Oh, Mr Porter!
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''Oh, Mr Porter!'' is a 1937 British
comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...
starring Will Hay with
Moore Marriott George Thomas Moore Marriott (14 September 1885 – 11 December 1949) was an English character actor best remembered for the series of films he made with Will Hay. His first appearance with Hay was in the film '' Dandy Dick'' (1935), but he ...
and
Graham Moffatt Graham Victor Harold Moffatt (6 December 1919 – 2 July 1965) was an English comedic character actor. He is best known for a number of films where he appeared with Will Hay and Moore Marriott as 'Albert': a plump cheekily insolent street-savvy ...
and directed by
Marcel Varnel Marcel Varnel (16 October 1892 – 13 July 1947) was a French film director, notable for his career in the United States and England as a director of plays and films. Biography He was born Marcel Hyacinthe le Bozec in Paris, France. Varnel st ...
. While not Hay's commercially most successful (although it grossed £500,000 at the box office – equal to about £34,000,000 at 2020 value), it is his best-known film to modern audiences. It is widely acclaimed as the best of Hay's work, and a classic of its genre. The film had its first public showing in November 1937 and went on general release on 3 January 1938. The plot of ''Oh, Mr Porter'' was loosely based on the
Arnold Ridley William Arnold Ridley (7 January 1896 – 12 March 1984) was an English playwright and actor, known early in his career for writing the 1925 play '' The Ghost Train'' and later in life for the British television sitcom ''Dad's Army'' (1968–77 ...
play '' The Ghost Train''. The title was taken from '' Oh! Mr Porter'', a
music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...
song.


Plot

Inept railway worker William Porter is, through family connections, given the job of
station master The station master (or stationmaster) is the person in charge of a Train station, railway station, particularly in the United Kingdom and many other countries outside North America. In the United Kingdom, where the term originated, it is now lar ...
at a remote and ramshackle
Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...
railway station on the border with the then
Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...
. Porter's co-workers are the elderly deputy station master, Harbottle, and the insolent young porter, Albert, who make a living by stealing goods in transit and swapping railway tickets for food. They regale Porter with tales of the deaths and disappearances of previous station masters – each apparently the victim of the ghost of One-Eyed Joe the Miller. On his first morning Porter is awoken by a cow sticking its head through the window of the old railway carriage in which he is sleeping. The cow has been stolen in transit and is being milked by Harbottle, and the team's breakfast consists of bacon made from a litter of piglets which they are supposed to be looking after for a local farmer. Station master Porter tries to renovate the station by painting it, and decides to organise an excursion for the locals. A fight breaks out in the pub as the locals argue about where the excursion should go. Porter escapes to the landlord's rooms, where he meets a one-eyed man who introduces himself as Joe. Joe offers to buy all of the tickets for an away game that the village football team are playing the following day. Porter has actually unknowingly agreed to transport a group of criminal gun runners to the Irish Free State. Although Porter questions some of the odd packages being loaded onto the train, he accepts Joe's claim that these are goalposts for the game. The train disappears as the smugglers divert it down a disused
branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...
near the border. Porter decides to track down the errant engine. The trio find the missing train in a derelict railway tunnel, underneath a supposedly haunted windmill. They are captured by the gun runners, and escape by climbing up the windmill then climbing down the sails. They couple the criminals' carriages to their own engine, Gladstone, and carry them away from the border at full speed, keeping up steam by burning everything from Harbottle's underwear to the level crossing gates they smash through. Albert climbs on top of the carriage and hits anyone who sticks their head out with a large shovel. Porter writes a note and places it in Harbottle's '
medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
' bottle. He throws it through the window of the station master's office when they pass a large station,alerting the authorities. The entire railway goes into action, closing lines and re-routing trains until Gladstone can crash into a siding where the gun runners are arrested by waiting police. After a celebration in which Harbottle points out that Gladstone is ninety years old and Porter claims it is good for another ninety, the engine explodes. Porter, Harbottle and Albert lower their hats in respect.


