shot shows him taking the cotton wool out of his ears. In the next shot the cotton wool is still in his ears.,Figg: Is that how they do it in the Navy, sir?
Capt. William Horatio Ambrose: I take it you are never in the service, Figg?
Figg: I never wanted to be. I've spent all my life on a dredger and if you're going to run this pier like a battleship, I shall be sorry I left it.
Capt. William Horatio Ambrose: Well, I am going to run it like a battleship. All the best piers in the country or run naval-style and, under my command, Sandcastle pier will be no exception. I shan't be satisfied until everything is ship-... er... pier-shape and Blackpool-fashion.,Against a background of high seas, the opening credit text rolls with the waves, up off the screen and down under water, with motion so realistic it almost makes the audience seasick.,Wonderful film with a lot of tongue-in-cheek humour. Alec Guiness is excellent as an descendant of a family full of (in)famous captains who has just one little problem to follow in there footsteps: he has a bad case of seasickness! So he decides to buy a 1000 foot pier and run it as a ship. The city-council though has other plans with de seafront and the pier does not really fit into their plans. The Captain can only do one thing: declare his pier as a proper cruise ship! This is a film that fits in with the other small masterpieces made by Ealing Studios in the fifties and I can really recommend it..,