Rockets Galore!

Rockets Galore! is a 1957 British comedy film directed by Michael Relph and starring Jeannie Carson, Donald Sinden and Roland Culver. The sequel to Whisky Galore!, it was much less successful than its predecessor.

Rockets Galore!
UK release poster
Directed byMichael Relph
Written by
Based onRockets Galore
by Compton Mackenzie
Produced byBasil Dearden
Starring
CinematographyReginald Wyer
Edited byJohn D. Guthridge
Music byCedric Thorpe Davie
Production
company
Distributed byRank Organisation
Release date
  • 28 September 1958 (1958-09-28) (Glasgow)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

It was based on the novel of the same title by Compton Mackenzie.

In terms of the film's relationship to Whisky Galore, Gordon Jackson, Jean Cadell and Catherine Lacey take their same roles. Ronnie Corbett appears as 'Drooby', with cameo appearances by Richard Dimbleby, Michael Foot and Robert Boothby. It was made at Pinewood Studios with sets designed by the art director Jack Maxsted.

Although not a true sequel to Whisky Galore!, many of that film's locations at Castlebay and on the island of Barra were utilised again and many of the characters returned, but often played by different performers. The film was released in America as Mad Little Island.

Plot

The story is narrated by Finlay Currie.

In the Cold War era of post-Second World War Britain, the government decides to establish a guided missile base in Scotland. The German project leader Dr Hamburger proposes the best location is the Hebridean isle of Todday. The inhabitants are not happy with this disruption of their way of life, and hamper construction as much as they can. An RAF officer (Donald Sinden), sent to negotiate with the people, falls in love with Janet Macleod, the local schoolteacher and realises what the base would mean to the islanders. A delegation of scientists and air force personnel go to make a presentation to the islanders.

When a missile is launched from another Scottish site, the guidance system fails and the missile returns to the land, rather than out at sea. As it is technically on privately owned land, the islanders claim it and celebrate their 'victory' by dancing around the site. The RAF tries unsuccessfully to negotiate, but eventually abandons the base.

As a further impediment to the base the locals 'discover' a rare pink seagull that only nests on Todday (dyed pink by Janet). The government abandon the idea of the base.

Drooby goes to London for a TV programme with Richard Dimbleby to discuss the pink seagulls. A separate TV debate "Free Speech" then debates the issue of national security versus wildlife.

The gulls prove a tourist attraction and the hotel is renamed the Pink Gull Hotel. The next generation of gulls are born pink.

Cast

Production

The film was made by the team of Basil Dearden and Michael Relph. Dearden usually directed by Relph directed this one saying:

It always boiled down to my getting the subjects on which he wasn’t particularly keen. And I am not really temperamentally cut out to be a director. A director has to have a tremendous amount of patience and the ability to take detailed pains, and I find it very difficult to do that. I get impatient, start to cut corners, and J am much more at home being a producer.[1]

Donald Sinden said "Whisky Galore! was based on a true story, whereas Rockets Galore, not so good, was on the same location but based on an invented story."[2]

Reception

The film had its premiere on 28 September 1958 at the Odeon cinema in Glasgow, Scotland.[3] Relph said the film "wasn’t a great success. It was rather a silly thing to do — to make a sequel to Whisky Galore!"[4]

Critical

Variety called it "full of fun".[5]

Howard Thompson of The New York Times wrote of the film: "the general tone is good-natured, the fun is wholesome, if spotty and somewhat forced, and the color photography of the remote little island is altogether lovely. … But it's a far cry from those succinct, Scotch-inspired hiccups that put Todday (actually the Isle of Barra) on the movie map."[6]

References
  1. McFarlane p 482
  2. McFarlane p 543
  3. "'Rockets' To Be Preemed In Glasgow, Sept. 28". Variety. 3 September 1958. p. 11. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
  4. McFarlane p 483
  5. "Rockets Galore". Variety. 24 September 1958. p. 6.
  6. Thompson, Howard (31 December 1958). "Movie Review - Mad Little Island - Screen: 'Mad Little Island'; British Comedy Opens at 55th St. Playhouse". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 February 2014.

Bibliography
  • McFarlane, Brian (1997). An autobiography of British cinema : as told by the filmmakers and actors who made it.
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