Cast

* Will Hay as William Porter *
Moore Marriott George Thomas Moore Marriott (14 September 1885 – 11 December 1949) was an English character actor best remembered for the series of films he made with Will Hay. His first appearance with Hay was in the film '' Dandy Dick'' (1935), but he ...
as Jeremiah Harbottle *
Graham Moffatt Graham Victor Harold Moffatt (6 December 1919 – 2 July 1965) was an English comedic character actor. He is best known for a number of films where he appeared with Will Hay and Moore Marriott as 'Albert': a plump cheekily insolent street-savvy ...
as Albert Brown * Percy Walsh as Superintendent * Dave O'Toole as Postman * Sebastian Smith as Mr. Trimbletow * Agnes Lauchlan as Mrs. Trimbletow * Dennis Wyndham as Grogan / "One-Eyed Joe" *
Frederick Piper Frederick Piper (23 September 1902 – 22 September 1979) was an English actor of stage and screen who appeared in over 80 films and many television productions in a career spanning over 40 years. Piper studied drama under Elsie Fogerty at the ...
as Ledbetter * Frederick Lloyd as Minister * Frank Atkinson as Irishman In Bar *
Betty Jardine Betty Jardine (17 April 1903 – 28 February 1945) was a British stage actress, stage and film actress. She began as an actress in Manchester in 1926. In 1934 she made her West End theatre, West End debut in ''Disharmony'' at the Fortune Theatr ...
as Secretary


Production

The movie was one of several comedies Hay made at Gainsborough under Ted Black. Despite the majority of the film being set in Northern Ireland, none of the filming took place there; the railway station at Buggleskelly was the disused Cliddesden railway station on the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway, which had closed to goods in 1936. ''Oh, Mr Porter!'' was filmed at Cliddesden between May and July 1937. All the interior shots were made at Gainsborough Studios, Shepherds Bush, during the August. The
windmill A windmill is a machine operated by the force of wind acting on vanes or sails to mill grain (gristmills), pump water, generate electricity, or drive other machinery. Windmills were used throughout the high medieval and early modern period ...
in which Porter and his colleagues are trapped is located at Terling,
Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
, and "Gladstone", the ancient steam locomotive, was portrayed by No. 2 ''Northiam'' 2-4-0T built by
Hawthorn Leslie R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited, usually referred to as Hawthorn Leslie, was a shipbuilding, shipbuilder and locomotive manufacturer. The company was founded on Tyneside in 1886 and ceased building ships in 1982. History The comp ...
in 1899 and loaned by the
Kent and East Sussex Railway The Kent and East Sussex Railway (K&ESR) refers to both a historical private railway company in Kent and East Sussex in England, as well as a heritage railway currently running on part of the route of the historical company. The railway runs b ...
to the film. The engine was returned to the company after completion of the film and remained in service until 1941, when it was scrapped. The title sequence uses scenes shot at a variety of locations on the Waterloo to
Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...
railway line and also between Maze Hill and Greenwich in south-east London. The scene in which Porter travels to Buggleskelly by bus, while being warned of a terrible danger by locals, parodies that of the
Tod Browning Tod Browning (born Charles Albert Browning Jr.; July 12, 1880 – October 6, 1962) was an American film director, film actor, screenwriter, vaudeville performer, and carnival sideshow and circus entertainer. He directed a number of films of var ...
film, ''
Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...
'' (1931). The Southern Railway of Northern Ireland that Porter works for is fictitious. In reality, from the route chosen on the map, the line would have belonged to the
Great Northern Railway (Ireland) The Great Northern Railway (Ireland) (GNR(I), GNRI or simply GNR) was an Irish gauge () railway company in Ireland. It was formed in 1876 by a merger of the Irish North Western Railway (INW), Northern Railway of Ireland, and Ulster Railway. Th ...
, with Buggleskelly being close to the real town of
Lisnaskea Lisnaskea () is the second-biggest settlement in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is situated mainly in the townland of Lisoneill, with some areas in the townland of Castle Balfour Demesne, both in the civil parish of Aghalurcher and th ...
. In addition, the Irish border on the map portrayed in the film is inaccurate, placing the border too far east, and roughly along the eastern coast of
Lough Erne Lough Erne ( , ) is the name of two connected lakes in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is the second-biggest lake system in Northern Ireland and Ulster, and the fourth biggest in Ireland. The lakes are widened sections of the River E ...
rather than the border of
County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of and had a population of 63,585 as of 2021. Enniskillen is the ...
.


