''The Navy Lark'' is a 1959 British

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

based on ''

The Navy Lark ''The Navy Lark'' is a radio sitcom about life aboard a United Kingdom, British Royal Navy Frigate#Modern Age, frigate named HMS ''Troutbridge'' (a play on HMS Troubridge (R00), HMS ''Troubridge'', a Royal Navy destroyer) based in HMNB Portsm ...

'' radio series broadcast on the

BBC Light Programme The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 1. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...

. It featured Cecil Parker,

Ronald Shiner Ronald Alfred Shiner (8 June 1903 – 29 June 1966) was a British stand-up comedian and comedy actor whose career encompassed film, West End theatre and music hall. Career Early life and career When he was seventeen, Shiner joined the Royal Nor ...

and

Leslie Phillips Leslie Samuel Phillips (20 April 1924 – 7 November 2022) was an English actor, director, producer and author. He achieved prominence in the 1950s, playing smooth, upper-class comic roles utilising his "Ding dong" and "Hello" catchphrases. ...

, Gordon Jackson and

Hattie Jacques Hattie Jacques (; born Josephine Edwina Jaques; 7 February 1922 – 6 October 1980) was an English comedy actress of stage, radio and screen. She is best known as a regular of the ''Carry On'' films, where she typically played strict, no-non ...

. It was filmed mainly at West Bay,

Bridport Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England, inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a long history as a rope-making centre. On the coast and withi ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

. Only Phillips had appeared on the radio version – all other parts were recast.''Hello: The Autobiography'', Leslie Phillips, Orion, 2006 The film was produced at

Walton-on-Thames Walton-on-Thames, locally known as Walton, is a market town on the south bank of the Thames in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. Walton forms part of the Greater London built-up area, within the KT postcode and is served by a wide ran ...

Plot

Captain Povey has built a reputation for shutting down redundant naval bases, and now has his eye on the

minesweeping Minesweeping is the practice of the removal of explosive naval mines, usually by a specially designed ship called a minesweeper using various measures to either capture or detonate the mines, but sometimes also with an aircraft made for that ...

detachment on Boonsey (a fictional

Channel Island The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

, off

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

). Arriving on inspection, he is told tales of finding many mines in the sea there and, not believing them, goes out in the minesweeper HMS ''Compton'' (played by HMS '' Reedham''). The crew were supposed to find "Bessy", a mine-shaped object used to collect Lifeboat funds but found a real mine instead, which Pouter bashes about in an effort to take it apart. Released, it explodes nearby and this convinces Povey that the incompetents there are not up to the job and he decides on using a competent crew to do the job. Chief Petty Officer Banyard uses his "Pullson's Fulminator Mark III" trick (it does not exist) to delay their decommissioning and what started off as a thin folder goes around the military offices and comes back to Povey's office as a mountain of paper work. He sees through it and goes back to the island only to be told there has been an outbreak of "

Yellow Fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

" there. He is taken in and leaves but decides to return and the trick is revealed as life is back to normal there. Now more than ever he is determined to shut them all down. Gaston Higgins, a Frenchman, owns the local bar and when he gets drunk he talks of revolution and kicking the British off the island. They decide to use him and say they are under siege from revolutionaries. Povey knows this is another trick and officially gives them three days to leave the island, but his bosses and the government believe the story when they get reports from a reporter, Lieutenant Binns, who was sent there to take photographs. Questions are asked by the British and French governments and Povey's career is on the line as he is told to sort this out as the British do not run from the French. Povey goes to the island and a fake attack on Gaston and his men is launched but Povey finds out it was all a hoax. Ready to hand out

court martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

s all round, Povey is confronted with a picture Binns took of him leading an all-out attack on what is now known to be a hoax, which will be front-page news across the world tomorrow. Stanton talks him into seeing sense and Povey, with his career in tatters if it gets out, tears up his report. He leaves and life goes back to normal on the island. On the way back to Portsmouth, their boat hits another real sea mine and Povey, Binns and the others are left to swim back to base.

