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 ...
directed by
Ken Annakin
Kenneth Cooper Annakin, OBE (10 August 1914 – 22 April 2009) was an English film director.
His career spanned half a century, beginning in the early 1940s and ending in 2002, and in the 1960s he was noticed by critics with large-scale adventu ...
and starring
Donald Sinden
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden (9 October 1923 – 12 September 2014) was a British actor.
Sinden featured in the film ''Mogambo'' (1953), and achieved early fame as a Rank Organisation film star in the 1950s in films including ''The Cruel Sea (195 ...
,
Michael Hordern
Sir Michael Murray Hordern Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (3 October 19112 May 1995)Morley, Sheridan"Hordern, Michael Murray (1911–1995)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online e ...
,
Bill Kerr
William Henry Kerr (10 June 1922 – 28 August 2014) was a British and Australian actor, comedian, and vaudevillian.
Born in South Africa, he started his career as a child actor in Australia, before emigrating to Britain after the Second Wor ...
,
Dora Bryan
Dora May Broadbent, (7 February 1923 – 23 July 2014), known as Dora Bryan, was a British actress of stage, film and television.Akim Tamiroff. The screenplay by
Peter Rogers
Peter Rogers (20 February 1914 – 14 April 2009) was an English film producer. He is best known for his involvement in the making of the ''Carry On'' series of films.
Life and career
Rogers began his career as a journalist for his loc ...
was based on the 1951 novel ''Sylvester'' by
Edward Hyams
Edward Solomon Hyams (30 September 1910 – 25 November 1975) was a British gardener and horticulturalist, historian, novelist and writer, and anarchist. He is known for his writings as a French scholar and socialist historian, and as a garden ...
Isle of Portland
An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct fr ...
. The film's sets were designed by the art director
George Provis
George Provis (1901–1989) was a British art director who worked on over a hundred films during a lengthy career. He began his career working on quota quickies during the 1930s. After the Second World War, Provis was appointed by Sydney Box to h ...
.
Plot
Three British naval officers out on a drunken spree attach a pram and a pawnbroker's sign to the stern of a foreign naval ship. The next morning, an officer misinterprets the pram and sign as state of the art, top-secret radar equipment. Instantly, the British navy decrees that their ships be fitted with the same device. Thereafter, bureaucratic misunderstandings escalate into a major international incident.
Donald Sinden
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden (9 October 1923 – 12 September 2014) was a British actor.
Sinden featured in the film ''Mogambo'' (1953), and achieved early fame as a Rank Organisation film star in the 1950s in films including ''The Cruel Sea (195 ...
Naunton Wayne
Naunton Wayne (born Henry Wayne Davies, 22 June 1901 – 17 November 1970), was a Welsh character actor, born in Pontypridd, Glamorgan, Wales. He was educated at Clifton College. His name was changed by deed poll in 1933.
Stage actor
His firs ...
as Captain Owbridge
*
Bill Kerr
William Henry Kerr (10 June 1922 – 28 August 2014) was a British and Australian actor, comedian, and vaudevillian.
Born in South Africa, he started his career as a child actor in Australia, before emigrating to Britain after the Second Wor ...
as Lt. Smart
*
Dora Bryan
Dora May Broadbent, (7 February 1923 – 23 July 2014), known as Dora Bryan, was a British actress of stage, film and television.Martin Miller Martin Miller may refer to:
*Martin Miller (actor) (1899–1969), Czech actor
*Martin Miller (cricketer, born 1940), English cricketer
*Martin Miller (cricketer, born 1972), English cricketer
*Martin Miller (footballer) (born 1997), Estonian footbal ...
as Prof. Hyman Pfumbaum
*
Michael Shepley
Arthur Michael Shepley-Smith (29 September 1907 – 28 September 1961), known professionally as Michael Shepley, was a British actor, appearing in theatre, film and some television between 1929 and 1961.
He was born in Plymouth, Devon. Shepl ...
as Admiral
*
Michael Hordern
Sir Michael Murray Hordern Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (3 October 19112 May 1995)Morley, Sheridan"Hordern, Michael Murray (1911–1995)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online e ...
as Captain Hamilton
*
Ferdy Mayne
Ferdy Mayne (or Ferdie Mayne) (born Ferdinand Philip Mayer-Horckel; 11 March 1916 – 30 January 1998) was a German-British stage and screen actor. Born in Mainz, he emigrated to the United Kingdom in the early 1930s to escape the Nazi regi ...
as Stanislaus Voritz of Smorznigov
*
Bryan Coleman
Bryan Coleman (29 January 1911 – 4 July 2005) was a British film actor and television actor.
In 1954 he appeared in William Douglas Home's comedy ''The Manor of Northstead'' in the West End.
Selected filmography
* '' Conquest of the Air'' ...
as Lt. Comdr. Voles
*
Cyril Chamberlain
Cyril Chamberlain (8 March 1909 – 5 December 1974) was an English film and television actor. He appeared in a number of the early '' Carry On'', ''Doctor'' and '' St. Trinian's'' films.
Chamberlain was born on 8 March 1909 in London and die ...
as Stores Officer
* Hal Osmond as Stores Petty Officer
*
Peter Arne
Peter Arne (born Peter Randolph Michael Albrecht; 29 September 19241 August 1983) was a British character actor. He made more than 50 film appearances including roles in ''Ice Cold in Alex'', ''The Moonraker'', ''Conspiracy of Hearts'' and '' Vi ...
as Ahmed
* Sara Leighton as Jasmin
* Janet Richards as Almyra
* Eileen Sands as Hepzibah
*
Marianne Stone
Marianne Stone (23 August 1922 – 21 December 2009) was an English character actress. She performed in films from the early 1940s to the late 1980s, typically playing working class parts such as barmaids, secretaries and landladies. Stone appe ...
as Elsie – Barmaid
*
Peter Dyneley
Peter Dyneley (13 April 1921 – 19 August 1977) was a British actor. Although he appeared in many smaller roles in both film and television, he is best remembered for supplying the voice of Jeff Tracy for the 1960s " Supermarionation" TV serie ...
Robertson Hare
John Robertson Hare, OBE (17 December 1891 – 25 January 1979) was an English actor, who came to fame in the Aldwych farces. He is remembered by more recent audiences for his performances as the Archdeacon in the popular BBC sitcom, ''All Ga ...
as Lt. Cdr. (Experimental Station)
* Anthony Sharp as Humphrey - Naval Attache
*
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. ...
as Embassy Secretary
*
Peter Barkworth
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a s ...
as Naval Lieutenant
* Martin Benson as Agrarian Officer
*
Shirley Eaton
Shirley Jean Eaton (born 12 January 1937) is an English actress, author and singer. Eaton appeared regularly in British films throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and gained her highest profile for her iconic appearance as Bond Girl Jill Masterson in ...
as Palace Girl
*
Lisa Gastoni
Lisa Gastoni (born 28 July 1935) is an Italian film actress. Gastoni was named "Best Italian Actress of the Year, 1966" as she received both the Nastro D'Argento Award and the Golden Globe Award from Italy's Foreign Press Association.}
Biograp ...
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news.
The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008.
Corpora ...
'' writes, "beautiful women fill the screen at frequent intervals in this amiable comedy"; and AllMovie writes, "''You Know What Sailors Are'' top-bills Akim Tamiroff as the president of a mythical Foreign country, but the film belongs to Donald Sinden as the well-meaning young officer who precipitates the whole affair."