Reception

The film has been very well received over time. The
British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
included the film in its 360 Classic Feature Films list; '' Variety'' magazine described the movie as "amusing, if over-long", noting that there was " /nowiki>o love interest to mar the comedy"; and the cult website TV Cream listed it at number 41 in its list of cinema's Top 100 Films.TV Cream's Top 100 Films
/ref> The
film critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: Academic criticism by film scholars, who study the composition of film theory and publish their findin ...
Barry Norman Barry Leslie Norman (21 August 1933 – 30 June 2017) was a British film critic, television presenter and journalist. He presented the BBC's cinema review programme, '' Film...'', from 1972 to 1998. Early life Born at St Thomas' Hospital, Lo ...
included it among his 100 best films of all time, and fellow critic
Derek Malcolm Derek Elliston Michael Malcolm (12 May 1932 – 15 July 2023) was an English film critic and historian. Early life Derek Elliston Michael Malcolm was born on 12 May 1932. He was the son of Douglas Malcolm (died 1967) and Dorothy Vera (died 196 ...
also included the film in his ''Century of Films'', describing it as "perfectly representing a certain type of bumbling British humour", despite being directed by a Parisian director. The director Marcel Varnel considered the film as among his best work, and it was described in 2006, by ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' in its obituary for writer
Val Guest Val Guest (born Valmond Maurice Grossman; 11 December 1911 – 10 May 2006) was an English film director and screenwriter. Beginning as a writer (and later director) of comedy films, he is best known for his work for Hammer Film Productions, ...
, as "a comic masterpiece of the British cinema". Jimmy Perry, in his autobiography, wrote that the trio of Captain Mainwaring, Corporal Jones and Private Pike in ''
Dad's Army ''Dad's Army'' is a British television British sitcom, sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard (United Kingdom), Home Guard during the World War II, Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft (TV producer), David Crof ...
'' was inspired by watching ''Oh, Mr Porter!''


Legacy

The Will Hay Appreciation Society unveiled a memorial bench to Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt in October 2018, in Cliddesden,
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
, the filming location for Buggleskelly. The bench was unveiled by
Pete Waterman Peter Alan Waterman (born 15 January 1947) is an English record producer, songwriter, and television personality. As a member of the Stock Aitken Waterman production and songwriting team, he co-wrote and co-produced many UK hit singles. An av ...
.


Reviews


Modern reviews

*
Spinning Image ReviewBootleg Files Review


Contemporary reviews




Parody

The film was parodied in the
Harry Enfield Henry Richard Enfield (born 30 May 1961) is an English comedian. He is known in particular for his television work, including '' Harry Enfield's Television Programme'', '' Harry Enfield & Chums'' and '' Harry & Paul'', across which he created ...
spoof
documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
'' Norbert Smith - a Life'', as ''Oh, Mr Bank Robber!'' starring "Will Silly".BBC – Comedy – Shows A-Z Index
/ref>


References


External links

*



*
Link to video clip of ''Oh, Mr Porter''


{{DEFAULTSORT:Oh, Mister Porter! 1937 films 1937 comedy films 1930s British films 1930s English-language films British black-and-white films British comedy films British crime thriller films English-language comedy films Films directed by Marcel Varnel Films scored by Jack Beaver Films scored by Louis Levy Films set in Northern Ireland Films shot in England Films with screenplays by Marriott Edgar Gainsborough Pictures films Rail transport films