Cast

* Cecil Parker as Commander Stanton *

as Chief Petty Officer Banyard *

as Lieutenant Pouter *

Elvi Hale Patricia Elvira Hake (born 29 January 1931), known as Elvi Hale, is a retired British actress. She played Anne of Cleves in '' The Six Wives of Henry VIII'', broadcast in 1970. Career Raised in Romford, Essex and educated at Reed's School. S ...

as Leading WREN Heather Stark *

Nicholas Phipps William Nicholas Foskett Phipps (23 June 1913 – 11 April 1980) was a British actor and writer who appeared in stage roles between 1932 and 1967 and more than thirty films between 1940 and 1970. He wrote West End plays, songs and sketches for ...

as Captain Povey *

Cardew Robinson Douglas John Cardew Robinson (14 August 1917 – 28 December 1992) was a British comic, whose career was rooted in the music hall and Gang Shows. Early life and career Born in Goodmayes, Essex, Robinson was educated at Harrow County School ...

as Lieutenant Binns * Gordon Jackson as Leading Seaman Johnson. Jackson actually was born in Glasgow, where his character in the film was born. *

Harold Kasket Harold Kasket (26 July 1926 – 20 January 2002) was an English actor in theatre, films and later television from the 1940s. Kasket usually played Arabs or mainland European types in many films and TV programmes such as ''Maigret'', '' The Sain ...

as Gaston Higgins *

as Fortune Teller * Reginald Beckwith as CNI *

Kenneth J. Warren Kenneth John Warren (25 September 1929 – 27 August 1973) was an Australian actor. Bald and heavily built, Warren went to North Sydney Boys High School. He started acting in 1949. He emigrated to the UK in the late 1950s, after appearing in t ...

as Brown *

Wanda Ventham Wanda Ventham (born 5 August 1935) is an English actress with many roles on British television since beginning her career in the 1950s. She played Colonel Virginia Lake in the 1970s science-fiction television series ''UFO'' and had a recurring ...

as Mabel. *

Richard Coleman Richard Coleman (20 January 1930 – 16 December 2008) was a British film, television and stage actor. Early life Richard Coleman was born Ronald Coleman in Peckham, London in 1930. He was educated at Wilson's Grammar School, Peckham. A ...

as Lieutenant Bates *

Llewellyn Rees Walter Llewellyn Rees (18 June 1901 – 7 January 1994) was an English actor. Career His television roles included appearances on ''Doctor Who'' (in the serial '' The Deadly Assassin'' (1976) playing the assassinated Time Lord President), '' T ...

as Admiral Troutbridge. This is a nod to the radio series where the ship is called HMS Troutbridge, the ship being named after the Admiral. *

Clive Morton Clive Morton (16 March 1904 – 24 September 1975) was an English actor best known for playing upper class Englishmen, he made many screen appearances, especially on television. In 1955, he appeared in Laurence Olivier's '' Richard III'' and is ...

as Rear Admiral * Gordon Harris as Group Captain * Van Boolen as Fred * Gordon Whiting as Commander * Tom Gill as Naval Commander *

Walter Hudd Walter Hudd (20 February 1897 – 20 January 1963) was a British actor and director. Stage career Hudd made his stage debut in ''The Manxman'' in 1919, and later toured as part of the Fred Terry Company; first attracting serious attention play ...

as Naval Captain. 12 months after the release of this film, he played the Admiral aboard HMS Hood in the film Sink the Bismarck (1960).

Relationship to Radio Series

According to

Jon Pertwee John Devon Roland "Jon" Pertwee (; 7 July 1919 – 20 May 1996) was an English actor, comedian, entertainer, cabaret performer and TV presenter. Born into a theatrical family, he served in the Royal Navy and the Naval Intelligence Division during ...

's co-written memoir, published shortly after his death in 1996, the film was also supposed to star Pertwee and

Dennis Price Dennistoun Franklyn John Rose Price (23 June 1915 – 6 October 1973) was an English actor, best remembered for his role as Louis Mazzini in the film '' Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (1949) and for his portrayal of the omnicompetent valet Jeeve ...

, both of whom were key members of the cast in the original radio series. However, according to Pertwee this did not happen as the film's producer

Herbert Wilcox Herbert Sydney Wilcox Order of the British Empire, CBE (19 April 1890 – 15 May 1977) was a British film producer and film director, director. He was one of the most successful British filmmakers from the 1920s to the 1950s. He is best know ...

refused to employ Price "because he was gay." Pertwee stated that he was among those who objected to Price not being in the film and believed that this contributed to his own replacement in the cast by Shiner. Pertwee noted that the film "bombed" and believed that this was due to the fact that audiences did not consider the film to be ''The Navy Lark'' due to the absence of himself, Price and fellow radio series cast member Stephen Murray. A nod to the radio series appears during the fake revolution in the news headlines of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' referring to "Admiral Troutbridge". The plot has similarities to the episode "The Multiple Mine" (Series 1, Episode 9).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Navy Lark, The 1959 films 1959 comedy films British comedy films Films directed by Gordon Parry Films set on fictional islands Military humor in film CinemaScope films Films with screenplays by Sid Colin Films based on radio series Films shot in Dorset Films set in the Channel Islands 1950s English-language films 1950s British films